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Madame Sosostris & the Festival for the Broken-Hearted
What do you do when your heart has been made a wasteland by love?
Viv, who's in the House of Lords, had the idea for the festival on the twentieth anniversary of the day her first husband left her. Six months later, crowds descend on the grounds of a dreamlike chateau in the South of France, avidly awaiting the experience of a lifetime, Viv's inaugural Festival for the Broken-Hearted.
Everyone is in fancy dress. No one knows who anyone is. They wander the beautiful woods with just one night to change everything. And to crown it all, a very special guest is world-renowned clairvoyant and fortune-teller Madame Sosostris, known as the wisest woman in Europe, and not seen since the pages of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. She will attend for one night only.
But will she actually appear at all, or will Viv's carefully orchestrated festival fall to pieces? Will Viv and her husband make it through the night? Will anyone else?
Part vision, part mystery, this story of a midsummer night's madness is also an homage to Eliot's famous poem, in Ben Okri's inimitable style, as alive with echoes and reverberations as the enchanted forest itself. Think Ingmar Bergman meets William Shakespeare, with a dash of Mozart.
Hearts will be healed, and hearts broken, but nobody will leave this festival exactly as they arrived.
Viv, who's in the House of Lords, had the idea for the festival on the twentieth anniversary of the day her first husband left her. Six months later, crowds descend on the grounds of a dreamlike chateau in the South of France, avidly awaiting the experience of a lifetime, Viv's inaugural Festival for the Broken-Hearted.
Everyone is in fancy dress. No one knows who anyone is. They wander the beautiful woods with just one night to change everything. And to crown it all, a very special guest is world-renowned clairvoyant and fortune-teller Madame Sosostris, known as the wisest woman in Europe, and not seen since the pages of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land. She will attend for one night only.
But will she actually appear at all, or will Viv's carefully orchestrated festival fall to pieces? Will Viv and her husband make it through the night? Will anyone else?
Part vision, part mystery, this story of a midsummer night's madness is also an homage to Eliot's famous poem, in Ben Okri's inimitable style, as alive with echoes and reverberations as the enchanted forest itself. Think Ingmar Bergman meets William Shakespeare, with a dash of Mozart.
Hearts will be healed, and hearts broken, but nobody will leave this festival exactly as they arrived.
159 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 18, 2025
About the author
Ben Okri
89 books1,014 followersPoet and novelist Ben Okri was born in 1959 in Minna, northern Nigeria, to an Igbo mother and Urhobo father. He grew up in London before returning to Nigeria with his family in 1968. Much of his early fiction explores the political violence that he witnessed at first hand during the civil war in Nigeria. He left the country when a grant from the Nigerian government enabled him to read Comparative Literature at Essex University in England.
He was poetry editor for West Africa magazine between 1983 and 1986 and broadcast regularly for the BBC World Service between 1983 and 1985. He was appointed Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College Cambridge in 1991, a post he held until 1993. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1987, and was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Westminster (1997) and Essex (2002).
His first two novels, Flowers and Shadows (1980) and The Landscapes Within (1981), are both set in Nigeria and feature as central characters two young men struggling to make sense of the disintegration and chaos happening in both their family and country. The two collections of stories that followed, Incidents at the Shrine (1986) and Stars of the New Curfew (1988), are set in Lagos and London.
In 1991 Okri was awarded the Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel The Famished Road (1991). Set in a Nigerian village, this is the first in a trilogy of novels which tell the story of Azaro, a spirit child. Azaro's narrative is continued in Songs of Enchantment (1993) and Infinite Riches (1998). Other recent fiction includes Astonishing the Gods (1995) and Dangerous Love (1996), which was awarded the Premio Palmi (Italy) in 2000. His latest novels are In Arcadia (2002) and Starbook (2007).
A collection of poems, An African Elegy, was published in 1992, and an epic poem, Mental Flight, in 1999. A collection of essays, A Way of Being Free, was published in 1997. Ben Okri is also the author of a play, In Exilus.
In his latest book, Tales of Freedom (2009), Okri brings together poetry and story.
Ben Okri is a Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN, a member of the board of the Royal National Theatre, and was awarded an OBE in 2001. He lives in London.
He was poetry editor for West Africa magazine between 1983 and 1986 and broadcast regularly for the BBC World Service between 1983 and 1985. He was appointed Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College Cambridge in 1991, a post he held until 1993. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1987, and was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Westminster (1997) and Essex (2002).
His first two novels, Flowers and Shadows (1980) and The Landscapes Within (1981), are both set in Nigeria and feature as central characters two young men struggling to make sense of the disintegration and chaos happening in both their family and country. The two collections of stories that followed, Incidents at the Shrine (1986) and Stars of the New Curfew (1988), are set in Lagos and London.
In 1991 Okri was awarded the Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel The Famished Road (1991). Set in a Nigerian village, this is the first in a trilogy of novels which tell the story of Azaro, a spirit child. Azaro's narrative is continued in Songs of Enchantment (1993) and Infinite Riches (1998). Other recent fiction includes Astonishing the Gods (1995) and Dangerous Love (1996), which was awarded the Premio Palmi (Italy) in 2000. His latest novels are In Arcadia (2002) and Starbook (2007).
A collection of poems, An African Elegy, was published in 1992, and an epic poem, Mental Flight, in 1999. A collection of essays, A Way of Being Free, was published in 1997. Ben Okri is also the author of a play, In Exilus.
In his latest book, Tales of Freedom (2009), Okri brings together poetry and story.
Ben Okri is a Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN, a member of the board of the Royal National Theatre, and was awarded an OBE in 2001. He lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
August 8, 2026
“Whenever people want to avoid responsibility for their decisions in life they say they were following their heart. We listen to a wrong impulse and we call it the heart. You malign the heart when you blame it for every stupid decision you make.”
My first Ben Okri, and I still must read The Famished Road. This one is a fable, with an edge of cynicism and humour. There are references to Eliot’s Wasteland, Huxley’s Chrome Yellow and of course A Midsummer Nights Dream.
Viv decides to hold a ball on the twentieth anniversary of when her first husband left her, it is to be a ball for the broken-hearted, a masked ball. She plans it with her best friend Beatrice. Their husbands tag along reluctantly. Madame Sosostris, a world famous clairvoyant and fortune-teller (advisor to five Prime Ministers) is to attend and she suggests the location, which turns out to be an enchanted wood. There is an edge of magic to it and a touch of the fabulous. The themes of love and identity are woven through it. The main protagonists are all pretty middle class though. The outcomes are sometimes unclear;
“They had come to her weighed down with the dark burdens of their unendurable agonies. They left with a streak of light in their eyes. They were people who had chewed their innards and devoured their own hearts. They were locked in the narrow space of their beings. They were imprisoned for long periods of time in the hell of their own minds, turning over their agonies till they grew and filled their world. What most of them needed was a glimpse beyond themselves, a glimpse of something real, something with the texture of dry bone, the fragrance of a dead beetle, the roughness of a cement wall.”
It’s a slim volume and an entertaining read and as it is quite dialogue driven it did read a little like a play. I was irked by one comment about the happiest people being the poorest, but it was an interesting concept and worth reading.
My first Ben Okri, and I still must read The Famished Road. This one is a fable, with an edge of cynicism and humour. There are references to Eliot’s Wasteland, Huxley’s Chrome Yellow and of course A Midsummer Nights Dream.
Viv decides to hold a ball on the twentieth anniversary of when her first husband left her, it is to be a ball for the broken-hearted, a masked ball. She plans it with her best friend Beatrice. Their husbands tag along reluctantly. Madame Sosostris, a world famous clairvoyant and fortune-teller (advisor to five Prime Ministers) is to attend and she suggests the location, which turns out to be an enchanted wood. There is an edge of magic to it and a touch of the fabulous. The themes of love and identity are woven through it. The main protagonists are all pretty middle class though. The outcomes are sometimes unclear;
“They had come to her weighed down with the dark burdens of their unendurable agonies. They left with a streak of light in their eyes. They were people who had chewed their innards and devoured their own hearts. They were locked in the narrow space of their beings. They were imprisoned for long periods of time in the hell of their own minds, turning over their agonies till they grew and filled their world. What most of them needed was a glimpse beyond themselves, a glimpse of something real, something with the texture of dry bone, the fragrance of a dead beetle, the roughness of a cement wall.”
It’s a slim volume and an entertaining read and as it is quite dialogue driven it did read a little like a play. I was irked by one comment about the happiest people being the poorest, but it was an interesting concept and worth reading.
March 11, 2025
This is one of those times that you read a book, want to zip through it because the writing is so good, but you have to force yourself to slow down to make sure you don't miss a thing.
It's also one of those books that I loved and loved reading but apart from a strange festival in which people are given strange advice by Madame Sosostris, the wisest woman in Europe, who reads their cards, I could not honestly tell you what it was about or even why I thoroughly enjoyed it.
To me it simply spoke of one of those times you reach in life where you wonder what you've been doing with your time and what you really need is to take a deep breath and take stock of your life. What better time to reevaluate and make a change than now?
I've not read any Ben Okri previously but I certainly shall now. I only hope I'm as bedazzled by his other work as I was by this short novel.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for the advance review copy. Most appreciated.
It's also one of those books that I loved and loved reading but apart from a strange festival in which people are given strange advice by Madame Sosostris, the wisest woman in Europe, who reads their cards, I could not honestly tell you what it was about or even why I thoroughly enjoyed it.
To me it simply spoke of one of those times you reach in life where you wonder what you've been doing with your time and what you really need is to take a deep breath and take stock of your life. What better time to reevaluate and make a change than now?
I've not read any Ben Okri previously but I certainly shall now. I only hope I'm as bedazzled by his other work as I was by this short novel.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for the advance review copy. Most appreciated.
April 26, 2026
‘In our world, we treat the personality as the person. We don’t distinguish the person from the personality they project. Public life is founded on this.’
"‘If there’s anything people like more than having their fortunes read, it’s having their pasts abolished.’
.From the Famished Road trilogy to more recently The Last Gift of the Master Artists, Ben Okri has written some incredible novels-searching, profound and full of reflection.
Madame Sosostris & the Festival for the Broken-Hearted is a curiosity of a book- two couples with fractured marriages; Viv and Alan; Beatrice and Stephen- living comfortable and privileged lives- but not happy. Following an encounter with the mysterious Madame Sosostris , Viv sets out to create a festival for those spurned in love in a mysterious forest in the south of France - it is to feature a masked ball.
Much of the novel focuses on the conversations between the couples as they reflect of successes, failures, personal desires and frustrations and eaves drops into dialogues and thoughts of those attending the festival and their reasons to meet the elusive fortuneteller.
This is a modern adult fairytale- full of mysticism, metaphors and magic. It is an exploration of identity and personality - private and public ; societal expectations of the wealthy and privileged and how this is often a mirage ;shielding the reality.
It is hard to classify this short novel but Mr Okri certainly knows how to make the reader ponder what constitutes reality, the true face of individuals and especially what does it mean to love and truly be loved - can we ever know?
Difficult to categorise and know how readers will respond.
"‘If there’s anything people like more than having their fortunes read, it’s having their pasts abolished.’
.From the Famished Road trilogy to more recently The Last Gift of the Master Artists, Ben Okri has written some incredible novels-searching, profound and full of reflection.
Madame Sosostris & the Festival for the Broken-Hearted is a curiosity of a book- two couples with fractured marriages; Viv and Alan; Beatrice and Stephen- living comfortable and privileged lives- but not happy. Following an encounter with the mysterious Madame Sosostris , Viv sets out to create a festival for those spurned in love in a mysterious forest in the south of France - it is to feature a masked ball.
Much of the novel focuses on the conversations between the couples as they reflect of successes, failures, personal desires and frustrations and eaves drops into dialogues and thoughts of those attending the festival and their reasons to meet the elusive fortuneteller.
This is a modern adult fairytale- full of mysticism, metaphors and magic. It is an exploration of identity and personality - private and public ; societal expectations of the wealthy and privileged and how this is often a mirage ;shielding the reality.
It is hard to classify this short novel but Mr Okri certainly knows how to make the reader ponder what constitutes reality, the true face of individuals and especially what does it mean to love and truly be loved - can we ever know?
Difficult to categorise and know how readers will respond.
November 8, 2024
A fable drenched in the absurd, the spiritual and pure magic. This seemed like it was really fun to write. It was lots of fun to read. A Shakespearean, Midsummer Night's Dream plot is woven into T. S. Eliot's The Wasteland as Madame Sosostris, the wisest woman in Europe, promises to attend a festival for the broken hearted in a magical wood in rural France. Masks and disguises, spells and songs, the dead and the living all mingle in this riot of a tale. Absolutely glorious mythmaking.
March 24, 2025
A long rainy day and a short novel. I would've liked it to last longer because I loved being in Okri's world. I loved the magic, the costumes, the mood, and all the outcomes. I felt hope seeing people learn who they are and who they are not; who they wanted to be and where they are now; and how their mended hearts could again receive love as they saw things in a new light.
Is their persona, their mask still useful? Is it an expression of their true self? Is it modifiable and removable? Or...has it grown into their face and successfully obliterated a true self?
Is their persona, their mask still useful? Is it an expression of their true self? Is it modifiable and removable? Or...has it grown into their face and successfully obliterated a true self?
April 27, 2026
We spend our lives trying to become ourselves. Few people succeed. p45
What if we are all suppressing within ourselves many personalities? p93
Personality is a construct which we mistake for the real thing....We treat the personality as the person....What we call personality is merely a well-rehearsed performance, a habit. p94
We play the world's game because we must. p96
Do not be disappointed in the slenderness of this new book by the indomitable Ben Okri. This is a highly polished gem that contains the sparkle and depth of his best work.
Reality is not rational. You’ve imposed your version...on the world and expect it to behave that way. p133
complacency's our undoing....We have everything. and because of that we're dead....we don't live. Other people do our living for us....nannies...drivers...servants and friends to make us feel that everything we do is right. We consume...other people, we consume the future, we devour the environment.... We think we're lucky but we're dead. p177
I was somewhat disconcerted at the beginning by the modern setting. This is very contemporary fable. Plucked into the story with no clue, that feeling quickly dissipated as I was swept along by the vitality and pace.
Perhaps the broken-hearted don't need fixing so much as a change in perspective.
Love begins with a burst of hallelujah and ends with the apocalypse. p179
What if we are all suppressing within ourselves many personalities? p93
Personality is a construct which we mistake for the real thing....We treat the personality as the person....What we call personality is merely a well-rehearsed performance, a habit. p94
We play the world's game because we must. p96
Do not be disappointed in the slenderness of this new book by the indomitable Ben Okri. This is a highly polished gem that contains the sparkle and depth of his best work.
Reality is not rational. You’ve imposed your version...on the world and expect it to behave that way. p133
complacency's our undoing....We have everything. and because of that we're dead....we don't live. Other people do our living for us....nannies...drivers...servants and friends to make us feel that everything we do is right. We consume...other people, we consume the future, we devour the environment.... We think we're lucky but we're dead. p177
I was somewhat disconcerted at the beginning by the modern setting. This is very contemporary fable. Plucked into the story with no clue, that feeling quickly dissipated as I was swept along by the vitality and pace.
Perhaps the broken-hearted don't need fixing so much as a change in perspective.
Love begins with a burst of hallelujah and ends with the apocalypse. p179
July 18, 2025
I haven't read a Ben Okri novel for a while and this one is more in the genre of Astonishing the Gods than The Famished Road.
It's about two couples, one of the women gets the idea to create a festival for those who've suffered loss but never been acknowledged, the brokenhearted. She realises it's been 20 years since a major one.
Much of this novella length story is dialogue and I couldn't help but feel like I was watching a play, even the voices seemed louder as if projected out to an audience more so than to each other.
The festival a masked event is one night only in a sacred forest in the south of France (yet another book that seems to be visiting me- only I'm not disclosing where this forest is). The special invitee is Madame Sosostris who is going to do readings for everyone.
Ultimately, the couples all have a moment of consciousness raising and are likely changed in some way from the experience.
It's about two couples, one of the women gets the idea to create a festival for those who've suffered loss but never been acknowledged, the brokenhearted. She realises it's been 20 years since a major one.
Much of this novella length story is dialogue and I couldn't help but feel like I was watching a play, even the voices seemed louder as if projected out to an audience more so than to each other.
The festival a masked event is one night only in a sacred forest in the south of France (yet another book that seems to be visiting me- only I'm not disclosing where this forest is). The special invitee is Madame Sosostris who is going to do readings for everyone.
Ultimately, the couples all have a moment of consciousness raising and are likely changed in some way from the experience.
July 16, 2026
'Even when people said they had moved on, and were happy in new relationships, the most real thing about them was their loss, their pain.'
#DeZinVanHetBoek #TheEssenceOfTheBook
#DeZinVanHetBoek #TheEssenceOfTheBook
January 10, 2025
*thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for a free copy in exchange for an honest review*
I was intrigued by the fact that the start of this book said "Read Slowly". Me being me, I took that literally and wondered aloud about it to my housemate - as it turns out, "Read Slowly" might actually mean "take a pause every now and then throughout this book to reflect upon the sentiments of what the characters are saying." To enjoy this novel, I think that this is crucial - it's not a novel you can zip through and take at face value, unless you happen to be a philiosophy student of some kind who engages in conversations like this on the regular.
I would like to say that I *got* this novel, and I think to an extent I do. I can appreciate what it is, and what the book is supposed to be, in that it is an introspective look at truth, humanity, identity and, of course, having a broken heart. There is a lot of witty dialogue (a lot of dialogue, full stop) that broaches all of these topics between our four main characters, two couples who are, at heart, deeply unhappy in their relationships. Due to the brevity of the book, and the reliance upon dialogue, however, these four characters remain underdeveloped. They might be speaking about deep facets of themselves, and about their relative truths, but in comparison to other books of this length - Of Mice and Men springs to mind - there is little about them that is memorable.
People have compared this to a Midsummer Night's Dream, a favourite Shakespeare play of mine, and whilst I see the comparison, these are not at all the same vibe. Two couples wandering around in a woodland and having realisations about themselves, whilst some vague mysticism plays out in the background, does not in any way compare to the chaos of the original play. If anything, it reminds me more of the poem The Listeners by Walter de la Mare - a space that is haunted by people unable to move on from their broken love.
Of the entire book, only one scene really stands out to me, and that is when 'Madame Sosostris' talks to the first three festival-goers. Those conversations are some damn good writing, and I feel like most people would resonate with at least one of them. I enjoy reading tarot cards, and it was fascinating to see which ones the author pulled upon (and invented, at times) to weave into the pasts and futures of the characters.
Perhaps I'm a cynic, but this feels like one of those books that was written with the purpose of being studied. Perhaps I shall change my mind in a decade or so and come back to this book with a newer, more profound understanding. Perhaps I'm still in the process of becoming someone who would rate this book five stars. Who knows.
Tl;dr: Witty, philosophical book closer to The Listeners than Midsummer Night's Dream - not my personal cup of tea, but others will enjoy it. 3 stars.
I was intrigued by the fact that the start of this book said "Read Slowly". Me being me, I took that literally and wondered aloud about it to my housemate - as it turns out, "Read Slowly" might actually mean "take a pause every now and then throughout this book to reflect upon the sentiments of what the characters are saying." To enjoy this novel, I think that this is crucial - it's not a novel you can zip through and take at face value, unless you happen to be a philiosophy student of some kind who engages in conversations like this on the regular.
I would like to say that I *got* this novel, and I think to an extent I do. I can appreciate what it is, and what the book is supposed to be, in that it is an introspective look at truth, humanity, identity and, of course, having a broken heart. There is a lot of witty dialogue (a lot of dialogue, full stop) that broaches all of these topics between our four main characters, two couples who are, at heart, deeply unhappy in their relationships. Due to the brevity of the book, and the reliance upon dialogue, however, these four characters remain underdeveloped. They might be speaking about deep facets of themselves, and about their relative truths, but in comparison to other books of this length - Of Mice and Men springs to mind - there is little about them that is memorable.
People have compared this to a Midsummer Night's Dream, a favourite Shakespeare play of mine, and whilst I see the comparison, these are not at all the same vibe. Two couples wandering around in a woodland and having realisations about themselves, whilst some vague mysticism plays out in the background, does not in any way compare to the chaos of the original play. If anything, it reminds me more of the poem The Listeners by Walter de la Mare - a space that is haunted by people unable to move on from their broken love.
Of the entire book, only one scene really stands out to me, and that is when 'Madame Sosostris' talks to the first three festival-goers. Those conversations are some damn good writing, and I feel like most people would resonate with at least one of them. I enjoy reading tarot cards, and it was fascinating to see which ones the author pulled upon (and invented, at times) to weave into the pasts and futures of the characters.
Perhaps I'm a cynic, but this feels like one of those books that was written with the purpose of being studied. Perhaps I shall change my mind in a decade or so and come back to this book with a newer, more profound understanding. Perhaps I'm still in the process of becoming someone who would rate this book five stars. Who knows.
Tl;dr: Witty, philosophical book closer to The Listeners than Midsummer Night's Dream - not my personal cup of tea, but others will enjoy it. 3 stars.
December 17, 2025
Terrible; cannot believe anyone thinks this has any substance. Stylistically, it's evoking Shakespeare with everything it's got, without realizing the many obvious flaws of pretending a novella is a stage play. The opening four chapters are, in order:
1. The main character having an idea
2. The main character telling her friend about the idea
3. The main character telling her husband about the idea
4. The friend telling her husband about the idea
and all repeating a lot of the same phrases, striving for clever, achieving inane. That, and the hackneyed gender politics, and the constant repetition, and the deeply unsubtle ideas, are all maddening; on the flip side, it's an incredibly quick read, because it has absolutely nothing interesting to say.
1. The main character having an idea
2. The main character telling her friend about the idea
3. The main character telling her husband about the idea
4. The friend telling her husband about the idea
and all repeating a lot of the same phrases, striving for clever, achieving inane. That, and the hackneyed gender politics, and the constant repetition, and the deeply unsubtle ideas, are all maddening; on the flip side, it's an incredibly quick read, because it has absolutely nothing interesting to say.
June 15, 2025
I was looking forward to the magic of the books, I was looking forward to the Nigerian folklore, I found myself in a magical European folklore that was described as beautifully as the previous books that I have read by Ben Okri.
August 5, 2025
This was my first Ben Okri book, but maybe I did not start with the one most suited for me. The beggining was a little boring, but thankfully the story evolved really well, and in the end it was a pleasant read.
But I was expecting more.
But I was expecting more.
May 25, 2026
Sir Ben Okri’s Madame Sosostris & the Festival for the Broken-Hearted is a dazzling, dialogue-driven modern fable that brilliantly marries high-society satire with the transformative magic of Shakespearean romance. By gathering a cast of disillusioned aristocrats in an enchanted French forest, Okri strips away the rigid masks of upper-class civility to expose the raw, universal ache of human vulnerability. It is a slim, deeply theatrical novella that manages to be both comically absurd and profoundly moving, offering a poetic reminder that true healing only begins when we dare to look past our social scripts and confront our authentic selves. Healing requires the courage to drop our public personas. The novella illustrates that true emotional recovery and genuine human connection cannot happen while hiding behind societal status, pride, or curated facades; we must be willing to face our unvarnished truths to mend a broken heart.
March 4, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley and Ben Okri for this ARC!
This reads like tale of legend, both incredibly current in how it tackles the theme of heartbreak but full of almost a mythological kind of mystique as well. I really felt a sense of playfulness when I was reading this and I really enjoyed how this narrative moved.
This reads like tale of legend, both incredibly current in how it tackles the theme of heartbreak but full of almost a mythological kind of mystique as well. I really felt a sense of playfulness when I was reading this and I really enjoyed how this narrative moved.
August 31, 2025
Sometimes what you need is a magical night in the French woods.
July 9, 2026
mmmmmm raro, me gustó ! y contenta de volver a poder leer seguido pero es well, raro
July 11, 2026
Not what I expected from the blurb and unsure whether I liked it, but at least it had the decency to be interesting
June 13, 2025
Carnivalesque.
October 17, 2025
A charming tale that was impossible to put down. This was my first time reading Ben Okri, but it certainly won't be my last!
I expected more drama and suspense from the plot, but I wasn't at all let down by the outcome. It's a beautiful story about the human condition. We live our lives striving for one thing, only to reach the end of it wishing for another. We throw ourselves into love and let it blind us from what we know deep down to be true. That, intertwined with a magical forest and all its peculiar characters, made up the foundation of the novel. Told, in a way, through the eyes of a fortune teller--who both was and wasn't there.
If you're someone looking for a mix of fiction, social commentary and a new perspective on life, I'd say this is absolutely the story for you! Can't wait to check out his other work.
I expected more drama and suspense from the plot, but I wasn't at all let down by the outcome. It's a beautiful story about the human condition. We live our lives striving for one thing, only to reach the end of it wishing for another. We throw ourselves into love and let it blind us from what we know deep down to be true. That, intertwined with a magical forest and all its peculiar characters, made up the foundation of the novel. Told, in a way, through the eyes of a fortune teller--who both was and wasn't there.
If you're someone looking for a mix of fiction, social commentary and a new perspective on life, I'd say this is absolutely the story for you! Can't wait to check out his other work.
June 4, 2025
Do you believe that books come to you when it's the right time for them? That doesn't mean that you're going to read them and immediately connect: and there's a lot to be said for coming to books like Catcher In The Rye and the more dire works of Anne McCaffrey as an adult, when you can see how godawful the behavior your more adolescent self might have romanticized actually is. But sometimes, your (my) reading queue will bump books around and give you (me, oh fine, us) exactly what we need when we need it.
Which, ofc, is my roundabout way of saying that if I'd read Ben Okri's wise, compelling Madame Sosostris And The Festival For The Brokenhearted earlier in the year, I might not have felt so moved by the insights of this slender book. The tale itself revolves around two pairs of well-off slightly older Britons. Viv is a member of the House of Lords, a compulsive organizer and improver. Her husband Alan is irritable but well-bred, a veritable titan of industry. Her best friend Beatrice is retired from finance and now rivals Viv's organizational efforts with her own activities on numerous charitable boards. Beatrice's husband Stephen is a self-made intellectual who runs a newspaper. While the women are great friends, the men don't particularly get along.
On the twentieth anniversary of her greatest heartbreak, Viv has a revelation while chatting with a stranger at a party. Tho she's married to Alan happily enough, she's never really gotten over the pain of her first husband leaving her. Why, she wonders, are there no support groups for people who've had their hearts properly broken? A vision of a festival for those who've been hurt this way comes to her, but nothing really solidifies until she runs into the famed fortune teller Madame Sosostris during a party at the House of Lords. The clairvoyant agrees to come read fortunes at the woodland festival that Viv wants to organize in the south of France. It's with some trepidation thus that Viv, Alan, Beatrice and Stephen are pulled into a strange journey that will change their lives forever.
There are definite A Midsummer Night's Dream vibes to this fable, but Ben Okri neatly sidesteps any cliches of happily ever after with his messy, magical but still oddly realistic depiction of love and healing and heartbreak. Each member of this quartet is forced to step outside of their comfort zone and try on new roles: some rise to the occasion while others fail. Neither success nor failure is considered a value judgment, but does indicate how well suited people are to continue on their journeys together. It's a nuanced, generous take on love and compatibility that will soothe any heart that grieves and/or is still seeking answers for past loss.
Because, ultimately, the reason that it's so hard to let go of heartbreak is the relentless need to understand why. Why did they do that to me? Why wasn't I enough for them when they were enough for me? You can tell yourself a million times that the reason they hurt you is because they suck -- and I say this as the Queen of Good Breakups, who has always done her best to mitigate the pain of any breakups I've initiated -- but you won't necessarily believe it, and look for answers in other people and experiences, festivals and faith and externalities, before you realize what Viv does:
As a Tarot girlie myself, this hit me hard in the feels. Tarot is, in my experience, an incredible way to bolster yourself for the daily challenges you face, and to really explore your reactions to same. Sure there's a teeny tiny element of prognostication involved, but reading Tarot is, by and large, an excellent self-care practice meant to keep your heart and mind open and engaged with the world. When I ask my cards, over and over again, what I should do about my latest ex, I'm really asking them how to fulfill that part of me that craves love in all its forms, as annoyingly personified by this one guy. Mr Okri understands that, as well as the way in which it's easier for people to hear good advice when it comes from an authority we lend credence to, whether deserving or otherwise (as "deserving" isn't really the point.) We aren't raised to trust ourselves -- often for good reason -- so the intervention of the mystical and/or inarguable is often necessary to guide us to both understanding and accepting the truth.
My only criticism of this book was how bizarrely middle class it could be in terms of money. I barked with ironic laughter when the women claimed that the happiest people they know are the poorest. Honestly, in this economy?! Perhaps it was meant to show how out of touch the main characters are with reality, as only idiots think that poverty and happiness go hand in hand. That aside, this was a moving, insightful look at the importance of knowing yourself in order to better let go of the past and embrace the future. I'm glad I read it when I did, as it helps me continue moving forward with love for and faith in myself.
Madame Sosostris And The Festival For The Brokenhearted by Ben Okri was published March 18 2025 by Other Press and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
This review first appeared at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.
Which, ofc, is my roundabout way of saying that if I'd read Ben Okri's wise, compelling Madame Sosostris And The Festival For The Brokenhearted earlier in the year, I might not have felt so moved by the insights of this slender book. The tale itself revolves around two pairs of well-off slightly older Britons. Viv is a member of the House of Lords, a compulsive organizer and improver. Her husband Alan is irritable but well-bred, a veritable titan of industry. Her best friend Beatrice is retired from finance and now rivals Viv's organizational efforts with her own activities on numerous charitable boards. Beatrice's husband Stephen is a self-made intellectual who runs a newspaper. While the women are great friends, the men don't particularly get along.
On the twentieth anniversary of her greatest heartbreak, Viv has a revelation while chatting with a stranger at a party. Tho she's married to Alan happily enough, she's never really gotten over the pain of her first husband leaving her. Why, she wonders, are there no support groups for people who've had their hearts properly broken? A vision of a festival for those who've been hurt this way comes to her, but nothing really solidifies until she runs into the famed fortune teller Madame Sosostris during a party at the House of Lords. The clairvoyant agrees to come read fortunes at the woodland festival that Viv wants to organize in the south of France. It's with some trepidation thus that Viv, Alan, Beatrice and Stephen are pulled into a strange journey that will change their lives forever.
There are definite A Midsummer Night's Dream vibes to this fable, but Ben Okri neatly sidesteps any cliches of happily ever after with his messy, magical but still oddly realistic depiction of love and healing and heartbreak. Each member of this quartet is forced to step outside of their comfort zone and try on new roles: some rise to the occasion while others fail. Neither success nor failure is considered a value judgment, but does indicate how well suited people are to continue on their journeys together. It's a nuanced, generous take on love and compatibility that will soothe any heart that grieves and/or is still seeking answers for past loss.
Because, ultimately, the reason that it's so hard to let go of heartbreak is the relentless need to understand why. Why did they do that to me? Why wasn't I enough for them when they were enough for me? You can tell yourself a million times that the reason they hurt you is because they suck -- and I say this as the Queen of Good Breakups, who has always done her best to mitigate the pain of any breakups I've initiated -- but you won't necessarily believe it, and look for answers in other people and experiences, festivals and faith and externalities, before you realize what Viv does:
It wasn't fortune-telling I needed, it was self-revelation.
As a Tarot girlie myself, this hit me hard in the feels. Tarot is, in my experience, an incredible way to bolster yourself for the daily challenges you face, and to really explore your reactions to same. Sure there's a teeny tiny element of prognostication involved, but reading Tarot is, by and large, an excellent self-care practice meant to keep your heart and mind open and engaged with the world. When I ask my cards, over and over again, what I should do about my latest ex, I'm really asking them how to fulfill that part of me that craves love in all its forms, as annoyingly personified by this one guy. Mr Okri understands that, as well as the way in which it's easier for people to hear good advice when it comes from an authority we lend credence to, whether deserving or otherwise (as "deserving" isn't really the point.) We aren't raised to trust ourselves -- often for good reason -- so the intervention of the mystical and/or inarguable is often necessary to guide us to both understanding and accepting the truth.
My only criticism of this book was how bizarrely middle class it could be in terms of money. I barked with ironic laughter when the women claimed that the happiest people they know are the poorest. Honestly, in this economy?! Perhaps it was meant to show how out of touch the main characters are with reality, as only idiots think that poverty and happiness go hand in hand. That aside, this was a moving, insightful look at the importance of knowing yourself in order to better let go of the past and embrace the future. I'm glad I read it when I did, as it helps me continue moving forward with love for and faith in myself.
Madame Sosostris And The Festival For The Brokenhearted by Ben Okri was published March 18 2025 by Other Press and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
This review first appeared at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.
December 17, 2024
‘Love begins with a burst of hallelujah and ends with the apocalypse.’
This was a fun read and something wholly unlike anything i’ve read before. There are so many literary references that gave it an almost pretentious richness, a pretentiousness that embodied the characters perfectly.
A tad bit predictable towards the end but an interesting interrogation of love, relationships and what happens when we settle for people who aren’t right for us.
This was a fun read and something wholly unlike anything i’ve read before. There are so many literary references that gave it an almost pretentious richness, a pretentiousness that embodied the characters perfectly.
A tad bit predictable towards the end but an interesting interrogation of love, relationships and what happens when we settle for people who aren’t right for us.
May 12, 2025
2.5 it was 95% bantering conversations that I suppose were trying to be witty? but fell flat for me. People don’t talk like that. And if 2 people actually did, an entire cast of people seems unbelievable. Just a bunch of short 1 liners from a broken monologue. It really did not feel like unique voices. Maybe that’s the point? But the impact was dry and unforgiving in most cases
The message at the end was impactful.
It did carry with it a bit of mysticism which drew me to keep reading
The message at the end was impactful.
It did carry with it a bit of mysticism which drew me to keep reading
July 26, 2025
I usually enjoy Ben Okri, but this is very different to his usual writing, and not in a good way. None of the characters are likeable, there is very little plot. It is supposed to be a take on A Midsummer nights dream, the only similarity being everyone is in costume and the action takes place in an enchanted wood. But what really put me of was the interminable lines of dialogue
July 28, 2025
I found this such a disappointing read. I'll admit I went against my instincts and blind bought this despite the cover and name not appealing to me.
I don't want to read about white, English snobs having shallow and dull supernatural encounters in the French countryside. I didn't enjoy the writing, the characters or the journey. I don't understand the appeal of this at all.
I don't want to read about white, English snobs having shallow and dull supernatural encounters in the French countryside. I didn't enjoy the writing, the characters or the journey. I don't understand the appeal of this at all.
February 14, 2026
Ok. Some nice quotes and descriptions. Defaulted to skim reading some of the conversations and scene setting.
March 4, 2025
A short novel, with lines and lines of conversation, some of which follow on so closely and for so long, that sometimes it's difficult to work out who is speaking, yet which holds the attention as one wonders whether the Festival for The Broken-Hearted will ever actually occur. And when it does, will Madame Sosostris ever arrive? And what will happen if she does not?
Ben Okri's novel (too short for a novel, too long for a novelette) is almost an adult fairy tale, looking at two couples whose marriages are broken. The more powerful wife, Viv, who happens to sit in the House of Lords, decides on a whim to organises a Festival for all those who are broken hearted, and enrolls her friend Beatrice to help. The Festival becomes a masked ball; and behind the masks the couples meet each other and may or may not recognise their spouses. And there are a number of faerie spirits and ghosts floating around too. Quite why (or indeed how) Viv manages to be in the Lords is never explained nor is it really fully fleshed out in her character and capabilities - other than being powerful enough to organise the Festival.
There are hints of A Midsummer Night's Dream, in the forest and in disguise; of T S Eliott's Madame Sosostris in The Waste Land, the wisest woman in all of Europe; of myths and magic and mistaken identity. And underneath it all lie the questions of personality and identity, of love and marriage, of happiness and broken hearts and broken dreams.
The book begins, 'Read Slowly.' I wondered at first if the word 'read' is to be pronounced 'reed' or 'red' and thought it slightly pretentious, however it was meant to be 'red.' Maybe the conversational lines would be easier to understand if 'red' more slowly and considerately, but otherwise I continued at my usual pace, not wishing to have it dictated by the author. But perhaps if I had followed the instruction and 'red' more slowly I would have gained more from the book?
Sadly, the book didn't grip me; the characters were not developed except in their brief sentences of conversation which did not go very deep to find out more about them. Some of the banter was clever and witty, sometimes it seemed bizarre and sometimes just way off. I am still not fully sure of the reason the author wrote this. Unless it was to have it turned into a play or a film.
With thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for an advanced reader copy.
Ben Okri's novel (too short for a novel, too long for a novelette) is almost an adult fairy tale, looking at two couples whose marriages are broken. The more powerful wife, Viv, who happens to sit in the House of Lords, decides on a whim to organises a Festival for all those who are broken hearted, and enrolls her friend Beatrice to help. The Festival becomes a masked ball; and behind the masks the couples meet each other and may or may not recognise their spouses. And there are a number of faerie spirits and ghosts floating around too. Quite why (or indeed how) Viv manages to be in the Lords is never explained nor is it really fully fleshed out in her character and capabilities - other than being powerful enough to organise the Festival.
There are hints of A Midsummer Night's Dream, in the forest and in disguise; of T S Eliott's Madame Sosostris in The Waste Land, the wisest woman in all of Europe; of myths and magic and mistaken identity. And underneath it all lie the questions of personality and identity, of love and marriage, of happiness and broken hearts and broken dreams.
The book begins, 'Read Slowly.' I wondered at first if the word 'read' is to be pronounced 'reed' or 'red' and thought it slightly pretentious, however it was meant to be 'red.' Maybe the conversational lines would be easier to understand if 'red' more slowly and considerately, but otherwise I continued at my usual pace, not wishing to have it dictated by the author. But perhaps if I had followed the instruction and 'red' more slowly I would have gained more from the book?
Sadly, the book didn't grip me; the characters were not developed except in their brief sentences of conversation which did not go very deep to find out more about them. Some of the banter was clever and witty, sometimes it seemed bizarre and sometimes just way off. I am still not fully sure of the reason the author wrote this. Unless it was to have it turned into a play or a film.
With thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for an advanced reader copy.
August 27, 2026
🎧 Listened in audio 📢 Narrated by Phyllida Nash ⏱ Duration: 4 hours
Genre: Magical Realism Read as a part of Mystery Date with Whitby Library
🏷️ Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing and Other Press
I got this book in a mystery date with the clues given as magical realism, masked ball, and enchanted forest. That created an image which would be a mix of Sangu Mandanna and Rhys Bowen, and I was instantly “enchanted.”
The first few chapters of the book created a wonderful vibe. Narration by Phyllida Nash was so beautifully eloquent, with her posh accent and brilliant vocabulary (which is Ben Okri’s writing, of course). The premise in the first few chapters was brilliant. Viv wanting to host a ball for the brokenhearted to help them get over their pain, and Alan, her husband, although not entirely agreeing to it, still goes ahead with the idea. A mysterious soothsayer and clairvoyant. A masked ball.
But that is where the fascination ended for me. The ball itself, set in an enchanted forest, didn’t make much sense to me. What was the point of the whole book from there? The magic of the forest is supposed to bring the reality of the person to the forefront, for both the person themselves and those around to witness, but why go through the whole ordeal? The ending would have happened regardless of the enchanted forest. It felt very confusing to me.
I usually enjoy magical realism and fantasy books, but this one just wasn’t very clear on the intention of the story. Not saying Ben Okri’s books aren’t good, having experience with only one, but I might not be revisiting the author, unfortunately.
Would I recommend it?
Honestly, it’s a mixed bag. The opening had everything going for it: a gorgeous narrator, an intriguing premise, and a soothsayer plucked straight out of The Waste Land. But once the masked ball actually got underway in that enchanted forest, the whole thing lost me. The forest’s “magic” is meant to strip away everyone’s masks and force some hard truths out into the open, except the story would have landed at the same place without any of it. If you’re new to Ben Okri, this might not be the best entry point, though the writing itself is undeniably lovely to listen to.
Genre: Magical Realism Read as a part of Mystery Date with Whitby Library
🏷️ Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing and Other Press
I got this book in a mystery date with the clues given as magical realism, masked ball, and enchanted forest. That created an image which would be a mix of Sangu Mandanna and Rhys Bowen, and I was instantly “enchanted.”
The first few chapters of the book created a wonderful vibe. Narration by Phyllida Nash was so beautifully eloquent, with her posh accent and brilliant vocabulary (which is Ben Okri’s writing, of course). The premise in the first few chapters was brilliant. Viv wanting to host a ball for the brokenhearted to help them get over their pain, and Alan, her husband, although not entirely agreeing to it, still goes ahead with the idea. A mysterious soothsayer and clairvoyant. A masked ball.
But that is where the fascination ended for me. The ball itself, set in an enchanted forest, didn’t make much sense to me. What was the point of the whole book from there? The magic of the forest is supposed to bring the reality of the person to the forefront, for both the person themselves and those around to witness, but why go through the whole ordeal? The ending would have happened regardless of the enchanted forest. It felt very confusing to me.
I usually enjoy magical realism and fantasy books, but this one just wasn’t very clear on the intention of the story. Not saying Ben Okri’s books aren’t good, having experience with only one, but I might not be revisiting the author, unfortunately.
Would I recommend it?
Honestly, it’s a mixed bag. The opening had everything going for it: a gorgeous narrator, an intriguing premise, and a soothsayer plucked straight out of The Waste Land. But once the masked ball actually got underway in that enchanted forest, the whole thing lost me. The forest’s “magic” is meant to strip away everyone’s masks and force some hard truths out into the open, except the story would have landed at the same place without any of it. If you’re new to Ben Okri, this might not be the best entry point, though the writing itself is undeniably lovely to listen to.
February 18, 2025
Trying too hard for wit, epigram and enchanting playfulness 2.5
Unfortunately, this short novel, a kind of mash-up of a Midsummer Night’s Dream with a fortune teller from Eliot’s The Wasteland, seems too much a self-conscious exercise. Particularly in its use of rat-a tat clever dialogue between the 4 Central characters, two middle aged couples who are successful, urbane and represent various areas of upper middle class life. There are pages of ‘witty’ repartee, sometimes between one or other of the married couples, sometimes the two women, sometimes the two men.
Unfortunately, Okri rarely, within the dialogue, says which person is speaking, other than at the very start of each conversation. Perhaps the instruction to ‘Read Slowly’ at the start of the novel is precisely because the reader will otherwise endlessly not be sure which person is speaking. Particularly when there are lines and lines of supposed banter and wit, without an obvious character delineation linked to each statement. For example, in a conversation between the two husbands:
“I Knew an astrologer whose wife was cheating on him. Why couldn’t he read that in the charts?”
“I knew a healer who was always getting a cold”
“My dermatologist had a bad skin condition for years. It gives you know confidence”
“I had a banker friend who was always asking me for a loan”
“Did you give him one?”
“At the highest rate of interest. He still hasn’t paid me back”
“I knew a mechanic whose car kept breaking down”
“I knew a poet who never had a pen on him. Was always borrowing mine. Made you wonder –“
Unfortunately, all this hard work at playful enchantment had neither the wit and charm of the lovers’ quarrels in Midsummer Night’s Dream, nor the depth of feeling in love’s disappointments and misunderstandings.
This just all felt too much like a cerebral concept given form.
Unfortunately, this short novel, a kind of mash-up of a Midsummer Night’s Dream with a fortune teller from Eliot’s The Wasteland, seems too much a self-conscious exercise. Particularly in its use of rat-a tat clever dialogue between the 4 Central characters, two middle aged couples who are successful, urbane and represent various areas of upper middle class life. There are pages of ‘witty’ repartee, sometimes between one or other of the married couples, sometimes the two women, sometimes the two men.
Unfortunately, Okri rarely, within the dialogue, says which person is speaking, other than at the very start of each conversation. Perhaps the instruction to ‘Read Slowly’ at the start of the novel is precisely because the reader will otherwise endlessly not be sure which person is speaking. Particularly when there are lines and lines of supposed banter and wit, without an obvious character delineation linked to each statement. For example, in a conversation between the two husbands:
“I Knew an astrologer whose wife was cheating on him. Why couldn’t he read that in the charts?”
“I knew a healer who was always getting a cold”
“My dermatologist had a bad skin condition for years. It gives you know confidence”
“I had a banker friend who was always asking me for a loan”
“Did you give him one?”
“At the highest rate of interest. He still hasn’t paid me back”
“I knew a mechanic whose car kept breaking down”
“I knew a poet who never had a pen on him. Was always borrowing mine. Made you wonder –“
Unfortunately, all this hard work at playful enchantment had neither the wit and charm of the lovers’ quarrels in Midsummer Night’s Dream, nor the depth of feeling in love’s disappointments and misunderstandings.
This just all felt too much like a cerebral concept given form.
March 9, 2025
This is a slim novella which can be read in a couple of sittings, firmly in an English magic realist style. The story is simple enough: two urbane and intellectual couples undergo a night of magic and transformation in the woods redolent of the Athenian lovers from A Midsummer Nights Dream. In place of Puck and his magic potion we have a magic fortune-teller, Madame Sosostris, who is the centrepiece of a festival planned by Viv. Along the way, as the festival of the Broken-hearted is planned and unfolds (bringing to mind the fabulous chateau party in Les Grandes Meulnes), Viv’s husband Alan and her best friend Beatrice and her husband Stephen spend most of the novel swapping epithets on love, separation, truth, identity and much more.
Okri I feel here is playing around as much with the literary landscapes as anything else. The two feuding couples in the woods from Shakespare, the fortune-teller a character from TS Eliots’ The Wasteland, one of the central characters has the name of Eliots first wife who of course was rather more than merely broken-hearted on their separation, as Eliot had her committed to a mental hospital. To Fournier, Shakespeare and Eliot you can add Chekhov, he of the world-weary aristos musing on life and fate in a country house.
The period is curious, much of their dialogue appears to be straight out of the Bloomsbury Set, but it is set in the present day. The characters are curious, likewise both contemporary and from history. Their stylised language is curious, again as if Virginia Woolf had written a novel set today. It's a curious novel, in the best sense, and if you don’t worry too much about where it is all headed there’s lots of fun along the way.
An ARC kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Okri I feel here is playing around as much with the literary landscapes as anything else. The two feuding couples in the woods from Shakespare, the fortune-teller a character from TS Eliots’ The Wasteland, one of the central characters has the name of Eliots first wife who of course was rather more than merely broken-hearted on their separation, as Eliot had her committed to a mental hospital. To Fournier, Shakespeare and Eliot you can add Chekhov, he of the world-weary aristos musing on life and fate in a country house.
The period is curious, much of their dialogue appears to be straight out of the Bloomsbury Set, but it is set in the present day. The characters are curious, likewise both contemporary and from history. Their stylised language is curious, again as if Virginia Woolf had written a novel set today. It's a curious novel, in the best sense, and if you don’t worry too much about where it is all headed there’s lots of fun along the way.
An ARC kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
November 19, 2024
Booker Prize winning author Ben Okri returns with a trifle of a novel. It's about Viv who wants to create a festival for people who have had their hearts broken. She teams up with her friend Beatrice to create this magical event with Madame Sosostris as the centre of attention. When things go awry, the women must take the reins and help people find their true purposes in life.
Okri has a light touch with this novel, and the party is the highlight of the book as it feels like a combination of Oscar Wilde, "Enchanted April" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Okri creates a magical spell over his characters and his readers for a time. Okri made me wish the party scenes had been much longer, as they have a nice energy.
However, there are drawbacks to the novel. It's much too short as I would have liked more character development from Viv and Beatrice as well as their husbands Alan and Stephen. The first part of the book is a bit too focused on witty remarks/banter that it feels too much at time. I wanted less of the banter, and more insight into the characters. Since the focus is on the witty lines, the four main characters feel underdeveloped. With that said, the book has charm and a nice vibe so it would make for a pleasant winter read.
Okri has a light touch with this novel, and the party is the highlight of the book as it feels like a combination of Oscar Wilde, "Enchanted April" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Okri creates a magical spell over his characters and his readers for a time. Okri made me wish the party scenes had been much longer, as they have a nice energy.
However, there are drawbacks to the novel. It's much too short as I would have liked more character development from Viv and Beatrice as well as their husbands Alan and Stephen. The first part of the book is a bit too focused on witty remarks/banter that it feels too much at time. I wanted less of the banter, and more insight into the characters. Since the focus is on the witty lines, the four main characters feel underdeveloped. With that said, the book has charm and a nice vibe so it would make for a pleasant winter read.
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