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Mr Keynes' Revolution: The compelling historical novel about one of the 20th century's most remarkable men
A novel about one of the twentieth century's most remarkable figures – John Maynard Keynes.“Since the war, everything’s changed. But how far can you push people? Until they rise up and throw the government down?”
When the brilliant Maynard Keynes walks out on the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, he seems destined to obscurity. But in the crisis-ridden 1920s, he soon finds himself back on the public stage. A man of fierce intelligence but hidden susceptibilities, he is not afraid to speak the truth or hold the powerful to account, in a world on the brink of collapse.
Ballerina Lydia Lopokova has fled the Russian Revolution and is now seeking her own personal salvation. The last thing she expects is to join her fate to that of a Bohemian economist.
Set in a world where personal and political certainties are crumbling, and where the very future of capitalism is in question, this is a novel about money and power, as well as an unusual love story.
Based on the true story of John Maynard Keynes, ground-breaking economist, controversial intellectual, government adviser, financial speculator and Bloomsbury Group member, and Lydia Lopokova, ballerina, Russian exile, and one of the great eccentrics. Maynard and Lydia's story is one of the great love stories of the twentieth century – and perhaps one of the least likely.There have been many biographies of the founder of Keynesian Economics, but this is the first time historical fiction has put his life at centre stage. It combines the battle of the gold standard with the Russian ballet, Bohemians with central bankers, the forbidden gay world of 1920s London with the risks of currency speculation. In a cast with such diverse characters as Virginia Woolf and Winston Churchill, Maynard embarks on a one-man crusade to save capitalism from disaster.
Longlisted for the Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award.
When the brilliant Maynard Keynes walks out on the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, he seems destined to obscurity. But in the crisis-ridden 1920s, he soon finds himself back on the public stage. A man of fierce intelligence but hidden susceptibilities, he is not afraid to speak the truth or hold the powerful to account, in a world on the brink of collapse.
Ballerina Lydia Lopokova has fled the Russian Revolution and is now seeking her own personal salvation. The last thing she expects is to join her fate to that of a Bohemian economist.
Set in a world where personal and political certainties are crumbling, and where the very future of capitalism is in question, this is a novel about money and power, as well as an unusual love story.
Based on the true story of John Maynard Keynes, ground-breaking economist, controversial intellectual, government adviser, financial speculator and Bloomsbury Group member, and Lydia Lopokova, ballerina, Russian exile, and one of the great eccentrics. Maynard and Lydia's story is one of the great love stories of the twentieth century – and perhaps one of the least likely.There have been many biographies of the founder of Keynesian Economics, but this is the first time historical fiction has put his life at centre stage. It combines the battle of the gold standard with the Russian ballet, Bohemians with central bankers, the forbidden gay world of 1920s London with the risks of currency speculation. In a cast with such diverse characters as Virginia Woolf and Winston Churchill, Maynard embarks on a one-man crusade to save capitalism from disaster.
Longlisted for the Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award.
- GenresFiction
382 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 6, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 11, 2022
I came to read "MR KEYNES' REVOLUTION" purely by chance.
Almost 40 years ago, as an undergraduate student I majored in Economics, and thus, became aware of John Maynard Keynes, who was arguably the greatest economist of the 20th century. His work in the areas of economic thought and analysis, his keen and facile intellect, and his contributions to the field of economics and public policy (from the 1920s through the early post-World War II era) were considerable. Anyway, I was intrigued to see that there was a novel in which Keynes would be a central character. So, I happily took the plunge.
"MR KEYNES' REVOLUTION" takes the reader from the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, where Keynes served as a financial representative for the British Treasury (but resigned in disgust over the decision of the Allies to impose a punitive reparations plan on Germany, which he felt would worsen economic conditions in Germany, which, in turn, would lead to negative spillover effects across Europe and beyond) through his return to Britain, his return to academia in Cambridge, glimpses into Keynes' public and private lives, and his fateful meeting with a Russian ballerina who would later become his wife in 1925. I also enjoyed being given glimpses into the lives of some of Keynes' household servants, some of the politicians and advisors who loomed large in 1920s Britain (e.g. David Lloyd George, Montagu Norman - who was the Governor of the Bank of England - and Winston Churchill) as well as some of the Bloomsbury Set (with whom Keynes had close friendships from before World War I).
In this novel, I think E.J. Barnes has struck the right balance. Really, it could have all gone so terribly wrong, trying to capture the spirit of an age and the person who figured prominently in that epoch, and having it come out as an absurd, clumsily crafted melodrama. But "MR KEYNES' REVOLUTION" I thoroughly enjoyed. It's a novel that I'm inclined to read again and again.
Almost 40 years ago, as an undergraduate student I majored in Economics, and thus, became aware of John Maynard Keynes, who was arguably the greatest economist of the 20th century. His work in the areas of economic thought and analysis, his keen and facile intellect, and his contributions to the field of economics and public policy (from the 1920s through the early post-World War II era) were considerable. Anyway, I was intrigued to see that there was a novel in which Keynes would be a central character. So, I happily took the plunge.
"MR KEYNES' REVOLUTION" takes the reader from the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, where Keynes served as a financial representative for the British Treasury (but resigned in disgust over the decision of the Allies to impose a punitive reparations plan on Germany, which he felt would worsen economic conditions in Germany, which, in turn, would lead to negative spillover effects across Europe and beyond) through his return to Britain, his return to academia in Cambridge, glimpses into Keynes' public and private lives, and his fateful meeting with a Russian ballerina who would later become his wife in 1925. I also enjoyed being given glimpses into the lives of some of Keynes' household servants, some of the politicians and advisors who loomed large in 1920s Britain (e.g. David Lloyd George, Montagu Norman - who was the Governor of the Bank of England - and Winston Churchill) as well as some of the Bloomsbury Set (with whom Keynes had close friendships from before World War I).
In this novel, I think E.J. Barnes has struck the right balance. Really, it could have all gone so terribly wrong, trying to capture the spirit of an age and the person who figured prominently in that epoch, and having it come out as an absurd, clumsily crafted melodrama. But "MR KEYNES' REVOLUTION" I thoroughly enjoyed. It's a novel that I'm inclined to read again and again.
December 30, 2020
I really enjoyed this. I've visited Charleston (lovely National Trust property) and Keynes seemed such an odd member of the Bloomsbury group, so different to the rest. Not easy to make post-war economics fascinating, but the author managed it. Taught me quite a bit about the genesis of WWII and the Great Depression too. I'll look forward to the sequel, am wondering how his portfolio did during the crash.
April 24, 2024
To me, this was a well written book with many layers. First it is the story of Maynard Keynes, an economist who lived in the UK during WWI and the aftermath and tried to do what he thought was right concerning all countries after the war. It is also a love story between Mr. Keynes and a Russian ballerina, Lydia Lopokova. Up until he meets her, he has only had relations with men, so everyone is surprised, even him!! It is also a story of The Bloomsbury group in London and establishment government. So, a lot going on.
I found I really liked Mr. Keynes and Ms. Lopokova. They were individuals and tried to do what was right for them. I first heard of Mr. Keynes from my son (economics major) and wanted to find out more. I thought this book did a good job with the economic aspects and the personal aspects as well as what was going on with Britain after the war. Looking forward to reading the sequel.
I found I really liked Mr. Keynes and Ms. Lopokova. They were individuals and tried to do what was right for them. I first heard of Mr. Keynes from my son (economics major) and wanted to find out more. I thought this book did a good job with the economic aspects and the personal aspects as well as what was going on with Britain after the war. Looking forward to reading the sequel.
November 19, 2022
I expected a rather dry recounting of the life of John Maynard Keynes but was delighted to find a light but knowledgeable fictionalised account of his life up until his marriage. Looking forward to Book 2,
The research is worn lightly, but the recreation of the period (20s-30s), the economic and political arguments and the characters, including the not terribly sympathetically portrayed Bloomsbury set, all this makes for a fascinating and immersive read. Sometimes I felt as if I were eavesdropping on real conversations.
This book is an impressive achievement, cleverly and brilliantly written.
The research is worn lightly, but the recreation of the period (20s-30s), the economic and political arguments and the characters, including the not terribly sympathetically portrayed Bloomsbury set, all this makes for a fascinating and immersive read. Sometimes I felt as if I were eavesdropping on real conversations.
This book is an impressive achievement, cleverly and brilliantly written.
January 25, 2022
This is a biographical novel of John Maynard Keynes, possibly the most important economist of the 2oth century. It followed a five year period of his life in the first half of the 1920s, mostly focusing on his debate about Britain rejoining the Gold Standard and his meeting his wife. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the famous economist.
May 5, 2023
I should declare an interest since, in her youth, the author was my pupil. Yet if ever there was a case of the teacher being taught by the student, this is surely it.
“Mr Keynes’ Revolution” introduced me to Maynard Keynes the man, as opposed to Maynard Keynes the ground-breaking economist. In the aftermath of The First World War, the tectonic plates of economics had begun moving as surely as those of politics, but hardly anyone realised the earthquake was coming. The illusory safety of a return to the status quo antebellum appealed strongly to upper middle class financiers and public figures, who thought once they’d got over the inevitable punishment of the wicked Germans, the whole world could get back to normal and life could go on as if nothing had happened. Why was Keynes almost alone in perceiving that not only was the old way gone for ever, but that every great step aimed at reviving it, from The Treaty of Versailles to the return to The Gold Standard, was digging it an even deeper grave?
E J Barnes brings vividly to life Keynes’ transition from member of The Bloomsbury Set, a commune of artists and intellectuals, inhabiting their own world, and relying on other people to provide for their basic needs, to a campaigning newspaper owner fearlessly speaking truth to power, very much a man of the real world, and defiant of the ostracism that came his way because of his perceived treachery to his class. In particular, she focuses on the seminal importance of his remarkable love story, as the academic economic genius encounters an exiled Russian ballerina, also a star in her own firmament, but one only too well aware of the fragility of both her art and of civilisation itself.
In those social divisions of the 1920s, I see a parallel with recent years. We, too, are experiencing a ruinous European war and a near universal desire for the aggressor to be punished. We, too, have a country divided between a middle class who thought the EU offered the way of life they desired and a working class who saw their wages depressed and their livelihoods threatened. Those who escape class divisions of the past find themselves mired in the artificially-contrived strife of identity politics just when we need society to pull together. We see a world economy devastated by Covid just as the last century had its postwar influenza. We have a ruling elite with the same incomprehension of the larger picture and the same resistance to radical change, and we are again staggering from one world financial crisis to another because, as yet, we have no Keynes to show us how the institutions of our century must be reformed to cope with it all.
I recommend this book. It conveys a powerful message in wonderfully evocative and very readable prose.
“Mr Keynes’ Revolution” introduced me to Maynard Keynes the man, as opposed to Maynard Keynes the ground-breaking economist. In the aftermath of The First World War, the tectonic plates of economics had begun moving as surely as those of politics, but hardly anyone realised the earthquake was coming. The illusory safety of a return to the status quo antebellum appealed strongly to upper middle class financiers and public figures, who thought once they’d got over the inevitable punishment of the wicked Germans, the whole world could get back to normal and life could go on as if nothing had happened. Why was Keynes almost alone in perceiving that not only was the old way gone for ever, but that every great step aimed at reviving it, from The Treaty of Versailles to the return to The Gold Standard, was digging it an even deeper grave?
E J Barnes brings vividly to life Keynes’ transition from member of The Bloomsbury Set, a commune of artists and intellectuals, inhabiting their own world, and relying on other people to provide for their basic needs, to a campaigning newspaper owner fearlessly speaking truth to power, very much a man of the real world, and defiant of the ostracism that came his way because of his perceived treachery to his class. In particular, she focuses on the seminal importance of his remarkable love story, as the academic economic genius encounters an exiled Russian ballerina, also a star in her own firmament, but one only too well aware of the fragility of both her art and of civilisation itself.
In those social divisions of the 1920s, I see a parallel with recent years. We, too, are experiencing a ruinous European war and a near universal desire for the aggressor to be punished. We, too, have a country divided between a middle class who thought the EU offered the way of life they desired and a working class who saw their wages depressed and their livelihoods threatened. Those who escape class divisions of the past find themselves mired in the artificially-contrived strife of identity politics just when we need society to pull together. We see a world economy devastated by Covid just as the last century had its postwar influenza. We have a ruling elite with the same incomprehension of the larger picture and the same resistance to radical change, and we are again staggering from one world financial crisis to another because, as yet, we have no Keynes to show us how the institutions of our century must be reformed to cope with it all.
I recommend this book. It conveys a powerful message in wonderfully evocative and very readable prose.
November 21, 2023
Fictional biography can provide easy access to history. The subject is John Maynard Keynes, economist and philosopher and founder of "Keynsian economics," a foundation of today's economics. Since a history of economic theory is a tough sell, biography is a good way to present it. But why a fictional biography? Why not real biography?
Nobody's life is dramatic or consistently interesting enough to sustain our attention over several decades. Keyne's life and important work began during the negotiations over German reparations after World War I, and continued into the Depression of the 1930s when he challenged the idea that "free-market" economics could provide long-term prosperity for all. Instead, he argued governments must intervene with regulation from time to time. His ideas won the day but faded during the 1970s when free-market mania resurged. Barack Obama resurrected Keynsian economics. Keynes has cast a long historical shadow.
A fictional biography can spice up the ordinariness of a person's life with exciting scenes and inject drama into such a decades-long development of economic theory, making it more accessible. Along the way we also get some insight to the person. However, that strategy only works if the author writes good fiction.
I tried to like this book for all those reasons. I'm an admirer of Keynes. But the fictionalized dialogs and scenes were leaden and I couldn't get through it. Pages and pages of family scenes about food, travels, children, and so on, do not constitute fiction. Most scenes failed to further either character or story arcs and amounted to mere filler. Worse, they were boring. It would be different if Barnes had thrown in the odd car-chase or gun-battle instead of endless soporific scenes. But that was not Keynes' life.
Fictional biographies can be good reads. Wolf Hall, a pseudo-biography of Thomas Mann, is an example. Woolf's Orlando is another, though that's not a historical biography. Barnes' attempt to bring Keynes and his ideas to life was a good idea that remained inert despite being well-researched. Throughout, I yearned for strightforward history and found myself skimming the chit-chat to find historical nuggets. That tells me the book did not meet my expectations.
The book is well-reviewed however, and for readers with more patience than I have, it could be an enjoyable and informative experience.
Barnes, E. J. (2020). Mr. Keynes’ Revolution. Greyfire Publishing, 375 pp.
Nobody's life is dramatic or consistently interesting enough to sustain our attention over several decades. Keyne's life and important work began during the negotiations over German reparations after World War I, and continued into the Depression of the 1930s when he challenged the idea that "free-market" economics could provide long-term prosperity for all. Instead, he argued governments must intervene with regulation from time to time. His ideas won the day but faded during the 1970s when free-market mania resurged. Barack Obama resurrected Keynsian economics. Keynes has cast a long historical shadow.
A fictional biography can spice up the ordinariness of a person's life with exciting scenes and inject drama into such a decades-long development of economic theory, making it more accessible. Along the way we also get some insight to the person. However, that strategy only works if the author writes good fiction.
I tried to like this book for all those reasons. I'm an admirer of Keynes. But the fictionalized dialogs and scenes were leaden and I couldn't get through it. Pages and pages of family scenes about food, travels, children, and so on, do not constitute fiction. Most scenes failed to further either character or story arcs and amounted to mere filler. Worse, they were boring. It would be different if Barnes had thrown in the odd car-chase or gun-battle instead of endless soporific scenes. But that was not Keynes' life.
Fictional biographies can be good reads. Wolf Hall, a pseudo-biography of Thomas Mann, is an example. Woolf's Orlando is another, though that's not a historical biography. Barnes' attempt to bring Keynes and his ideas to life was a good idea that remained inert despite being well-researched. Throughout, I yearned for strightforward history and found myself skimming the chit-chat to find historical nuggets. That tells me the book did not meet my expectations.
The book is well-reviewed however, and for readers with more patience than I have, it could be an enjoyable and informative experience.
Barnes, E. J. (2020). Mr. Keynes’ Revolution. Greyfire Publishing, 375 pp.
January 31, 2023
Keynes is a towering figure in the world of economics. Not everyone agrees with his principles, but very few can argue that he was not insignificant, if only because his principles guided policy making during the immediate post-war years. However, what about Keynes the man? In looking at principles and impact, we often forget that there was a person involved too. I was attracted to this novel by the prospect of meeting Keynes as a person.
It has to be said at the outset that this is a work of fiction and not a biography. It is a fictional re-imagining of a critical part of Keynes' life. The author has researched the subject well, and much of what is written is based upon documented fact, but it is still a work of fiction. That has to be borne in mind.
However, with this caution in mind, I felt that the author did a fairly good job of imagining what Keynes' life would have been like. The book covers the period from the Versailles Conference in 1919 to the Return to Gold in 1925. This was a central time in Keynes' life because it is the point at which it becomes evident that he is not going to be part of the Establishment. An outsider through his sexual inclinations, a social outsider through his connections with the Bloomsbury group, and an outsider because of his unorthodox economic views. Every bit the maverick economist. However, after the return to gold, nobody could touch him. He was his own man.
This progression is covered quite well in the book. There are times when the narrative becomes a bit plodding and the dialogue reads as a poorly written episode of some historical soap opera. However, as a fan of Keynes, that was enough to keep me engaged. I wonder if those who know little about Keynes would remain with the book? One of the lessons I learned from studying the life of Keynes is that in order to life an independent life, one needs independent means. This book covers well the route by which Keynes acquired this, even if it's a bit sketchy on the detail.
All in all I liked the book. I liked it enough to invest in the companion volume, which I have yet to read. I am quite looking forward to it. So if you are a fan of Keynes, then this might be a book for you. If you aren't, you may be disappointed by it.
It has to be said at the outset that this is a work of fiction and not a biography. It is a fictional re-imagining of a critical part of Keynes' life. The author has researched the subject well, and much of what is written is based upon documented fact, but it is still a work of fiction. That has to be borne in mind.
However, with this caution in mind, I felt that the author did a fairly good job of imagining what Keynes' life would have been like. The book covers the period from the Versailles Conference in 1919 to the Return to Gold in 1925. This was a central time in Keynes' life because it is the point at which it becomes evident that he is not going to be part of the Establishment. An outsider through his sexual inclinations, a social outsider through his connections with the Bloomsbury group, and an outsider because of his unorthodox economic views. Every bit the maverick economist. However, after the return to gold, nobody could touch him. He was his own man.
This progression is covered quite well in the book. There are times when the narrative becomes a bit plodding and the dialogue reads as a poorly written episode of some historical soap opera. However, as a fan of Keynes, that was enough to keep me engaged. I wonder if those who know little about Keynes would remain with the book? One of the lessons I learned from studying the life of Keynes is that in order to life an independent life, one needs independent means. This book covers well the route by which Keynes acquired this, even if it's a bit sketchy on the detail.
All in all I liked the book. I liked it enough to invest in the companion volume, which I have yet to read. I am quite looking forward to it. So if you are a fan of Keynes, then this might be a book for you. If you aren't, you may be disappointed by it.
June 22, 2023
John Maynard Keynes is the name of a recurring character in a series I've been reading over and over for years. It is not a person, but the name of a cabin cruiser, the home of a famous economist 'Meyer' and best friend of the protagonist - John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee. MacDonald (1916-1986) had an MBA from Harvard and was well-versed in Keynesian Economic Theory.
That's how I got here, now the books.
'Mr. Keynes Revolution' and 'Mr. Keynes Dance' are a serialized fictional account of the life of the famed economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) written by E.J. Barnes. The story unfolds at the Paris Peace Conference following World War I (WWI). Keynes is at odds with most of the paticipants who seek reparations and want to hammer Germany for starting the war. Keynes believes this will be detrimental to the European economy.
Keynes was raised in a Liberal family (his mother was a Member of Parliment) and mentored by economic icon Alfred Marshall (1842-1924). His stand against German reparations for WWI was at odds with Allied leaders and his ideas to deal with British unemployment were rejected by bankers and other economists. Always swimming against the current thinking of the day, he finished and published his monumental tome 'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money' in 1936. Western nations began adopting Keynes' policy recommedations and his theories would dominate Western economies for the next 40 years.
The books include the remarkable courtship and marriage to Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova.
I can't say that I now have a full understanding of Keynes' theories, but I was thoroughly entertained.
That's how I got here, now the books.
'Mr. Keynes Revolution' and 'Mr. Keynes Dance' are a serialized fictional account of the life of the famed economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) written by E.J. Barnes. The story unfolds at the Paris Peace Conference following World War I (WWI). Keynes is at odds with most of the paticipants who seek reparations and want to hammer Germany for starting the war. Keynes believes this will be detrimental to the European economy.
Keynes was raised in a Liberal family (his mother was a Member of Parliment) and mentored by economic icon Alfred Marshall (1842-1924). His stand against German reparations for WWI was at odds with Allied leaders and his ideas to deal with British unemployment were rejected by bankers and other economists. Always swimming against the current thinking of the day, he finished and published his monumental tome 'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money' in 1936. Western nations began adopting Keynes' policy recommedations and his theories would dominate Western economies for the next 40 years.
The books include the remarkable courtship and marriage to Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova.
I can't say that I now have a full understanding of Keynes' theories, but I was thoroughly entertained.
July 23, 2025
John Maynard Keynes' mission to prevent the British government returning us to the Gold Standard at great economic cost to the working man is the main theme of the book and, as such, it's a bit didactic without ever really getting to grips with how the gold standard operated. Light relief is found in the form of his relationship with his future wife, a Russian ballerina who was sweet, sincere and funny but despised by Vanessa Bell and, to a lesser extent by Virginia Woolf (neither of whom emerge well from the novel). Lydia loves to do ballet exercises starkers, keeps up a constant stream of encouraging and humorous chat, loves the company of the servants and is refreshingly self-deprecating compared to the painter of gloomy pictures and writer of gloomy, introspective novels, who use Keynes to bankroll their self-indulgent, leisured lifestyles. There isn't much nuance in the characterisation and the story starts at the beginning and plods determinedly to the end but for anyone interested in Keynes' private life and his relationships with key members of the ghastly Bloomsbury set, it has enough bright spots to propel you to the end.
October 10, 2021
Absolutely fascinating story that drew me in from the first paragraph. With such a wide ranging setting - academia, theatrical world, the treasury, the Bloomsbury set and government circles, as well as the lives of those below stairs - a lesser writer would lose us in a muddle of names and places.
Barnes confidently guides us, making economic theories and battles human and engaging and the battle for Maynard’s heart just as essential. Maynard and Lydia’s love story is as unconventional as it is compelling, and I romped through the book in my eagerness to find out what happened next.
Can’t wait for the sequel!
Barnes confidently guides us, making economic theories and battles human and engaging and the battle for Maynard’s heart just as essential. Maynard and Lydia’s love story is as unconventional as it is compelling, and I romped through the book in my eagerness to find out what happened next.
Can’t wait for the sequel!
April 22, 2023
Heard of Keynes but knew nothing about his theories or the economics of the time. Interesting read. Would have found the relationship with Loppy completely unbelievable if I hadn’t know that it was factually correct.
Lent by Janet.
Lent by Janet.
November 30, 2022
An interesting read without, sadly, gripping me!
08.16
08.16
March 7, 2023
enjoyable and informative
A excellent blend of sound writing skills and knowledge of Economics. World events woven into a very human story. Thank you.
A excellent blend of sound writing skills and knowledge of Economics. World events woven into a very human story. Thank you.
December 9, 2022
A thoroughly enjoyable story - about an economist. I knew next to nothing about Keynes as a person before reading this book. I now know that: he was bisexual (initially preferred men), was a member of the Bloomsbury group, married a well known ballerina from the Ballet Russes.
I would say that 75% of the novel centered around his relationship with Lydia Lopokova from the Ballet Russes, 15% around his life as a homosexual and his friendships, including the Bloomsbury group, and 10% around his economic policies and impact. The descriptions of his economic thinking are clearly written and not long winded. If you don't already know about his philosophies, you will learn something.
Lopokova is an engaging character, and I cheered for her as she dealt with the snobbery of the Bloomsburies. Her story is interesting as well, and their relationship is upbeat and lovely. I highly recommend this book!
I would say that 75% of the novel centered around his relationship with Lydia Lopokova from the Ballet Russes, 15% around his life as a homosexual and his friendships, including the Bloomsbury group, and 10% around his economic policies and impact. The descriptions of his economic thinking are clearly written and not long winded. If you don't already know about his philosophies, you will learn something.
Lopokova is an engaging character, and I cheered for her as she dealt with the snobbery of the Bloomsburies. Her story is interesting as well, and their relationship is upbeat and lovely. I highly recommend this book!
July 5, 2021
Very nicely written novel about a most complex man rising to prominence at a pivotal time in the country's history. The interweaving of the Bloomsbury Group relationships were handled well and without judgement as indeed were Keynes own. It made for an enthralling read. The mysterious servant was a bit of a sideshow that added nothing useful to the story, but that was a minor distraction that didn't soil my overall employment at all.
February 16, 2025
Mr Keynes' Revolution starts at the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles in 1919. John Maynard Keynes had been working for the Treasury during the war but was totally opposed to the treatment being meted out to Germany at Versailles and resigned. The book then follows his life until 1925 when he marries.
This is a fascinating book concerning an individual that I knew very little about. I’m not an economist but the author, E. J. Barnes is, and she manages to explain his theories in an accessible way for the inexpert like me. His ideas were often at odds with those in power and I enjoyed learning about his discussions and contact with people like Lloyd George and Winston Churchill amongst many others.
What was even more interesting was learning more about Keynes as an individual. He was clearly a very kind and thoughtful individual who often put the needs others before his own. He was friends with the Bloombury group, shared homes with Vanessa and Duncan Bell and had good relationships with their children.
He had only had relationships with men until he met Lydia Lopokova. Lydia was a Russian emigré who danced in Ballet Russes managed by Sergei Diaghilev. It was love at first sight for him and despite complications, they married in 1925, much to the chagrin of Vanessa Bell.
Highly recommended if, like me, you enjoy historical fiction. I'm now reading the sequel, Mr. Keynes' Dance.
This is a fascinating book concerning an individual that I knew very little about. I’m not an economist but the author, E. J. Barnes is, and she manages to explain his theories in an accessible way for the inexpert like me. His ideas were often at odds with those in power and I enjoyed learning about his discussions and contact with people like Lloyd George and Winston Churchill amongst many others.
What was even more interesting was learning more about Keynes as an individual. He was clearly a very kind and thoughtful individual who often put the needs others before his own. He was friends with the Bloombury group, shared homes with Vanessa and Duncan Bell and had good relationships with their children.
He had only had relationships with men until he met Lydia Lopokova. Lydia was a Russian emigré who danced in Ballet Russes managed by Sergei Diaghilev. It was love at first sight for him and despite complications, they married in 1925, much to the chagrin of Vanessa Bell.
Highly recommended if, like me, you enjoy historical fiction. I'm now reading the sequel, Mr. Keynes' Dance.
April 25, 2021
Somewhat plodding but readable and enjoyable attempt to trace the arc of Keynes’ life and thought in the period covering the end of WW1 and the years following. What stands out is the inertia of the establishment and its privileging of city financiers over workers in the north. 100 years later has anything changed? Perhaps: because we seem to be repeating the arguments rehearsed in this book, perhaps with the same effect. A return to Keynesian economics.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews