The Violet Hour

James Cahill gets better and better. I really loved The Violet Hour, trying, and failing, to ration myself rather than reading in a greedy rush. Its evocation of the wonders of art and the dehumanising horrors of the art industry are spot on, of course, but as a novelist what I really admired was his narrative structure and sly choreography of his principal characters. On one level it functions as a highbrow whodunnit, and grippingly so, but it's much more than that, building into a meditation on mortality and the unreliable consolations of art, love and materialism. I can't wait to see what he does next -- Patrick Gale, author of MOTHER'S BOY James Cahill has done it again. The Violet Hour is a thrilling story told in seductive, shimmering prose. Beauty, money, power, seduction, betrayal. It's all here in this bewitching and all too often troubling backstage pass to the commercial art world -- Chlo Ashby, author of WET PAINT Cahill allows us a private view of the art world in all its rancid glamour. The artist Thomas Haller - like Wilde's Dorian Gray - has sold his soul. As painters, gallerists and collectors move between New York and the Venice Biennial, auction houses and apartments hung with Mapplethorpes or Picassos, a reckoning is coming. Pulsing with violence and longing, this is a sumptuous, sinister morality tale -- Clare Pollard, author of DELPHI A hugely enjoyable yarn by an author hitting his literary stride -- Sarah Lucas A riveting, immersive journey into the unsettling underbelly of the art world -- Editor's Choice * Bookseller * PRAISE FOR TIEPOLO BLUE 'The best novel I have read for ages . . . masterly' STEPHEN FRY 'An exhilarating, erudite read' VOGUE.COM 'Electric' GUARDIAN 'Startlingly impressive' DAILY MAIL

James Cahill has worked in the art world and academia for fifteen years. His debut novel, Tiepolo Blue, was shortlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award, and his writing has been published in Artforum, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the London Review of Books, the Spectator, the Times Literary Supplement and the Daily Telegraph, among others. James divides his time between London and Los Angeles.