Valiant Gentlemen

Starred review from August 22, 2016
Brimming with exquisite detail and clever humor, PEN/Faulkner winner Murray’s wondrously written historical novel ferries a vivid cast of characters across continents and decades, from the sweltering jungles of 19th-century Africa to cosmopolitan Paris in the wake of World War I. Here the close-knit avatars of history are Roger Casement, an Irish revolutionary, and Herbert Ward, a former circus performer turned devoted husband and father. Early chapters follow the two friends into cannibalistic villages and Manhattan’s earliest gay bars, along the Continental Railroad and speaking tours of the West Coast, eventually to Ward’s marriage to Sarita Sanford, a headstrong Argentinian-American heiress. The cracks in the central friendship fissure at the advent of the Great War, with Ward fighting alongside his son for England, Casement lending his talents to the Germans, who promise to free Ireland from British control. As in Tales of the New World and The Caprices, the author maintains an impressive balance of historical accuracy and dramatic momentum, crafting a stellar fiction that shows how the grand course of history can be shaped by the smallest disagreements between friends. Agent: Zachary Shuster Harmsworth, Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency.

A long yarn recounting the life of Irish revolutionary Roger Casement and real-life best friend Herbert Ward, the British writer and artist.It won't be a spoiler to note that Casement was executed for treason by the British government, having traveled to Germany during World War I to solicit help for the cause of Irish independence. Did personal motivations underlie his devotion to that cause, perhaps connected to his guarded but evident homosexuality? ("Someone was saying at dinner that you're like Wolf Tone," one interlocutor says. "Maybe he liked boys?") Certainly, Murray (Tales of the New World, 2011, etc.) recounts, Casement's friendship with Ward was unusually deep; in a closing moment, Ward finds a photograph that Casement has folded in half to exclude two other figures, so that "it appeared that they had been photographed as a couple." But there is another love at play once Ward and Casement emerge from their career-defining adventures in the wilds of Africa: Sarita Sanford, a fetching heiress savvy enough to know that taking up with Ward is a fiscal risk that will pay off in "a loss of innocence"--to which she appends the dismissive thought, "How romantic." Though the novel is populated with other characters, the essence of the story is the triangle formed by Sanford, Ward, and Casement; of the three, Sanford is the most interesting. Murray casts inevitable tragedy ("She feels a grip--a chill--and wonders why of all things she's feeling this: the pull of grief"), but while she has a good eye for character, some of the energy of the story melts away in pointless chatter. The storyline could stand some tightening, too, though it resolves nicely. Not at all bad, but given that Mario Vargas Llosa covered much of the same ground in his superior 2010 novel, The Dream of the Celt, Murray's version of the Casement story seems superfluous. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2016
Murray (Forgery, 2007) returns to historical fiction with this account of the 40-year friendship of writer and sculptor Herbert Ward and Irish patriot Roger Casement. The two meet in 1886 as young men working and gallivanting in the Congo. Ward uses this experience as inspiration for his artistic pursuits, but Casement, haunted by the treatment of the tribal people, turns to a life of humanitarianism, while also fighting for Irish independence. They go their separate ways, Ward marrying Argentinian-American heiress Sarita Sanford, who proves to be a scene-stealer, and Casement gets further involved in politics heading into WWI. They remain friends until political differences lead to betrayal and tragedy. Murray has clearly done her homework and aptly shows not only the larger-than-life personalities of her protagonists but also their quieter, interior lives. Historical-fiction fans will be captivated by this highly readable account of British colonialism and political intrigue couched in the very personal story of the friendship of two remarkable men.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

June 1, 2016

Just as the centenary of the Easter Rising swings Ireland freshly into view, here is a retelling of the lives and friendships of Irish patriot Roger Casement, close friend Herbert Ward, and Ward's wife, the Argentine American heiress Sarita Sanford. The book opens with the two men enjoying youthful misadventures in the Congo, then moves to Ward's marriage to Sarita, Casement's undercover homosexuality, and, as World War I explodes, the battle to free Ireland from British rule, with Casement and Ward forced to acknowledge their very different politics. From PEN/Faulkner Award winner Murray; with a five-city tour.

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