Miss Herbert, by Adam Thirlwell

Literary style, even when it’s as racy as this, does not sell as well as threesomes. For this reason, Miss Herbert will not attract as large a readership as Politics. With over 500 pages asking what ‘style’ is and whether it can be translated, Miss Herbert: A collage of novels and romances in ten languages, on four continents, with maps, portraits, illustrations and a variety of helpful indexes does not have the snappy, explosive force of Politics: A Novel. Nor is this the intention. Miss Herbert opens with Flaubert this time round, not anal sex and pink fluffy handcuffs.