Making Nice

Ferdinand Mount’s exquisite writing draws you into a gorgeously horrid world of lies, where all authenticity is faked, and where the biggest deceptions are the ones we practise upon ourselves. Perhaps you recognise the place he’s talking about. He exposes such cold truths with such warmth – I am in eternal awe of his writing, wherever I find it.

Ferdinand Mount’s exquisite writing draws you into a gorgeously horrid world of lies, where all authenticity is faked, and where the biggest deceptions are the ones we practise upon ourselves. Perhaps you recognise the place he’s talking about. He exposes such cold truths with such warmth – I am in eternal awe of his writing, wherever I find it.

Mount’s storytelling is irresistible

One of our finest prose stylists

Making Nice is the funniest, shrewdest, most elegant novel I have read in years. What will Mount conjure up next?

…like all his novels…show his gifts for comedy, physical description and for capturing idiosyncratic mannerisms.

...This pacey book is great fun to read.

At Making Nice’ s heart is a serious lesson about the fine line between success and scandal, truth and lies.

A razor-sharp comedy of political misfortunes.

Mr Mount has written a satire to be consumed in one sitting, a pointed critique of the modern world delivered with pluck and verve.

[Mount] is very good on behavioural quirks, often evoking them with unexpected analogies… Making Nice is a comedy of manners with satirical trappings, and highly enjoyable, too.

Seldom can a satirical novel have proved more pertinent.

So begins a rollicking rollercoaster ride through modern politics…showcasing Mount’s pitch-perfect comic ear and a keen eye for caricature.

Ferdinand Mount is a novelist, essayist and former editor of the Times Literary Supplement from 1991 to 2002. He was previously head of the Number Ten Policy Unit under Margaret Thatcher. As a journalist, he has contributed regular columns to The Spectator, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Times. His novel Of Love and Asthma, part of a six-volume series, A Chronicle of Modern Twilight, won the Hawthornden Prize in 1992. He lives in North London with his family.