Sceptre bags Ned Beauman’s ‘riotous’ new novel Spiller Saves the Day
Sceptre has acquired the “riotous” new novel from Ned Beauman, Spiller Saves the Day, about a billionaire’s plan to topple England’s most prestigious public school.
Editorial director Charlotte Humphery acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Jane Finigan at Lutyens & Rubinstein, with publication scheduled for 20th May 2027.
The blurb of the “political satire meets caper” reads: “One posh boarding school has dominated English life for hundreds of years. What would it take to topple it forever? A disgraced journalist and a charming fraudster are hired for a secret mission: regime change in the UK. Fifty deepfaked school boys, two OnlyFans models and one extremely disturbing rumour, against an institution that has shaped generations of prime ministers and princes, colonial viceroys and hedge fund tycoons, who in turn have shaped the modern world…"
Beauman’s most recent novel, Venomous Lumpsucker, won the Arthur C Clarke Award, while his previous novels have been longlisted for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. His work has also won the Encore Award and the Writers’ Guild Award for Best Fiction Book.
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He said: “I went to a 600-year-old all-boys boarding school, but it’s not exactly a part of my background that I’m eager to emphasise, so I’ve never written about it. However, if there was one positive thing about that wretched experience, it’s that I have a pretty good insight into the sort of guys who still have a stranglehold on English life.
“And during the shambles of the Covid era, I found myself fantasising about what it would actually take to get rid of them forever. Also, after years of people making assumptions about me just because of where I went to school, this book is a chance to correct the record – by which I mean it’s even worse than they realise.”
Humphery said: “Spiller Saves the Day is such a wild and furious delight! Like all of Ned’s novels, it’s intensely imaginative, smart and funny, and completely gripping. But unlike his previous books, it’s radically contemporary and speaks powerfully to our current (and ongoing) political moment.
“We are all sick of the damage wrought by a small clique of public schoolboys in this country – and the world – and this novel is such an unexpected and invigorating response to that frustration. It’s a total pleasure to read and soon everyone will be talking about it.”
