Longlisted for the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction (now the Bailie Gifford) ‘A thrilling and complex book, enlarges our view of Homer … There’s something that hits the mark on every page’ Claire Tomalin, Books of the Year, New Statesman

‘A thrilling and complex book, enlarges our view of Homer… there's something that hits the mark on every page’ Claire Tomalin, Books of the Year, New Statesman ‘Bursting with enthusiasm, erudition and eccentricity: a travelogue, a memoir, a work of literary criticism and, at bottom, an archaeology of the western imagination. Completely thrilling’ Susan Hill, Books of the Year, Spectator ‘Only the hardiest immune systems will be able to resist his unselfconscious adoration of the poet. Anyone who feels they never 'got' Homer should read this book’ Books of the Year, Sunday Times ‘Astounding. Scholarly, but so up-close and personal that you feel it in the guts… it transcends genre…you come away exhilarated’ Sofka Zinovieff, Books of the Year, Spectator ‘A brilliant, passionate, world-wandering love letter to Homer … far more inspirational than any dry academic exegesis. If the only real test of any book about Homer is that it should make you want to go back to Homer, then ‘The Mighty Dead’ passes in a blaze of glory’ Sunday Times ‘A hosanna to Homeric wandering and wanderlust … breathes new life into an ancient adventure’ Observer ‘A thrillingly energised book that travels to the real-life locations of the action … it transmits a whole worldview at once decipherable and dramatically strange … To read Homer is to be struck by what Nicolson calls ‘time-vertigo’ – and this book is one that holds your hand and encourages you to peer over the edge’ Spectator ‘As gripping as a thriller and as delicately constructed as a sonnet … an astonishing tour de force that reveals Homer to be at once as ancient as papyrus and as modern as MTV … in dealing with the body-thudding side of epic Nicolson proves to be in his element’ Telegraph ‘Erudite, far-ranging in time and space, and provocative… [his] enthusiasm is enriching and his examination of the character of the two epics acute and fascinating. Homer matters because he can stimulate books such as this’ Literary Review

• One of the most critically acclaimed books of 2014, ‘The Mighty Dead’ explores how the greatest ancient Greek epic poet formed the cornerstone of Western culture. • A book to appeal to readers of Alain de Botton (730 TCM), Robert Macfarlane (300k TCM), WG Sebald, Edmund de Waal (408 TCM) and Tom Holland (416k). • This is Adam Nicolson’s most ambitious and best book yet. • Sissinghurst has sold over 15,000 copies in hardback. Sea Room has sold over 60,000 copies in the UK. Competition: Thebes;Confronting the Classics;Troy;Pandora’s Jar;A Thousand Ships;The Children of Jocasta;The Silence of the Girls;The Women of Troy;Ariadne;Circe;The Song of Achilles. Virgil;Amy Jeffs;Homer;Emily Wilson;Mary Beard;Paul Cartledge;Colm Toibin;Natalie Haynes;Stephen Fry;Pat Barker;Madeline Miller