PRESS


England Is Mine reviewed in the Guardian – battle lines are drawn

The perilous porousness between our online and offline worlds is the spark for Nicolas Padamsee’s tinderbox thriller … deeply astute and devastating … Padamsee tackles difficult issues – cancel culture, freedom of speech, online radicalism, and neo-nazism, masculinity, racial identity, and herd mentality – with a deftness rare for debuts.

England Is Mine reviewed in the Observer – a searing indictment of factionalism

Nuanced and remarkably assured … England Is Mine offers a searing indictment of the factionalism and marginalisation that grip 21st-century Britain.

England Is Mine reviewed in the Financial Times – music, masculinity and online culture 

England Is Mine is never didactic and always committed to untangling the emotional reasons that young men become radicalised … He has become a dangerous man, but really he’s still a frightened boy. Or to put it another way, he is human and he needs to be loved. Padamsee’s handling of this enduring theme, more than his novel’s topicality, is what marks it out as a debut of subtle intelligence and artistry.

England Is Mine reviewed in Prospect Magazine

Elegantly pinpoints how people are dehumanised in modern England – first by other people and then by themselves.

England Is Mine reviewed in the Daily Mail 

I was gripped by this original story about online radicalisation, wounded masculinity, disaffected youth and a desperate search for identity … Brilliant.

England Is Mine reviewed in the TLS 

Fluid, controlled and original … a memorable contribution to the burgeoning genre of the internet novel.

England Is Mine reviewed in Buzz Magazine 

England is Mine is an extraordinary debut novel that’s as addictive as the subreddits, blogs and Discord chats we read through the minds of the protagonists.

My life in books – Nicolas Padamsee 

I read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies at school and was bowled over by it. Following a group of young boys who have been stranded on an uninhabited island by a plane crash, the book shows how quickly the mores of society can melt away and our savage instincts can surface …

Observer’s 10 best new novelists for 2024

Our annual pick of the most exciting debut fiction has previously tipped Sally Rooney and Louise Kennedy, Tom Crewe and Douglas Stuart. Here the class of 2024 tell us their stories …

Hero’s Books everyone will be talking about in 2024

2024 promises to be a pretty stacked year for new literary releases but don’t worry, we’re here to help …

I-D’s Fiction to be excited for in 2024

A new year means a new calendar of books: anticipated debuts, favourite authors returning, new translations. Below, we’ve highlighted some of the most exciting ones on our radar …

Serpent’s Tail pre-empts Padamsee’s ‘perfect British debut’

Serpent’s Tail has scooped Nicolas Padamsee’s "brave, timely and original" first novel England is Mine. Editorial director Luke Brown pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights from Holly Faulks at Greene and Heaton …