William The Conqueror

"Laughed, cried, gasped, related all the way." Ethan Johns

"The prose is eclectic, the tale irresistible, the characters masterfully drawn; a marvel of storytelling, inventiveness, wit." Laura Barton

"There are few more heartfelt and soul-baring writers in any medium today." MOJO

In this wildly exhilarating debut novel set across the lush landscapes of Cornwall, New Zealand, and London, alive with music, adventure, addiction, and intra-psychic war, Ruarri Joseph proves himself to be much more than a velvet razor of a singer, songwriter, and performer.

With relentlessly inventive style, pace, and wickedly playful humour, William The Conqueror is a musical, micro-odyssey from the mind of a kid with a penchant for daydreaming, dragged around the globe and raised by his precious records, a hippy mother’s silence and an invisible father’s addiction to booze and Bob Dylan. It announces the arrival of a fully formed novelist seething with boundless originality and vision.

Illustrated by Liz Anelli