Friday 13 October 2017

Money Power Love by Joss Sheldon


Money Power Love by Joss Sheldon
Self published in the UK on the 7th October 2017.

My Book Of The Month for October 2017

Where to buy this book:


How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the author

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Born on three adjacent beds, a mere three seconds apart, our three heroes are united by nature but divided by nurture. As a result of their different upbringings, they spend their lives chasing three very different things: Money, power and love. This is a human story: A tale about people like ourselves, cajoled by the whimsy of circumstance, who find themselves performing the most beautiful acts as well as the most vulgar. This is a historical story: A tale set in the early 1800s, which shines a light on how bankers, with the power to create money out of nothing, were able to shape the world we live in today. And this is a love story: A tale about three men, who fall in love with the same woman, at the very same time…

Authors like Joss Sheldon are the reason I love indie published books! Every so often I discover a unique and exciting voice such as his, writing informative and thought-provoking novels that are also great fun to read. If you've followed my Literary Flits reviews for a while you might already have seen me singing the praises of Occupied and The Little Voice. Money Power Love is just as good.

Set in the dawn of the modern banking era, Money Power Love is historical fiction, but written in a modern style. We view our four main characters as they live their divergent lives, but I was always aware that I was watching from a 21st century perspective. Sheldon's detailed descriptions of the rural Lambeth Marsh village and other locations allowed me to clearly envisage scenes and I love his characterisations, especially of cameo roles and people met in passing. I could almost imagine the BBC period drama adaptation as I read.

Our three heroes, Mayer, Archibald and Hugo, each embody an aspect of the novel's title and, as such, are preternaturally obsessed with the pursuit of money, power or love. This is a cleverly worked device. The three men only exist to illustrate the history Sheldon wants to tell and elements of their lives are frequently implausible, yet I still empathised and understood their choices - even when I knew the outcome would lead to the mess of a world in which we live today! Money Power Love teaches the side of economic history that Western capitalism doesn't want to be widely understood. The novel shows how false the ubiquitous 'hard work equals success' mantra is and explains how easy it is to make money from nothing if you move in the right social circles. It's all about who you know and who believes they owe you a favour!

Money Power Love is a novel of politics and economics, but don't be misled by that. It's is never dry, dull or boring. Lola particularly is great fun to spend time with and I kept reading pretty much non-stop as I couldn't bear to put the book aside! Another triumph for Joss Sheldon and a novel that I urge everyone to buy for at least one friend this Christmas!


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Joss Sheldon / Historical fiction / Books from England

2 comments:

  1. I do love my politics and economics so that actually invites me in instead of turning me away. And I also really am looking for good indie books so I am so happy that this one sounds so spectacular! Also, I can't believe that you run three blogs DD: I'm seeing the banners now. I knew about two of them... but three? Impressive.

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    1. Thank you! I'm lucky to have the time to blog so much because I love to do it :-)

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