The flower beneath the foot - Ronald Firbank

With an introduction by Alan Hollinghurst

At the fantastical court of King Willie and Her Dreaminess the Queen of Pisuerga, maid of honour Laura de Nazianzi and His Weariness Prince Yousef whisper promises to each other in the palace gardens. But Laura is destined for disappointment. The King and Queen have plans for a royal wedding for their Prince, and the young woman in their sights is none other than Princess Elsie of England. The court is all aflutter . . .

First published in 1923, Ronald Firbank's The Flower Beneath the Foot is a flamboyant court satire and lyrical tour de force of innuendo and eccentricity. Read by many as a subversive celebration of homosexuality, this is a classic of modernist literature from a stylist like no other.

Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank was born in London in 1886 and was an experimental novelist. Throughout his career he has been championed by English novelists including E.M. Forster, Evelyn Waugh, Alan Hollinghurst and Simon Raven, writing novels such as Valmouth and The Flower Beneath the Foot and six other short novels. He died in Rome in 1926 and is buried in the Campo Verano cemetery.

Each of Firbank's novels is a daring experiment in style and form
Alan Hollinghurst

Intricate, amiably grotesque buffoonery
New York Times