"One of the great attractions of historical fiction is its ability to approach the past from unexpected angles, allowing us to consider famous figures in surprising ways. It's a tactic that pays off brilliantly in Stephen May's elegantly acerbic SELL US THE ROPE" - The New York Times "[A] vivid historical rendering . A lively drama of enthusiasm, utopianism, ruthlessness and backstabbing results." -- Wall Street Journal "Stellar . With a spare, sardonic style, May probes Stalin's childhood trauma, sense of charisma, and brutally violent side, humanizing him without sentimentalizing . This is superb." -- Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "A riveting portrayal of a young Stalin in London." -- Financial Times "An oft-sober, occasionally droll portrait of a monster-in-the-making.

Impressively, [May] finds a flicker of humanity in a person who became a mass-murdering despot." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune "May provides a complex profile of [Stalin] as a young man . Evocative and thought-provoking." -- Historical Novel Society "The novel exposes the stark contradictions of communism at every turn . A subtly menacing portrayal of the future tyrant and mass killer." -- Kirkus Reviews "This inventive literary work . daringly tak[es] a darkly comedic approach." -- Booklist "Gripping .

[May] combines characters--Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Rosa Luxemburg--who loom so large in history that they are difficult to think of as people at all with others whose stories and voices have been lost. And he crafts a drama both personal and political, a page-turning tale of idealism and intrigue and a cautionary tale of youthful zealotry." - Shelf Awareness "Historical facts furnish May with a cast of legends to bring to life, and he does it with verve and humour." -- The Times "A captivating thought-experiment that marks a consolidation of May's powers as a writer." -- The Telegraph "A fascinating and immersive imagining of real events that both challenges and illuminates history." -- Benjamin Myers.