A satire set in a future England in which a neomedievalist contest among London neighborhoods
takes a disastrous turn. When Auberon Quin a prankster nostalgic for Merrie Olde England
becomes king of that country in 1984 he mandates that each of London’s neighborhoods become an
independent state complete with unique local costumes. Everyone goes along with the conceit
until young Adam Wayne a born military tactician takes the game too seriously . . . and
becomes the Napoleon of Notting Hill. War ensues throughout the city—fought with sword and
halberd! G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) was an English author poet critic and newspaper
columnist known for his brilliant epigrammatic paradoxes. His best-known character is the
priest-detective Father Brown featured in over fifty stories published between 1910 and 1936
who solves mysteries and crimes thanks to his understanding of spiritual and philosophic truths
and his best-known novel is The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) a metaphysical thriller. In
addition to The Napoleon of Notting Hill his first novel he wrote several other near-future
satires of England.
