SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2026 · Winner of the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize · An Observer Best Debut Novelist 2026 · Granta hardback
A medieval King who resists the crown, and the reclusive curator commemorating his reign: a dual narrative about power and inertia.
She is a curator whose job is dressing the rooms of historic buildings to bring them back to life. But in the lush private quarters of a medieval palace, she becomes so transfixed by the reign of an almost-forgotten King that the edges of her own life start to blur.
He is a reluctant ruler with no appetite for power, rushed onto the throne after the untimely deaths of his older brothers. Before long, whispers are flying around the court — and with the growing belief that the King is unfit to rule comes the idea that someone else might rule in his place.
The debut novel from an award-winning poet, May We Feed the King moves between a historical figure who puts his kingdom at risk and a woman who retreats into the past to hide from her present. Full of desire and longing, it is a playful, stirring meditation on history and storytelling, and on what makes a king ‘great’ and a life meaningful. Claire-Louise Bennett calls it enchanting; Kiran Millwood Hargrave compares it to a puzzle box; Daisy Johnson says there is magic here.
About the author
Rebecca Perry is the author of On Trampolining, two full-length poetry collections — Beauty/Beauty and Stone Fruit — and four pamphlets. Her poetry has been shortlisted for awards including the T. S. Eliot Prize, and her first collection won the Michael Murphy Memorial Poetry Prize. She is from London, where she lives. May We Feed the King is her first novel and one of the six books in contention for the 2026 Booker Prize, which will be awarded in November.
Edition details
- Granta hardback
- Debut novel
