£11.00
For the first time since 1907, What Might Have Been is available at its original length, with 7000 words restored to recreate this lost landmark in British speculative fiction. This satirical speculative novel of political resistance is better known in its abridged form as The Secret of the League (1909). It mixes science fiction, social realism and office espionage, and accurately predicted the invention of the fax machine and the ascendancy of Labour politics.
Gerri Kimber wrote: ‘The volume’s excellent introduction by Jeremy Hawthorn offers a welcome addition to the otherwise general paucity of critical material on Bramah. As Hawthorn concludes: “What Might Have Been offers humour, social commentary, political polemic, futuristic prediction, and thriller-type excitement.”‘ 24 November 2017, The Times Literary Supplement
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Description
The first edition of Ernest Bramah’s What Might Have Been to be published at its original length since its first appearance in 1907. It’s a political thriller, with a nail-biting Buchanesque car chase, a sea battle that C S Forester could have written, and dramatic rescue missions in the air. The flying machines are both delightful and dramatic.
The critical introduction by Jeremy Hawthorn (see his most recent books here and here) sets out the novel’s history, and its connections with Bramah’s more famous literary characters, the Chinese sage Kai Lung and Max Carrados the blind detective.
Media
Watch our video, in which we try to decide whether What Might Have Been is an action thriller, science fiction or political dystopia.
Jeremy reads here from the section ‘Hastings permitted mixed flying’.
From Harry Wood’s review in Foundation: ‘Caught between a range of sub-genres and causes celèbres, What Might Have Been is a curious novel that certainly deserves reconsideration. Despite providing a cutting and pessimistic assessment of the socio-political climate in Edwardian Britain, and offering a chilling vision of near-civil war, Bramah’s work nevertheless manages to strike a welcome satirical tone.’
