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Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf
David Madsen
Dedalus, paperback, £8.99
Published March 1995
ISBN 1873982712
Review by David Kendall (1995)

Released from the job of tossing Nino ‘The Barbary Ape’ off every night in a sixteenth century freak show, Peppe the dwarf follows where both his faith and his past lead him. Bizarrely for one of his heretical convictions, Peppe finds himself in the position of trusted confidant and occasional pimp to Pope Leo of Rome, whose love of art is only exceeded by his passion for being buggered by as many of Rome’s young men as his ulcerated arse can stand.

Just how Peppe manages to stay by Leo’s side while plotting cold justice to the Inquisitor who murdered his friends and sold him into the freak show makes Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf one of the funniest and genuinely fascinating books I’ve ever read. As with many books that Dedalus publish, Memoirs did the rounds of the main publishers first but only Dedalus saw the potential and are now reaping the rewards. Madsen (allegedly the pseudonym of a Catholic bishop) reveals a Renaissance Rome revelling in its pomp, corruption and homicidal attitude to religion. This is what ‘historical novels’ should be like, rendering the transitory world views of the historical and fictional characters as believable as their more intrinsic characteristics of hate, greed, love, loyalty and revenge. The moments of genuine horror are all the more wrenching for them happening to characters the reader cares about, as well as being located in a historical framework.

Memoirs of a Gnostic Dwarf will make you laugh, cry – it may even impart a little wisdom.