LOTE’s protagonist is Mathilda Adamarola, a Black, queer, working-class woman who is fascinated by the Bright Young Things of 1920s London, a group of Bohemian aristocrats and socialites famous for embracing the wilful idleness and pacifist beliefs of the interwar years.
The title, therefore, sets up one of the book’s central ideas, namely the radical pursuit of pleasure as a Black person. When I spoke to the author over Skype during confinement, they explained that this is one of many stories used as a cautionary tale to dispel notions of anti-idleness, a concept that is rooted in colonial discourse. Let’s spend a moment on the title: LOTE was a fictional, mystical society from the 1920s that followed the philosophy of the (fictional) Lotus Eaters, featured in Greek mythology, by organizing life around luxury, idleness and pleasure.
Initially drawn to the beautiful artwork and a fascinating plot outline, I got much more out of reading LOTE than I could ever have imagined. LOTE is the dazzling debut novel from Scottish author Shola Von Reinhold, which I came across by chance during lockdown.
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