AustLit

'Elliot Perlman’s prose has a distinctive gait. The loping narrative of Maybe the Horse Will Talk, his captivating, compassionate fourth novel, is set in motion when protagonist Stephen Maserov wakes thinking: ‘‘I am absolutely terrified of losing a job I absolutely hate.” He is then catapulted along a path that could imperil or secure his career and relationships. This flick and skip of reiteration is something of a Perlman signature, conveying the idiosyncrasies of storytelling in its various forms, the palindromic pulse of agitated cognitive processes and the mental pacing of insomniac self-cross-examination.' (Introduction)

'Elliot Perlman’s new novel, Maybe the Horse Will Talk, centres on a fable that the protagonist, one Stephen Maserov, tells his sons. In the story a tyrannical king decides he no longer finds his jester funny. Realising his life is at risk, the jester offers the king a compromise. Give me a year and your best horse, he says, and I will show you something extraordinary. I will teach the horse to talk.' (Introduction)

'Elliot Perlman’s fourth novel is tentatively billed as a corporate satire and has a striking opening line: ‘I am absolutely terrified of losing a job I absolutely hate.’ The man in this all-too-familiar predicament is Stephen Maserov, a former English teacher turned lawyer. Maserov is a lowly second year in the Terry Gilliam-esque law firm Freely Savage Carter Blanche, which, apart from sounding like a character in a Tennessee Williams play, is home to loathsome dinosaurs in pinstripe suits and an HR department referred to as ‘The Stasi’.' (Introduction)

'Elliot Perlman’s latest novel is a timely chronicle of lawyers and sexual harassment.'

'Elliot Perlman's novel Maybe the Horse Will Talk is a lively, quick-paced narrative of underdogs fighting against their corporate overlords. Wrapped in the shroud of social commentary, the novel succeeds on the backs of its compelling characters and the urgency of the situation in which they find themselves.'  (Introduction)