Tuesday Book Club: Our Own P-Wave Classic!
15 April 2025, Filed in: Book Club | Classic Literature | Literary Fiction | P-Wave Classics | British Satire | British Authors | Independent Publishing | 19th Century Fiction | Book to Rediscover | Romantic-Era Fiction
This week’s Tuesday Book Club is a little different—and a little special. We’re not just reading a classic, we’re publishing it. Our pick is Headlong Hall & Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock, which also happens to be the very first book released under our brand-new P-Wave Classics imprint. Yes, we’re being a bit cheeky. And yes, we’re very proud.
So, who was Thomas Love Peacock?
Think of him as the friend who shows up at a literary dinner party, pokes gentle fun at everyone’s Big Ideas, and still somehow makes you laugh out loud. Peacock was a contemporary and close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his short novels are full of satire, clever banter and wildly eccentric characters.
Headlong Hall (1816) takes aim at philosophers, pseudo-scientists and social theorists, all gathered under one roof for a hilariously chaotic country house weekend. Nightmare Abbey (1818), on the other hand, is a moody, gothic-flavoured send-up of the Romantic movement, complete with brooding poets, mysterious visitors and (of course) a haunted mansion.
Why we’re publishing it
Because they’re fun. Because they’re sharp. Because Peacock reminds us that literature can be smart without being self-serious. And honestly, because these books deserve a bit more love—and a fresh audience.
This is an all-new edition, created with care to introduce Peacock’s wit and weirdness to today’s readers. It includes new introductions to both Headlong Hall and Nightmare Abbey, plus comprehensive notes throughout to help make sense of the satire, references and in-jokes that made his writing sparkle in its day—and still do now.
Let’s talk about it
Have you read Peacock before, or is this your first encounter? Which characters made you laugh (or roll your eyes)? And which bits feel just as sharp today as they did in the early 1800s?
We’re chatting as always under #TuesdayBookClub and now also under #PWaveClassics. Let us know what you think on X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky—and yes, we’d love it if you checked out the book too!