16/05/2025
I am delighted to announce the publication of Oscar Wilde’s Crucifix, written by Maarten Asscher, this year’s winner of the Wilde Wit Competition. The book will be formally launched on Wednesday 21st May at City Lit in London.
Maarten Asscher is a bookseller, publisher and author of numerous works. Oscar Wilde’s Crucifix is Maarten’s first book to be written in English.
Maarten will be in conversation with Jake Arnott, acclaimed author (The Long Firm, The House of Rumour, and his latest novel Blood Rival will be out in October. Jake is an alum of City Lit.)
Following the conversation, guests are invited to participate in an audience Q&A. The event will conclude with a drinks reception and book signing in the City Lit Gallery.
Date: Wednesday 21 May
Location: City Lit (Culture Plex)
Timings: 18:30-19:30 (followed by a drinks reception and book signing)
If you would like to join us, please search for “Oscar Wilde’s Crucifix” on Eventbrite or follow the link to Eventbrite in comments below where there are free tickets available or discounted book tickets as well. Books will be available at the event at full price:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/oscar-wildes-crucifix-book-launch-tickets-134183726437
About the book:
While a student at Oxford, Oscar Wilde was courting a beautiful Dublin girl, Florence Balcombe, and on Christmas Day 1876 he presented her with a love gift of a golden crucifix. Two years later, Florence surprised Oscar by suddenly marrying another young writer from Dublin, Bram Stoker, the future author of Dracula.
Maarten Asscher uses that crucifix as a fulcrum to examine Wilde’s early development as an artist, from a seminal trip to Greece to his whirlwind tour of America and beyond, including real-life encounters with Walt Whitman and Arthur Conan Doyle. Asscher draws on the complete panoply of Wilde scholarship to supplement historical fact with imaginative reconstruction, including a myth-busting account of Wilde’s deathbed in Paris, and a fictional solution to the mystery of the crucifix delivered by none other than Sherlock Holmes. The result is a convincing and original interpretation of Victorian history, and a literary tour de force.
Reviews:
“A fascinating literary mystery of fin de siècle London, with an intriguing narrative of truth and speculation, that links Sherlock Holmes, Dracula and Dorian Gray
by deftly unravelling the secrets of these characters and the real lives of their creators.”
– Jake Arnott, author of The Devil’s Paintbrush and The Long Firm
See Gyles Brandreth announce Maarten Asscher as winner of the 2024 Wilde Wit Competition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKM6Do97hn4
