James Cahill, THE VIOLET HOUR – author event
Dive into the world of British author James Cahill as he shares stories and insights in a conversation with Vanity Fair arts writer Patrick Monahan. Cahill’s new novel THE VIOLET HOUR has been hailed “enthralling intricate” (The Guardian) and “a biting satire of art world’s glamor, pomp & greed” (The Daily Telegraph).
AUTHOR EVENT DETAILS
3/3/26 at 6:00pm
Lisson Gallery
504 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011
James will be in conversation with Vanity Fair writer Patrick Monahan from 6:30pm.
THE VIOLET HOUR book launch: British novelist James Cahill in conversation Tickets, Tue, Mar 3, 2026 at 6:00 PM | Eventbrite
About the author
Dr James Cahill is an author, critic and art historian. His debut novel, Tiepolo Blue (2022), was shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best First Novel Award and selected for H.M. the Queen’s Reading Room (“An electric new novel” – Guardian; “Startlingly impressive” – Daily Mail; “Divine” – Evening Standard). His second novel, The Violet Hour, is published in the UK by Sceptre and forthcoming in the US in March 2026 from Pegasus (“Enthrallingly intricate” – Guardian; “Exquisite” – Times; “A biting satire of the art world’s glamour, pomp and greed” – Daily Telegraph). He contributes to publications including Artforum, the Burlington Magazine, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the London Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement. Based between London and Los Angeles, he is currently writing a book on David Hockney’s 1967 painting, Beverly Hills Housewife.
About the book
Who is the real Thomas Haller? His oldest friend and former dealer, Lorna, might once have known – before Thomas traded their early intimacy for international fame. Between his ruthless new dealer and a property mogul obsessed with his work, the appetite for Thomas and his art is all-consuming.
On the eve of his latest show, the luminaries of the art world gather. But the sudden death of a young man has put everyone on edge, and a chain of events begins that will lead the friends back into the past, to confront who they have become. A story of deception, power play and longing, The Violet Hour exposes the unsettling underbelly of the art world, asking: who is granted admission to a world that only seems to glitter, what is sacrificed, and who is left outside, their faces pressed to the glass?
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Praise for James Cahill’s The Violet Hour:
“A tale told with thunder of an art world smitten with itself.” Jerry Saltz
“A compelling and beautifully written novel, set in the rarefied world of high-end art … I found the author’s eye and ear for the nuanced detail of today’s art world ritual unusually acute and often unnervingly familiar.” Michael Craig-Martin, artist
“There’s something of F. Scott Fitzgerald about the way Cahill writes about the very rich … A heady story fraught with questions about money, value and the bleak side of fame. Cahill writes with an artist’s attention to colour and detail, but also with an acute awareness of surface glitter, be it the gleaming facades of 21st-century London or the confected personas we present to each other and ourselves.” Claire Allfree, Daily Mail
“After the dusty parochialism of Cambridge [in Tiepolo Blue], the canvas here is broader, more global, more glamorous, cutting between New York, London, Hong Kong, Montreux. But the same theme – art and lies – endures. … This is an enthrallingly intricate novel, with a large cast of characters whose stories and psychological hinterlands are interlinked through the mesh of art, money and desire.” Lucasta Miller, Guardian
“[Set] in the world of modern art, where the implausible and ridiculous are de rigueur … the book has a fine sense of the silliness of the art market, while taking the work itself seriously …Cahill ratchets up the pace and intensity as the end approaches, and takes the opportunity to bring the characters together in conflict wherever he can – a gallery launch, the Venice Biennale – and to subvert the reader’s expectations. [The Violet Hour] is soapy and satisfying, and that’s pleasure enough.” John Self, Observer
“The dots are joined in a twisty mystery propelled by sex and satire at the expense of an art-world jet set gnawed hollow by deceit.” Anthony Cummins, Mail on Sunday
“This savagely satirical novel culminates at the Venice Biennale, where ‘The art had become a given. What people came to see was the art world.’ … Cahill’s novel teems with colour and life, as shockingly compelling as the society it skewers.” Michael Arditti, Spectator
“A hugely enjoyable yarn by an author hitting his literary stride.” Sarah Lucas, artist
“The international contemporary art market is rich territory for a novelist, and James Cahill mines its excesses and absurdities with precision and panache.” Philip Hook, author of Rogue’s Gallery
