From within the soporific world of Cambridge academia events conspire to rouse Don, a Professor of the History of Art, to a new awareness. Insulated by years of repressed feelings both emotional and physical make for a rather uncomfortable transformation.....deftly guided by Val, his long time friend and colleague. Outside of Peterhouse, Don finds a certain clarity, sharp and disturbing, almost overwhelming with possibilities. This is a journey with Don, discovering that after repression, too much freedom can result in an explosion of colour and noise and that even with careful measurement the skies of Tiepolo Blue can come tumbling down. A book to be read at least twice and remebered long after.

Professor Don Lamb is a career-academic at Cambridge. His life is consumed by academia - and it is academia that overshadows pretty much everything else he does and thinks. They, the 'fellows' live 'like monks' in a closeted, routined way. Cahill conveys this world brilliantly well: their out-of-touchness is confirmed by the pomposity of the characters, the expectations they have as 'the elite', and their reaction to 'modern art'. What I loved about this novel was the narrative style. It's literary fiction, this, so the emphasis is on character rather than a dynamic plot (though I found the plot fascinating through the machinations of what the characters were thinking and how they were living) and the descriptions of setting are most evocative. Highly recommended.

Very enjoyable. Possibly too much of the detailed machinations of college and art gallery but fun and easy to wolf down.

When a modern art sculpture appears on the green at Cambridge, Professor Don Lamb is shocked at what art has come to. He makes the mistake of giving his honest opinion and is cast out of Cambridge into the world of London.

While this story has an interesting premise, this book felt like it swallowed a thesaurus, and after awhile this becomes quite irritating for me personally.

What I thought the author did well, was to capture the awkward feeling of being cast out/left in the dark and starting a new job. And the main character did feel like he was shutting his eyes to what he didn't want to see.

I also think this book falls into the unfortunate trope of "bury your gays" and honestly I thinks it's been done so many times at this point that it feels like at least 5 other books, I'm more surprised when a gay character lives at this point.

Well this book has touched a nerve with people. Pompous, elitist, out of touch academics. Dearie me. Well my review could best be summed up as "wot Stephen Fry said". A truly excellent read with extremely well drawn and acutely observed characters. Made me chuckle no end as things came back to me and my memories surfaced. Brilliant writing, witty, satirical and intelligent. The description of Donald in the toilet (yes that is base) but it was hilarious. Connecting with Donald from the outset I really empathised with him. Knowing the geography I didn't spot any errors (unlike some TV shows). Sick Bed made me laugh too as I thought of the obvious real life parallel (assumptions here). A glorious book that deserves its accolades from polymaths such as Mr Fry
A gem

Tiepolo Blue is the unravelling of Professor Don Lamb's over the course of one hot, sticky summer in 90s London. I really wanted to love this book. Firstly, modern history settings are great, and I have a nostalgia for the 90s as the decade I grew up in. Secondly, Stephen Fry recommends it on the book jacket. Surely it's a winner? Unfortunately, it just took too long to get going.

The inciting incident doesn't kick off until over a quarter of the way through, and the excessive descriptions of setting, whilst beautifully written, slow the plot down. And it wasn't until way past the half way point that I felt even the slightest bit of sympathy towards the main character. Which is too late if you want a reader to connect with them. I think the problem stems from the fact James Cahill has done a wonderful job of creating a pompous academic who, along with his colleagues, are completely out of touch with the real world. Instead, they live their lives in a white, upper class, elite world which still very much exists, and gets no comeuppance in the book. But, I guess that's an accurate reflection of the world the rest of us live in. .

Overall, the pace does pick up in the second half, as does sympathy for Don, and I enjoyed the revelations as the book reaches its climax. Definitely one for readers who enjoy a character, rather than plot, driven novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the advanced copy of this title.

this sounded like everything I love in a book, but it was insufferable. unlikeable characters don't necessarily make for a bad book as a rule but my god

I nearly gave up on this book after an hour or two but decided to persevere. Professor Don Lamb is a history academic at Cambridge. He's a very boring character. Academics seems to have their own language which I gave up on googling. I kept hoping for something to happen and hey presto after 75% of the book he gets more interesting. Unfortunately it then become very weird.
Not my sort of book I'm afraid but perhaps it's just me.

Set in the mid-90s, Tiepolo Blue follows Don Lamb, professor of art history at Peterhouse, Cambridge, who has led a life so attenuated he knows little or nothing of the world outside of his college until he’s thrust onto the London gallery circuit.

Don caught the eye of Valentine Black, two decades his senior, on his first day as an undergraduate. Now an acknowledged Tiepolo expert, he’s appalled when the new Master approves an installation in the college quadrangle, dismissing it as nothing but a heap of rubbish. Asked to give his opinions on a radio arts programme, Don hesitates but is spurred on by Val with disastrous results. Val offers a way out: the directorship of a Dulwich gallery plus the use of his own house full of beautiful pieces. Hopelessly naïve, Don steps on any number of toes, convinced of his own expertise. By the end of the novel, his life has unravelled in spectacular fashion.

Cahill skewers the art world nicely and the pompous vanity of academia is excruciatingly well portrayed. There’s a sadness about such narrow, unlived lives in which sexuality is barely acknowledged, kept under wraps or portrayed in an exaggerated self-hating manner, made all the more poignant by its comic depiction. I’d guessed what was happening about halfway through this clever, neatly constructed tragicomedy but it still had me gripped, wondering when the penny would drop for Don.