THE VIOLET HOUR book launch: British novelist James Cahill in conversation

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).

THE VIOLET HOUR -- Pegasus Books, 2026

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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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

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Host or Publisher James Cahill