'F. Scott Fitzgerald for the 21st Century.'
"I write about rich people being horrible, which, as one of my readers remarked, means there's no shortage of material...."
Jeremy Noble read English at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he won a half-blue for polo, saved a princess from a raging fire, and drove a black Ferrari.
In the traditional way, he has made and spent several fortunes, and now writes for a living.
He lived in St Petersburg and Moscow for many years.
He has been the arts correspondent for the St Petersburg Times, Editor-in-Chief for Passport magazine in Moscow, a critic for the London Literary Review, and has written about dance for the Washington Post and Dance magazine in New York. He has written advertising copy for luxury hotels, travel companies, and the City Administration of St Petersburg.
His first play Smith was seen off-off Broadway in New York. His next play Marlene Made Me was shortlisted for the UK International Playwrighting Festival 2004; a scheduled production in St Petersburg was cancelled by the city authorities.
He has translated extensively from Russian into English, writing for major arts organisations and events, the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, and the Mayor of Moscow.
His writing about Russian culture includes: Kirov Ballet; A Century of Russian Ballet Diary 2000; and Millennium of Russian Ballet Diary 2001.
He has been seen on Russian TV in the role of Dr Paulson in
Peter the Great: The Testament,
directed by Vladimir Bortko.
He has appeared on Ukrainian TV in the role of President of the Council of Vampires in Split, directed by Vlad Lanne.
His first film work was for the director Alexander Sokurov, writing the English-language dialogue for The Sun (2004).
He wrote the English-language dialogue for the 2015 film The Soul of a Spy, directed by Vladimir Bortko, starring Malcolm McDowell, Liam Cunningham, Sandrine Bonnaire, Fyodor Bondarchuk, and Andrey Chernyshov.
Noble co-wrote the book for Kingmaker the Musical, which received its premiere at the St James Theatre, London, 31 March 2015.
He is the editor of Opposing Forces: Plotting the new Russia a published account of the conversation in Red Square, Moscow, between opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the Polish intellectual and former dissident Adam Michnik.
His first novel Villa Eilenroc was published in 2016. His second novel A Russian Ending was published in 2022. He is currently writing The Nearly Man (2024).
English Humour...
"Then, at my new job [in St Petersburg] I'm introduced to another expat, an Englishman, Jeremy Noble, a tall handsome Brit so completely the stereotypical upper class English intellectual/writer that I feel like I've inadvertently walked into a comedy by Coward. Trying to make a good impression, I stand up, lean forward, and thrust out my hand preparing for a textbook American business handshake of job-interview firmness. As I watch Jeremy back up a foot, and his face register a brief panic (looking at my hand in horrified fascination as though it were an exotic, possibly poisonous, insect), I recall too late one of my father's favorite quotations "If an Englishman offers you his hand, take it, it may never happen again." Jeremy does in fact shake my hand, but I can see him mentally chalking me up as pushy and rude, precisely because I did what is the accepted polite greeting in America. English distance is longer than American distance, and the accepted occasions for minor physical contact much fewer."
From The Costumer's Manifesto (www.costumes.org) by Tara Maginnis
Gallery
Extract
Broadwindsor Manor
Broadwindsor, Dorset
Saturday, June 9th, 2012
“What do you think?”
“We already have a house.”
“Yes, but this is bigger. It’s Elizabethan.”
“I can see that. Harry! What did I say? Don’t eat all the plums! You’ll make yourself sick!”
Harry, five, was busy pulling off all of the low-hanging fruit from the trees in the orchard.
“My mother lives only a few miles away.”
“Why does he never listen to anything I say? I know where we are, Edward. This is Dorset. We live in London. Our life is in London.”
“Why do you always have to throw up obstacles? It’s not so difficult to start a new life. And you can always have more than one life, cats have nine.”
“As it happens, believe it or not, I’m reasonably happy with the one life we have, sort of.”
“Doesn’t always sound like it. I’m not that difficult to live with.”
“I won’t answer that. It’s enormous. It looks like something run by the National Trust. I can’t imagine how much it would cost. Can you imagine the heating bills.”
“You’re always going on about bills. It’s a steal. They’re practically giving it away. It’s been on the market for ages. Eight and a half million for this is nothing. It’s a total bargain if you ask me. And there’s all the farmland. I was brought up on a farm.”
“Edward! How can you!”
“What?”
“Oh, nothing, what is the point. How are we going to pay for it?”
“We’re in the money.”
“Just like that?”
“Why not? I have the Midas touch.”
“How come, exactly? No, don’t answer that. Not so long ago, if you can remember that far back, we didn’t have a car, and when I went to the hairdresser she didn’t recognise me.”
“Yes, it has to be said I do like you better blonde.”
“And you, Edward Lumley, have the mindset of a dinosaur. You can’t get round me that way. I’ve told you, it doesn’t work anymore, remember.”
“Everything’s different. That was then, this is now. You know me, I decide I want something, and then I find the money to pay for it.”
“Yes, I do know you. Wouldn’t it be easier to first find the money?”
“You know, darling, you really have absolutely no imagination. Think of all the possibilities!”
“I’d rather not. And stop darling me, it won’t get you anywhere.”
“Anyway, I’m doing a deal with Coutts. Sort of like a mortgage, only more of an arrangement you’d call it.”
“Is it all above board?”
“Is that a serious question to ask your husband?”
“It’s got more bedrooms than we could ever sleep in, who’s going to live here? Please, whatever you say, don’t say it’s a reason to have more children. And it needs a new kitchen.”
“There you are! Great for parties.”
“It makes no sense, Edward, like a lot of things you do.”
“Life makes no sense.”
And so it went on, the marital ping-pong, until Edward
eventually wore his wife down; and she relented. And Harry
was sick in the car on the way back to London.
A Russian Ending
Contact
For readings and permissions please contact the publisher:
Egret Press
info@egretpress.uk
