11 h 17 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 17 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the joke that shields you from life also keeps you from the people who need you?
Simon de Gex meets trouble, hope and bad news with a clever remark. Cultivated and polished, he treats wit as his first defence. In William John Locke’s Simon the Jester, that habit raises a quiet question: can a man laugh at the world without keeping his own feelings at a distance?
Then people who care for Simon, and people who need him, ask for more than amusement. Some situations refuse to yield to a clever phrase. With gentle irony and warmth, Locke explores what lies beneath Simon’s laughter, and whether tenderness can find room beside the joke rather than stand against it.
What you’ll discover
- A polished man’s defence Meet Simon, whose ready wit offers a way to face whatever life brings.
- The feeling beneath laughter Look past the clever remarks to the feelings that humour can keep hidden.
- More than a joke Follow the demands of people who need something deeper than Simon’s amusement.
- Fate’s own quiet irony Consider whether the man laughing at the world can remain untouched by it.
- Tenderness beside wit Discover warm moments when a joke softens and caring comes into view.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this book if you love witty narrators, comedy that turns tender, and stories of misguided kindness. It suits readers who like Edwardian London, eccentric friends and a love story that grows from friendship.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Simon hides his fear behind jokes
- Kindness becomes a licence to interfere
- Lola unsettles Simon's easy judgment
- Giving freely brings unexpected costs
- A missing husband offers false simplicity
- The search reaches a gambling table
- Love breaks through Simon's defences
- Real kindness begins with listening
- Simon learns what his jokes conceal
Who’s who
- Simon de GexA witty parliamentarian who believes he is dying and sets out to bring happiness to others before his life ends.
- Lola BrandtA lion tamer's daughter and animal trainer, warm and plainspoken, who longs for respectability and a friend she can trust.
- Dale KynnersleySimon's young secretary, eager and honest, who is in love with Lola and wants a seat in Parliament.
- Lady KynnersleyDale's mother, a born committee woman who wants her son kept from Lola and married to Maisie.
- Eleanor FavershamSimon's fiancée, a frank and loyal young woman of many virtues who believes in him whatever happens.
- Anastasius PapadopoulosA dwarf and cat trainer who worships Lola and is determined to find the man who poisoned her horse.
- Maisie EllertonA gentle girl with a fortune who loves Dale and waits for him to see her.
- Rex CampionA rich friend of Simon who runs Barbara's Building, a great charity in the slums of Lambeth.
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Simon the Jester
by William John Locke · 1910
Given six months to live, a politician tries to help his friends, but Lola Brandt disrupts his plans.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
Why would a parliamentarian with a fiancée, a fortune and a bright future rent rooms in the ugliest place he can find? Simon de Gex does exactly that in Simon the Jester.
Simon the Jester at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 35 min5 h 15 min fast, 7 h 50 min slow
- Length
- 94,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1910by William John Locke
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A man chooses the gloomiest place to think
Simon de Gex asks his friend Renniker for the most God-forsaken place in England. Renniker names Murglebed-on-Sea. Simon's manservant Rogers goes ahead and comes back horrified. He reports no hotel, no church, and a shore of mud.
Simon rents two rooms in a villa called The Laburnums, and the landlady studies him as if he were a cockroach. He is delighted with all of it. He is a parliamentarian of thirty-seven, engaged to the admirable Eleanor Faversham and tipped for office. Yet his doctors say a small pain inside him will kill him within six months, and an operation would kill him on the spot. He wants no flowers and no blue skies to distract him while he weighs what is left.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1910
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7 h 20 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Locke, William John. Simon the Jester. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/simon-the-jester.
Locke, W. J. (2026). Simon the jester. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/simon-the-jester (Original work published 1910)
Locke, William John. Simon the Jester. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/simon-the-jester.
@book{locke2026simon,
author = {Locke, William John},
title = {Simon the Jester},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/simon-the-jester},
note = {First published 1910}
}
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What is Simon the Jester about?
It follows Simon de Gex, a witty parliamentarian who is told he has six months to live. He decides to do good with no fear of the consequences, and his plans for his friends bring comedy, love and unexpected trouble.
Who is Lola Brandt in Simon the Jester?
Lola is a lion tamer's daughter and animal trainer who lives in Cadogan Gardens. She is lazy, graceful and plainspoken, longs for a respectable life, and becomes the most important person in Simon's story.
What does eumoiriety mean in the book?
Simon takes the Greek word eumoiros from Marcus Aurelius, meaning a man who gives himself a happy fate through good actions. He invents the noun eumoiriety for his plan to live well and do good in his last months.
The author
William John Locke
1863–1930 · British novelist
William John Locke (1863–1930) was a British novelist. He lived in England and later in France, and died in Paris. His novels include The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne (1905), Simon the Jester (1910), The Red Planet (1917), and The Rough Road (1918). He also wrote plays.
More by William John Locke
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