The New Machiavelli

The New Machiavelli is a novel by H. G. Wells, first published in 1911. The story is told by Richard Remington, an ideological man with dreams of social and political reform. After marrying a wealthy heiress, he becomes a politician, but his career is damaged by an affair that he has. The book is his story after he abandons his job and wife and flees to Italy.

The plot of The New Machiavelli is derived from H. G. Wells's affair with Amber Reeves and satirises socialists Beatrice and Sidney Webb. With themes of politics and sex, the book caused a bit of a scandal when it was published, however it was praised by the likes of Joseph Conrad, D. H. Lawrence, Henry James, and Upton Sinclair.