Book review

I chose this book for review for the simple reason that I enjoy reading fiction, as it seems do most contributors to this absorbing collection of essays. Edited by Jonathan Gosling, Professor of Leadership Studies at the University of Exeter, and writer and consultant Peter Villiers, Fictional Leaders adopts an intriguing, and unusual, approach to leadership. From ancient and modern texts, this book demonstrates how literature offers insights into contemporary issues regarding leadership. In their intro-duction, Gosling and Villiers argue that management theory often obscures leadership experiences by focusing on positive aspects of leading. The stated aim of this book, by contrast, is to address difficult-to-explore aspects of leadership such as ‘ loneliness, frustration and disappointment ’ (p. 1). The intent is not to provide an overarching leadership theory, but rather to highlight ‘ conceptual observation and theoretical problems ’ (p. 1) by focusing on particular experiences.