Arriving in London to begin an art course, the student A. has illusions about training as an Old Master at the epicentre of conceptualism and multi-media art. Over three years, A. lives among hopeful contenders in a city on the cusp of an art boom. White Spirit gives us a candid, tough portrait of London in the 1990s and an acute dissection of one generation’s ambition and delusion.

A prequel to Adams’s novel The Naked Spur (Exeter House, 2025).