Product Description

From a bestselling novelist with an unrivalled insight into the workings of power comes a compelling new novel exploring Winston Churchill's remarkable journey from the wilderness to No 10 Downing Street at the beginning of World War II. Saturday 1 October 1938. Two men meet. One is elderly, the other in his twenties. One will become the most revered man of his time, and the other known as the greatest of traitors. Winston Churchill met Guy Burgess at a moment when the world was about to explode. Now in is astonishing new novel, Michael Dobbs throws brilliant fresh light upon Churchill's relationship with the Soviet spy and the twenty months of conspiracy, chance and outright treachery that were to propel Churchill from outcast to messiah and change the course of history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #116914 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 704 pages

Review
'Michael Dobbs' latest novel is a vividly realised record of the events surrounding the great Briton's remarkable rise. An intriguing tale of espionage and treason ! a work to enthral. This novel never ceases to be compelling.' Stephanie Cross, Daily Mail 'Churchill is a brooding presence ! as riveting as Francis Urquhart. Dobbs' novel is astonishingly historically accurate. He certainly knows where all the skeletons are hidden and where every body is buried. He manages to give a vivid impression of the seamier side of politics in the year that immediately preceded the outbreak of war ! compelling.' Anthony Howard, The Times 'Dobbs has done a brilliant job in evoking the drama and despair of Britain hovering on the edge of the abyss.' Sunday Express 'Michael Dobbs weaves a fascinating tale of conspiracy, blackmail and treachery ! This page-turning, meaty, densely textured wartime thriller unblinkingly dissects the wealthy oligarchy that nearly ruined Britain and throws a very new light on Burgess and his place in history.' Myles McWeeney, Irish Independent

From the Publisher
The story of Churchill’s return to power and the part played by the man who would later be revealed as a Soviet spy provide the inspiration for a fascinating novel that sheds new light on one of the most remarkable periods of British history. As well as being one of the country’s most successful novelists, Michael Dobbs is an increasingly prominent media figure.

About the Author
For two decades, Michael Dobbs has been at the right hand of political controversy. He was at Mrs Thatcher's side as she took her first step into Downing Street as Prime Minister, and was a key aide to John Major when he was voted out. In between times he was bombed in Brighton, banished from Chequers and blamed for failing to secure a Blair-Major television debate.

Customer Reviews

Becoming part of the action
As Churchill's growling tones lift off the page, you are immediately engaged with this remarkable book. Dobb's skill with dialogue is supreme. He inhabits this book with some pretty rum people. You recoil as you get a string whiff of the stale tobacco and whisky that seem to permeate the KGB agent, Guy Burgess - yet you can only marvel at his Machiavellian mind. Joseph Kennedy's evil is palpable. It reads like a fly-on-the-wall documentary, as Dobbs gives colour, flesh and vitality to long dead monochrome players. Like the Trumpers' barber, you eavesdrop on history. Would all such historical books be so true to life. I commend it to other readers.

Good but not great
Unfortunately I read this novel in parallel with "Eminent Churchillians" by Andrew Roberts, and I was left with the strong suspicion at times that Roberts' chapter on the Tory Party was almost being cut-and-pasted into the Dobbs book.

The anachronistic dialogue irritates (did high civil servants in the 1930's really use the f-word continuously?), but the explanation of the Churchill succession to the Premiership is certainly ingenious. The minor characters seem rather to lose their way, and to be tidied up at the end almost as after-thoughts. Dobbs might have skipped some of them and given us a bit more insight into the minds of Joe Kennedy and Beaverbrook, who are presnted as one-dimensional ogres. Cleverly, JFK appears in a non-speaking part.

Guy Burgess emerges as more interesting than I had expected, but Dobbs has actually attributed some of the stories surrounding Tom Driburg (also a cameo appearance) to Burgess himself - a bit lazy, really.

It's a bit like "Jesus of Nazareth" in a way, because we all know how the story ends before we finish the first page. So full marks to Dobbs for keeping us engaged to the end.

But please don't imagine that reading this book gives you any special insight into Appeasement, Norway and the Fall of Chamberlain - it's good fiction for the beach, quite well researched, but modern history it ain't.

What a pleasant surprise
I approached this book with some trepidition but was pleasantly surprised. The characters stand out as very real, it's as if Mr Dodds was a bystander on all the important conversations and goings on leading to the outbreak of WW2.
I would recommend to anyone who has a passing interest in the subject matter