Product Description

This is the story of Hamer Shawcross, and of his rise from boyhood poverty in Manchester to become a Cabinet Minister. Shawcross is arrogant, irresistible, raffish and ambitious. He may not be likeable, but he is real. It is also the story of Ann, his wife. She is beautiful with an unbreakable spirit that carries her through her own political battles as an avid supporter of the suffragette movement. The story charts not only the lives of Hamer and Ann, but the vast social and political changes of Britain and the rest of Europe, from the latter years of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the Second World War.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #452320 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 670 pages

About the Author
Howard Spring was born in Cardiff in 1889 into a large family. He left school at 12 after his father's death and continued his education at evening classes. At thirteen he got a job as a messenger on the Cardiff newspaper, The South Wales News, and became a reporter. At twenty-two, Spring went to the Yorkshire Observer in Bradford and later he joined the Manchester Guardian where he returned after the war. He came to love the city and many of his novels are set there. In 1931 Spring took the job of literary critic on the Evening Standard where he introduced the Standard's Book of the Month. He started writing his own novels in 1934. At the start of World War II he and his family moved to Cornwall, whereupon he became literary critic of Country Life. He continued to write after the war and died in 1965.

Customer Reviews

A splendid novel with a highly enjoyable political aspect
I picked up this book because I had heard it was based on the life of Ramsay Mcdonald and having a great interest in 19th century politics I was keen to expand my knowledge of early 20th centur politics too. Fame is the spur kept me reading right to the end but one of the most fascinating aspects to Springs endearing neo victorian prose was his contrast between the real lives of the poor and that of Hamer's (the main character)political rhetoric. Howard Spring paints a picture of grinding poverty in the slums of Manchester but infuses in his characters a sense of joy and hope centred around the institution of the family. Hamer's political speeches on the other hand show the deadening black and white nature of electioneering as his oratorical portraits of his eraly years leave out this sense of hope.

All in all a fascinating book for the politically minded and those who like a good human drama alike.