Jimmie Johnston first became a Labour MP in Cumbria when there was a brave new post-war world to build. Now, in the late 70s, another general election looms but he is no longer so optimistic. And as he fights to keep his seat, his family begins to fracture around him and scandal threatens. In this absorbing and fast-paced novel, Melvyn Bragg’s portrait of the mood and politics of the era remains as pertinent today as on its original publication.
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Reviews
A gripping novel . . . there is a demonic streak in Bragg's imagination, something excitingly macabre
Very good, very pleasurable and very authentic . . . an extremely well-timed book
Melvyn Bragg is quite simply one of the best writers we have
There are certain writers - Lawrence, Hardy, Bennett - whose novels seem to grow from the very soil that nurtured them. Melvyn Bragg is one of them: his characters' roots are firmly in Cumbria . . . The writing and characterisation are powerful