About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherVerso Books

ISBN-101859846432

ISBN-139781859846438

eBay Product ID (ePID)1917314

Product Key Features

Book TitleInnocent in the House

Number of Pages312 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicPolitical

Publication Year2001

GenreFiction

AuthorAndy Mcsmith

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height0.5 in

Item Weight20 oz

Item Length7.8 in

Item Width5.6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2001-045418

Reviews'eoeMcSmith is a great writer and there's lots to hold your interest, not to mention the fun to be had spotting appearances by the real New Labour stars.'e�, "McSmith is a great writer and there's lots to hold your interest, not to mention the fun to be had spotting appearances by the real New Labour stars."- Punch "A smart tale of mishaps and successes."- The Guardian "... not only offers a rattling good yarn but provides more insight into the inner workings of Westminster than many accounts of political progress."- The Scotsman "Smollet could hardly have contrived it better."-Paul Routledge, The Spectator "This is the first novel; he should have started long ago. His background as a Labour press officer, then working for the Mirror , the Observer and now the Daily Telegraph , makes him uniquely qualified to write about the shenanigans, cruelties and hypocrisies of the political world."-Edwina Currie, The New Statesman "Curl up and enjoy."-Gyles Brandreth, The Good Boook Guide " Innocent in the House is a sumptuous, barely fictional account of Commons life under New Labour-a filthy press, plenty of sex, and the politics ground to pieces in a highly readable vortex of coke snorting, spin doctoring and intrigue. I thoroughly enjoyed it."-Jon Snow, Observer Books of the Year "A comic gem, a kind of Primary Colors that shrewdly lays bare the day-to-day maneuverings of Parliament's power elite."-Mark Rozzo, The Los Angeles Times Book Review "Andy McSmith is the most scrupulous reporter in Westminster. His dedication to the highest journalistic standards is fanatical. It is therefore a great relief that this account of elected representatives cringing before the Prime Minister's camp confidante, spin doctors whose cocaine-raddled brains are empty of everything except egotism, murderous eurosceptics, a government without principle or guiding intelligence, and a morally bankrupt press which transforms everything it touches into dirt, is completely fictitious."-Nick Cohen "Using his insider's knowledge of Westminster and the Labour Party Andy McSmith has written a modern Pilgrim's Progress: a gripping tale of skulduggery and ambition revealing the fate of a decent man fallen among Blairites."-Francis Wheen

Dewey Edition21

TitleLeadingThe

Dewey Decimal823/.914

SynopsisJoseph Pilgrim is the eponymous hero of Andy McSmtih's fictional debut. He had already made several wrong career moves before being swept into the House of Commons by Labour's landslide in 1997, much to his own surprise. As Pilgrim tries to avoid the patronage and sycophancy he innocently stumbles up the greasy pole of success, until a sexual peccadillo gets into the hands of Grub Street's grubbiest and his past returns to haunt him., .He was surrounded on every side by those who wanted to be. Some wanted to be famous, some to be praised, some to be on television every night, some to be outstandingly loyal, some to be famously disloyal, some to be driven by chauffeurs in ministerial cars and some to be Prime Minister. They were breathing down his neck and pressing against his sides; but Joseph Pilgrim.s life had been so full of what he wanted to do that he had never applied himself to wanting to be anything. He certainly had not expected to be a Member of Parliament, until that singular status rose up one evening and took over his life.. Joseph Pilgrim is the hero of Andy McSmith.s compelling fictional debut. Pilgrim has already made several wrong career moves before he is swept into the House of Commons by Labour.s landslide in 1997, much to his own surprise. Ingenuous, though nobody.s fool, he tries to avoid joining a system of patronage and sycophancy, but cannot stop himself from stumbling repeatedly upward towards success. It.s not long before the Prime Minister is making inquiries about the mysterious newcomer and the front benches beckon. But when the story of a sexual peccadillo from long ago falls into the hands of Grub Street.s grubbiest, Pilgrim.s past returns to haunt him. Andy McSmith draws on long experience as a Labour Party press officer and political journalist to create a convincing and exciting tale of politics and scandal. His story is enlivened by cameo appearances of characters that bear an eerily close resemblance to real political figures.

LC Classification NumberPR6113.C59I56 2001