First Lady [Hardcover]

Michael Dobbs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 23, 2006

Michael Dobbs returns to the subject that made him a household name -- the high drama and machinations of the political world. This is HOUSE OF CARDS for the 21st century, an insider's view of the dynamics of power by a writer who has had a privileged seat at the court of government for many, many years. This time the king maker is a woman, Camilla Hastings, mid-thirties, attractive, self-sufficient, ambitious. This is the story of her transformation from dutiful political wife to masterful manipulator of the entire political process at Westminster. She is a woman who is driven by the failings of men and the greed of others to take over their system and undermine it, to repay them in kind. In this battle she has two great allies -- the intuition and determination of a wronged wife, and the blind ineptitude of Westminster men.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"* 'Brilliant... Full of magnificently dark political characters' - Daily Mail * 'Intrigue, political scandal and government treachery... Dobbs demonstrates why he is the master' - Times Literary Supplement * 'Dobbs has given us a splendid diversion, one that makes it worth chucking the TV set out of the window and settling down with a book' - Sunday Express * 'Dobbs is following in a respectable tradition. Shakespeare, Walter Scott, even Tolstoy, all used historical events as the framework for their writings. And, unlike some of their distinguished works, Dobbs's novel is, in fact, astonishingly historically accurate' - Anthony Howard, The Times"

About the Author

Michael Dobbs was born in the same hour as Prince Charles. It doesn't seem to have done him too much harm. In the years since then he has become a doctor of philosophy, a senior adviser to both Margaret Thatcher and John Major, a Deputy Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, a regular presenter of BBC TV's Despatch Box and a columnist for The Mail on Sunday. In his spare time he has written books ranging from the best-selling House of Cards trilogy that became a hugely popular TV series to his recent brilliant series of historical novels about the life of Winston Churchill. He tries to live quietly with his wife and four sons near a pub and a church in Wiltshire.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (October 23, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0755326830
• ISBN-13: 978-0755326839
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,044,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Back stabbing and eye gouging in the rear alleys of Whitehall, December 19, 2008

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: First Lady (Paperback)

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." - President Bill Clinton, January 1998

Author Michael Dobbs has written several absorbing novels based on Winston Churchill's career immediately before and during World War Two (Winston's War: A novel of deception, Never Surrender: A Novel of Winston Churchill, Churchill's Hour: A Novel of Defiance and Churchill's Triumph: A Novel of Betrayal). A trilogy of books based on the fictional, Machiavellian Prime Minister, Francis Urquhart, was turned into an award winning TV miniseries by the Beeb (House of Cards Trilogy (House of Cards / To Play the King / The Final Cut)) starring Ian Richardson. Expecting excellence, I acquired FIRST LADY, a novel of contemporary British politics during the time of the nation's involvement in the Second Gulf War and its aftermath.

Here, Dominic Edge is the chairman of the Her Majesty's loyal Opposition Party. Intelligent and articulate, but not terribly clever, Dominic has a weakness common to most men and many famous politicians; he can't keep his fly zipped. Discovering an infidelity, his intelligent, beautiful AND clever wife Ginny forges a path of revenge, which, oddly, involves spurring Dominic on to become Opposition Leader and then Prime Minister. (You're right; I don't understand the logic of it either. Perhaps Hillary can enlighten.)

The subtitle of the book is A NOVEL ABOUT POWER, SEDUCTION AND REVENGE. Seduction and revenge are certainly parts of it, but the core of the plot revolves around power and the art of political treachery and manipulation required to grasp it. Ginny proves to be a master at both - the power behind the throne, so to speak.

Though Ginny never became an endearing protagonist, the pleasure of the read came from watching her deal with each of her husband's rivals in turn. That said, I enjoyed FIRST LADY but never reached the point where I couldn't put it down. Dominic's ascent up the political ladder engendered no suspense, only an academic curiosity as to how the story would evolve. True enough, the conclusion involved a plot twist, but one that caused me to only raise perhaps half an eyebrow.

FIRST LADY is a solid but not exceptional novel of political infighting. In this instance, I suspect, true life, if we knew all the facts, would prove to be more startling.