Customer Reviews

First Lady

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"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.