One cool March morning in London, MP Leo Barr is told that his brother, Charlie, is dead. He has hanged himself from a chestnut tree in the grounds of a mental hospital. His family reacts in different ways. Charlie's mother, Imogen, sees no point in pretending that life is still worth living - he was always her favourite. Leo and his lawyer brother Roland fight, as they always have over Charlie. The fourth brother Ron, a Catholic priest, must break the news to Charlie's wife, presently in HMP Holloway. In the days following Charlie's death the conflict builds among members of this diverse and complex family. Who really loves whom? What are the motives behind Roland's fixed antagonism towards Charlie? Is Leo right to put his career on the line? Above and between them all is the larger-than-life figure of Charlie. He follows no rules, not even about dying, and it becomes clear that his tragedy is only part of a web of mystery and deceit that connects them all. As well as being a powerful human drama, LIES & LOYALTIES deals with gritty contemporary issues in today's Britain. It moves from parliament to prison, from church to mental hospital and from those who conduct the law to the outcasts of society. But at the heart of the novel is one family - divided by rivalry and frustrated love and forced, at last, to learn the truth about themselves.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
'Heartache, soul searching and finger pointing swirl around this complex tale of a dysfunctional, yet powerful family' -- DAILY MIRROR
'The quick-paced , unadorned writing almost makes it possible to miss the sharp connections being drawn between the strait-laced and the straight-jacketed in contemporary Britain.' -- DAILY TELEGRAPH
'[A] brilliantly murky novel... Rachel Billington has created an utterly gripping page-turner, rich in sub plots.' -- SPECTATOR
'[A] challenging and exciting novel... a grown-up story seasoned with politics, religion and the terrors of breakdown.' -- SUNDAY TIMES
'The quick-paced , unadorned writing almost makes it possible to miss the sharp connections being drawn between the strait-laced and the straight-jacketed in contemporary Britain.' -- DAILY TELEGRAPH
'[A] brilliantly murky novel... Rachel Billington has created an utterly gripping page-turner, rich in sub plots.' -- SPECTATOR
'[A] challenging and exciting novel... a grown-up story seasoned with politics, religion and the terrors of breakdown.' -- SUNDAY TIMES
About the Author
Rachel Billington has published many novels. She has been President of PEN, and is co-editor of INSIDE TIME, the national newspaper for prisoners. She is married to the director Kevin Billington.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Family secrets,
By
This review is from: Lies and Loyalties (Hardcover)
When British MP, Leo Barr is informed of the death of his younger brother, Charley, he rushes to the mental hospital where Charley was a patient, to be told that he had hanged himself from a tree in the garden of the hospital grounds. Upon viewing the body, he is relieved to see that it definitely not Charley, but that Charley is missing and wanted for questioning by the police. Poor brilliant but very loosely hinged Charley had been certain that someone was trying to kill him because of information about a very senior MP which he had passed on to Leo. Leo is convinced that this MP is crooked and feels sure that he will be able to provide proof of the minister's skullduggery. The Barr family consists of mother Imogen, a former Dior model and loved all of her life by many men, her husband Esmond, possible father of all of the children and now bordering on the edge of sanity, top barrister Robert who has his own secret life, MP Leo, Charley, whom Imogen adored, Father Bill, a catholic priest who was given away as a baby to a devout catholic couple and the only girl, Portia. This is a most complex family, each having his own personal problems with just a hint of mental instability running through all of them. It's a well written and interesting book so I must now find others by this excellent writer.
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