The Speaker's Wife

The Speaker's Wife Synopsis

'This brilliant and utterly engrossing debut novel is both a lively political satire and a state-of-the-nation polemic ...The author's Wodehousian relish of the English language is infectious' Tatler 'Wildly original and beautifully written. It's funny but, at time, unbearably sad' Daily Mail The Rev Tom Ross's quiet and semi-alcoholic life as chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons is about to be shattered. Pastor Petroc Stone of a central London, evangelical church gives sanctuary to a young man being chased by the police for making an anti-Islamic protest.

Politicians rage about the Church of England giving a safe haven to a dangerous criminal and Islamists surround the church building, furious at the boy's insult. Meanwhile, the charismatic, white-maned Don of Doubt, Augustus Dymock, and his secular campaign, the Thought Foundation, are pressuring the Church to sell hundreds of its under-used places of worship. As the stories twist and flow together, Ross finds himself caught up in a world of bribes, violence and political spin and, at high personal cost, he must confront his demons.