Would you like to tell us about a lower price? If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support? When a Tory MP is found dead in a swimming-pool wearing a leopardskin bikini, the embittered Leslie now Lord Titmuss sees the ideal opportunity to re-enter the political arena. All he needs is a puppet, and Terry Flitton - inoffensive New Labourite - is perfect. But is he too busy listening for the sound of victory trumpets to notice that the Tory dinosaur is not quite extinct? John Mortimer's brilliant follow-up to Paradise Postponed and Titmuss Regained, The Sound of Trumpets is a devilishly witty satire on political ambition, spin and sleaze, and the culmination of a masterly trilogy.
The Sound of Trumpets by John Mortimer
Read more Read less. Applicable only on ATM card, debit card or credit card orders. Cashback will be credited as Amazon Pay balance within 10 days. Valid only on your first 2 online payments. Cashback will be credited as Amazon Pay balance within 10 days from purchase. Here's how terms and conditions apply. Customers who bought this item also bought. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1. Paradise Postponed Rapstone Chronicles. About the Author John Mortimer - was a novelist, playwright and barrister.
To get the free app, enter mobile phone number. See all free Kindle reading apps. Don't have a Kindle? Penguin UK 21 December Language: Be the first to review this item Amazon Bestsellers Rank: Despite Terry's confidence, victory is only a remote possibility until he receives a call from Leslie Titmuss, a member of Parliament and the crotchety Lord of Hartscombe. An archconservative living in bitter solitude since Margaret Thatcher's fall from power, Titmuss offers to help from the depth of his political knowledge.
It's an odd alliance, to be sure, but Titmuss is determined to make Terry win in order to punish a member of the Conservative Party who turned against Mrs.
Accepting clandestine assistance from "the enemy" turns out to be Terry's first step toward a stunning political victory and complete moral demise. As the campaign starts to turn his way, he slips quickly and thoughtlessly into an affair with an old trust-fund liberal, comforting himself with the excuse that his wife and this woman live in "different worlds.
Of course, that's a Faustian bargain, with Lord Titmuss in the role of Mephistopheles. But as long as Terry is useful to him, Titmuss helps him control the press, redesign his past, and knock his opponent off balance. The old master makes it his business to know everyone else's business, and his knowledge of embarrassing deaths and sexual peccadillos keeps him firmly in control at all times. Mortimer is one of those master writers who make it look easy.
Decades of success in print and on television have given him a Titmuss-like command of his characters.
Here, as usual, he tells a story with such sustained and disciplined wit that moments of outrageous absurdity are all the more delightful. This social commentary is perfect tea-time diversion for those who like their herbs bitter. May 19, Kate rated it liked it Shelves: His chance comes with the bizarre death of a Conservative MP and an unexpected election for his empty seat.
Enter New Labour hopeful Terry Flitton, the bright-eyed, principled, centrist politician whose thirst for power is matched only by his naiv "Laying low since the deposal of his beloved Margaret Thatcher, and his own subsequent removal from Parliament, Leslie Titmuss has been waiting for an opportunity to return from his political grave and exact his revenge on the Tories that betrayed him. Enter New Labour hopeful Terry Flitton, the bright-eyed, principled, centrist politician whose thirst for power is matched only by his naivete.
Before long Flitton and Lord Titmuss are celebrating success -- but at a price that leaves the young politician struggling to locate the values he somehow lost along the way. It's been a while since I read the first two books in this trilogy, so I didn't remember all the nasty political infighting, particularly the cold, calculating nastiness of Lord Titmuss.
And the man is awash in cold, calculating nastiness. It was an unsettling read for me: I'll make no bones about being a flaming, tree-hugging liberal and always identify with people who go into politics with high ideals and firm plans to resolve at least some of the ills of our society. I'm not naive enough to think that everyone in politics doesn't have to compromise and swallow bitter bedfellows to get elected, but watching this particular political ravishment unfold was painful and a virtual reminder of just how badly we're governed by people whose ultimate goal is power, which has cauterized their ideals along the way.
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Nov 08, Rick Burin rated it really liked it. Mortimer can't really write young people, and occasionally a grouchiness or a hint of satire-by-numbers those pointless acronyms intrudes, but this is such an astute, immersive, neatly and viciously plotted book, and at times it can be desperately moving: Flitton's closing speech in the Commons got me right in the tear-ducts. The aggressively PC wife seemed to drop the wrong side of caricature, but most of the other characters are memorable and wonderfully sketched, including Lord Tebbit - s Mortimer can't really write young people, and occasionally a grouchiness or a hint of satire-by-numbers those pointless acronyms intrudes, but this is such an astute, immersive, neatly and viciously plotted book, and at times it can be desperately moving: The aggressively PC wife seemed to drop the wrong side of caricature, but most of the other characters are memorable and wonderfully sketched, including Lord Tebbit - sorry, Titmuss - the gaunt, Machiavellian Tory grandee tied forever to the previous prime minister.
Essentially, a gentle ITV Sunday night drama that's run for one season too many in book form. Ask yourself, would this have been published if it had been by an unknown? Oct 07, Isobel rated it liked it. Read to complete the trilogy. Satire and plot rather ran out of steam! An interesting novel with an adequate plot but I didn't find myself wholly intrigued. Political machinations aside, and this is a novel constructed almost exclusively upon the political beliefs of individuals and their implications in the rest of their lives, the characters seemed too ready to shrug off their convictions and get on with accepting their role in the plot.
In the constituency of Hartscombe and Worsfield south, a by-election is called after the incumbent Tory MP dies attempting auto- An interesting novel with an adequate plot but I didn't find myself wholly intrigued. In the constituency of Hartscombe and Worsfield south, a by-election is called after the incumbent Tory MP dies attempting auto-erotic asphyxiation in his private swimming pool. The Labour candidate, one Terence Flitton, known in his youth as 'Red Tel' for a militant devotion to socialist ideals, arrives with his beautiful, younger, wife and manages to not only commit adultery with a woman 17 years his senior and here we are supposed to suspend our disbelief that a heavy smoking 50 year old woman would honestly appeal to a man with, again, a beautiful, younger wife but also become the pawn of one Lord Titmuss, a dedicated Thatcherite who launches the Labour man to victory to avenge his beloved Iron Lady's deposition.
Flitton bends utterly to the will of Titmuss, goes against all his ideals in an attempt to secure votes, and wins a hollow victory: I found it either far too fantastical or far too real a political truth to enjoy.
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Adequate but insubstantial, I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone unfamiliar with British politics. Mar 21, Ian rated it really liked it.
My somewhat eclectic choice of reading matter at the moment is driven largely by my mother who keeps piling books on me whenever I visit and I feel duty bound to read them. Still, I'm reading things I would never have looked at otherwise so I suppose it's a good thing. In the end I'm glad she did - it's an enjoyable yarn about the rise of New Labour and how this affects those caught up in the political processes of the late s. Good characters, good plot and you're never quite certain how thin My somewhat eclectic choice of reading matter at the moment is driven largely by my mother who keeps piling books on me whenever I visit and I feel duty bound to read them.
Good characters, good plot and you're never quite certain how things will pan out, despite the machinations of the politicians involved. The by-election has been caused by the mysterious death of the sitting MP wearing a leopard skin bikini, his hands manacled behind his back and a ping-pong ball in his mouth Read by Rik Mayall, and abridged by Neville Teller. Aug 07, Jennifer added it.
Jul 02, Paul rated it liked it.
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Satire on the rise of New Labour in 90s Britain. Plot moves along fast, and is witty in places. All the characters are revealed as either selfish or naive, so it's hard to find a character to like, but the author succeeds in staying neutral to the end. Third part of a trilogy of books. Funny, entertaining look at the odd world of British politics. A perfect change from the non-fiction I had recently been reading. It apparently is third in a trilogy, but I hadn't read the earlier ones and it really didn't make a difference. Dec 08, Janice rated it really liked it Shelves: Interesting and a good story.
I missed the British humour, and I'm not conversant in British politics, but I enjoyed the story just the same. Aug 22, Sue Whitt rated it it was amazing. Jan 07, Michael added it. Jan 10, Elizabeth rated it really liked it Shelves: This is the last book of the Rapstone Chronicles, which are wickedly, viciously entertaining. Jul 25, Les Wilson rated it liked it. Not really into books about politics, so may account for my not being into this book.