The Death Of An Owl

Description

Andrew Landford is driving home one night, along a dark country lane, when a barn owl flies into his windscreen. It is an accident, nothing more. However Andrew is in line to be the country's next prime minister. And he has recently been appointed to a parliamentary committee concerned with the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Barn Owls are protected species, and it is a crime to kill one. If Andrew acknowledges that he has killed the owl, he could be risking his political career. With Andrew in the car is his old Oxford friend and political adviser, Charles Fryerne. An expert in communications, Charles has just joined the team that is masterminding Andrew's route to the Tory Party leadership, and from there to No 10 Downing Street. He has spent many years quietly building up a very successful career as a strategist. But the death of the owl threatens to destroy not only Andrew's career, but everything that Charles has worked for too. Should they come clean, or hide the story and hope it goes away?

Reviews

best suited to a fireside on a winter's night, but it's no less satisfying for that DAILY MAIL A delightful Gothic fantasy... Witty and well-crafted - completed with panache THE GUARDIAN Compelling blend of morality and satire SUNDAY MIRROR Skeweringly accurate... The Death of an Owl will rung true with anyone who has ever hate politicians or fallen out of love EVENING STANDARD

Author description

Paul Torday burst on to the literary scene in 2007 with his first novel, SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN, an immediate international bestseller which has been translated into 28 languages and has been made into a film starring Ewan McGregor, Kristin Scott Thomas and Emily Blunt. His subsequent novels, THE IRRESISTIBLE INHERITANCE OF WILBERFORCE, THE GIRL ON THE LANDING, THE HOPELESS LIFE OF CHARLIE SUMMERS, MORE THAN YOU CAN SAY, THE LEGACY OF HARTLEPOOL HALL and LIGHT SHINING IN THE FOREST, were all published to great critical acclaim. He was married with two sons by a previous marriage, had two stepsons, and lived close to the River North Tyne. He died at home in December 2013. Piers Torday was born in Northumberland and is the eldest son of Paul Torday. He has worked in live theatre, comedy and TV and is the bestselling author of three children's books, THE LAST WILD, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Award and nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, THE DARK WILD, which won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2014, and THE WILD BEYOND. He lives in London.