In a provincial Argentinean town, Charley Fortnum, a British consul with
dubious authority and a weakness for drink, is kidnapped by Paraguayan
revolutionaries who have mistaken him for the American ambassador. Dr.
Eduardo Plarr, a local physician with his own divided loyalties, serves
as the negotiator between the rebels and the authorities. These fumbling
characters play out an absurd drama of failure, hope, love, and betrayal
against a backdrop of political chaos. The Honorary Consul is both
a gripping novel of suspense and a penetrating psychological and
sociological study of personal and political corruption. This Penguin
Classics edition features an introduction by Mark Bosco.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of
classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700
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