This novel tells of that simple person Wilfrid Halterton,
Postmaster-General in Mrs. Boulanger's second administration, that of
1960.The placing of the big Television Contract comes within the domain
of the Post Office, and Halterton is soon deeply involved in a tangle of
intrigue where his simplicity makes him an easy victim to clever
financiers and politicians. Belloc enthusiasts and others alike will
welcome such characters as Honest Jack Williams, the Home
Secretary--Lord Papworthy, Permanent Minister for Fine Arts--James
Haggismuir McAuley, financier, and many others. Arthur Lawson and his
brother Jacob, and their relations with Halterton, introduce a markedly
original note and give this book a distinction above its predecessors.
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and
historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one
of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth
century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, satirist, man of
letters, and political activist. He is most notable for his Catholic
faith, which had a strong impact on most of his works and his writing
collaboration with G. K. Chesterton. He was President of the Oxford
Union and later MP for Salford from 1906 to 1910. He was a noted
disputant, with a number of long-running feuds, but also widely regarded
as a humane and sympathetic man.
