- Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Sphere; New edition edition (7 Dec 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0751529842
- ISBN-13: 978-0751529845
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 10.8 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 620,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
There's a long and honourable tradition of politicians writing fiction that stretches back to Disraeli--even if not all have been of the first rank in the literary stakes. Fortunately, Douglas Hurd is a real writer, with a talent for the written word that exceeds many a writer known only for one career. Ten Minutes to Turn the Devil is a diverting collection of short stories that often give the very precise flavour of the life of a modern politician (with a bracing frankness here that members of the cabinet are denied). But Hurd's brief is wider than that and his imaginative variety of subjects are dispatched with some aplomb. From the killing machines of Bosnia and Serbia to a marriage in trouble in the South African veld, Hurd's reach is always ambitious. And even when the shades of other authors such as Agatha Christie raise their heads (as in a Tuscany-set piece in with some nasty blackmail), Hurd is able to demonstrate a powerful narrative grasp. He is, of course, highly percipient about tense war situations, but also possesses a concise and insightful grasp of human feeling:
Because she was no longer in love she no longer had the power to know his mind ... the tensions of marriage seemed to both of them easier to accept than the chores of separation.The humanity and humour of these pieces are always refreshing, but their real strength is the insider's vision of tough, tension-fraught situations in many corners of the globe. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
What Douglas Hurd does possess, which makes him a rarity among politicians who write political novels, is an ability to translate to the page what it feels like to be a contemporary politician. (OBSERVER )
This diverting collection of short stories has items that gave the very-precise flavour of life of a modern politician, but Hurd's bried is wider than that, and his imaginative variety of subjects are dispatched with some aplomb... The humanity and humour (GOOD BOOK GUIDE )
Neat twists in several of the tales, and much elegant writing. (COUNTRY LIFE )
Simple dialogue and believable characters underpin elegantly constructed narratives. (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
This diverting collection of short stories has items that gave the very-precise flavour of life of a modern politician, but Hurd's bried is wider than that, and his imaginative variety of subjects are dispatched with some aplomb... The humanity and humour (GOOD BOOK GUIDE )
Neat twists in several of the tales, and much elegant writing. (COUNTRY LIFE )
Simple dialogue and believable characters underpin elegantly constructed narratives. (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
In this, his first collection of short stories, Douglas Hurd combines his political insight and fictional finesse to provide ten tales of intrigue, deception, war - and startling perception. Delving where politicians are forbidden to go, he explores the shadows behind the failures and fruits of diplomacy, weaving fictional characters into factual backdrops.
Here are the regions that have filled the world's headlines in recent years. Behind the killing machines of Bosnia and Serbia we meet people whose lives have been destroyed by truths, half-truths, heroism and lies - and by the grandmasters who made them pawns on the ever-changing chessboard of power. Here are characters that leap from the page: desperate, dignified and, occasionally, duplicitous. And here are soldiers who massacre people - and journalists who massacre the truth.
Far removed from the grim merry-go-round of ethnic cleansing we meet other characters in other worlds. A crumbling marriage meets life in the raw - with cataclysmic results - in the South African velt. A journalist attempts to rewrite the Falklands history - until he encounters reality. Off the Florida Keys, high-ranking officials unwittingly risk their reputations by making the wrong sort of friends. And amidst the olive groves of Tuscany, shades of Agatha Christie turn a house party into hell as blackmail and the black past rear their heads
Drawing on his own extensive experience as a traveller, writer and politician, Douglas Hurd has written more than a collection of short stories. He has created a rich and unique cocktail of entertainment and enlightenment; served with equal measures of tension and tragedy, hope and humanity.
Here are the regions that have filled the world's headlines in recent years. Behind the killing machines of Bosnia and Serbia we meet people whose lives have been destroyed by truths, half-truths, heroism and lies - and by the grandmasters who made them pawns on the ever-changing chessboard of power. Here are characters that leap from the page: desperate, dignified and, occasionally, duplicitous. And here are soldiers who massacre people - and journalists who massacre the truth.
Far removed from the grim merry-go-round of ethnic cleansing we meet other characters in other worlds. A crumbling marriage meets life in the raw - with cataclysmic results - in the South African velt. A journalist attempts to rewrite the Falklands history - until he encounters reality. Off the Florida Keys, high-ranking officials unwittingly risk their reputations by making the wrong sort of friends. And amidst the olive groves of Tuscany, shades of Agatha Christie turn a house party into hell as blackmail and the black past rear their heads
Drawing on his own extensive experience as a traveller, writer and politician, Douglas Hurd has written more than a collection of short stories. He has created a rich and unique cocktail of entertainment and enlightenment; served with equal measures of tension and tragedy, hope and humanity.
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