A new political novel from John Stewart

The President goes missing. Every corner of the White House has been searched and double-checked, without success. The Vice President is in Europe, so the decision of whether to go public or not falls upon the Chief of Staff. Just then the phone rings: a journalist has spotted the President sitting on a park bench near the Lincoln Memorial, his only disguise a baseball cap pulled well down over his eyes.

The Commander in Chief of the most powerful military force in the world has acted strangely and explanations are sought, but the President is far from apologetic. It is he who is asking questions.

This incident, which occurs about fifteen months from the end of the President’s first term, provokes a change of attitude. This worries his campaign manager who fears he is throwing away his chances of re-election, but more sinisterly, it provokes the opposition of vested interests who fear their privileges are under threat.

But the President is convinced he has seen a way to make a real change, to cut through the tired arguments of both Left and Right and heal the rifts in society. In a carefully crafted dialogue, John Stewart spells out the implications and the reaction of press and public.

The interest in real change aroused by the US presidential primaries makes this book timely on both sides of the Atlantic. The reform the President seeks to introduce in the USA could be just as relevant for the UK.

Author Details:

John Stewart, the son of a farmer in Northern Ireland, moved to London in the 1950s. He is the author of three historical novels, The Centurion, translated into German, Italian and Spanish, The Last Romans, placed in the time of Justinian and Boethius, and Marsilio, centred on the early life of the Florentine philosopher-priest, Marsilio Ficino. He has written two biographies, Standing for Justice, on the life of Andrew MacLaren MP and A Promise Kept, on the work of a Christian trade unionist.

A Guardian online review of his first political novel, Visitors, commented:
‘It is difficult to know where to look for comparisons: Graham Greene, for its exquisite prose, or [Arthur C. Clarke], for its deftly imagined other-world politics, and alien beings as thinly disguised representatives of what humankind might one day aspire to’
and concluded:
‘As Einstein observed, “The world cannot get out of the current state of crisis with the same thinking that got it there in the first place”. John Stewart, his alien visitors and the people whose lives they touch, know this only too well. Rarely can such a profound message have been delivered in so stimulating and entertaining a fashion.’

Now published and available @ £7.95 PB from Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd. 15 Alder Road, London, SW14 8ER. www.shepheard-walwyn.co.uk