As an aside, I was able to answer last week's University Challenge's question on who was Prime Minister after Campbell-Bannerman (Asquith).this came as a bit of a shock to my co-viewers who have me down as a history dunce (and not without reason).

The main characters of Edwin Stafford and his love Elizabeth are beautifully drawn. The ending is very satisfying and well brought together. Goddard always plays fair - the characters stay in character, and the inevitable coincidences are believable. Plot wise, this is a 5 star mystery.not a thriller per se, more of a gradual burner, which builds in sophistication, complexity and urgency. This story is long so is good value for money and the ending is unexpected so you keep going all the way to the last few minutes. The narration is steady and clear and helps keep the plot focussed.

It is not a fast paced thriller more a sustained, intensifying burn. The narrative moves steadily along although there are plenty of sections involved with the government of the time and with the history and actions of suffragettes. This man, Martin, soon gets embroiled in all sorts of plots,scheming and double bluffs but why? The book is literary, political, plenty of crime and intrigue, romantic and absorbing. Fast forward to the present and a man down on his luck is hired to discover why Edwin Strafford was cast aside all those years before. His colleagues wont speak to him and the girl immediately leaves the country. He mysteriously loses his job and his fiancee and never finds out why. It follows the story of a man who is in the English cabinet before WW1 who falls in love with a suffragette. This is a book that doesn't neatly fit a genre.

Past caring by robert goddard