Hurry - Only 3 left in stock!
|
JULIAN HAYES is a criminal and child-care lawyer with his firm, Berris Law, in London. He has undertaken many of the most high-profile and serious cases seen in the criminal courts of the last twenty years, most notably the 'Ricin Case' terrorist trial in 2005, the Graff jewellery robbery and most recently the Vietnamese lorry deaths case.
What a book - and what a character. I loved every minute . . . I
should imagine that had Stonehouse's life story occurred to John Le
Carré as a plot for one of his novels, he would have dismissed it
as too far-fetched. Completely absorbing and told with huge
compassion, integrity and skill. Stonehouse was ahead of his times
in many ways, yet decadent, deceitful but also very engaging and
intelligent . . . it's really the power of his personality that
drives the book, which is ripe for dramatic interpretation of some
kind, either television or film. Julian Hayes is a born storyteller
too, and his family certainly gifted him with a remarkable story
that lingers long after the final reading.
*Carol Ann Lee, author of The Murders at White House Farm
and A Passion For Poison*
What a book. I didn't have to turn the pages. They turned
themselves . . . Julian's sharp, succinct writing weaves fact and
detail together into a captivating narrative . . . the authentic
truth from the perspective of one who was a witness. Julian Hayes
is perfectly placed to tell this story . . . His legal expertise
makes sense of criminal proceedings, but while he beautifully lays
out the factual detail, it is the human side of this very personal
story that is so captivating. Some of this obtained through
conversations with his family but also the recollections of a young
Julian, who witnessed much of what is shared through the innocent
eyes of a child. This is most definitely a must read.
*Dr Saleyha Ahsan, filmmaker and journalist, Cambridge*
[Hayes], a criminal lawyer, mounts the case for the prosecution.
This is that Stonehouse was an avaricious chancer who faked his
death in a last-throw attempt to escape a series of failed and
fraudulent business dealings in which he had entangled innocent
friends and relatives, including the author's father. While posing
"as if he were the innocent victim of the entire, bizarre
spectacle", Stonehouse was a "callous" man who brought "a tidal
wave of distress, anguish and ruin crashing down on his extended
family, not only Barbara and their children, but also dragging his
nephew, Michael, and his young family under with them.
*Guardian*
The minister's nephew recounts an extraordinary life . . . The book
is a vivid account of how, in the 1960s and 1970s, Stonehouse -
once tipped as a future Labour prime minister - betrayed his
country, made a mockery of domestic and international law, ripped
off investors and friends, humiliated both Harold Wilson and
Parliament and shattered his own family and then, when the jaws of
his self-made trap began to close around him, organised and
executed a fake-your-own-death escape of such breathtaking
chutzpah, he later tried to explain it as the work of a second
personality living within him.
*Telegraph*
This book is the nearest thing we have to a definitive account of
the Stonehouse affair . . . fascinating and thoroughly
absorbing
*Sydney Morning Herald*
Ask a Question About this Product More... |