Ultraliberal clergyman Simeon Simcox, rector of the village of Rapstone Fanner, leaves his entire fortune to Leslie Titmuss, a social-climbing conservative politician. As Mortimer recounts the gossip and dastardly goings-on in Rapstone Fanner, he creates a wickedly funny, totally absorbing portrait of British life from the austerity of World War II to the dubious prosperity of the eighties. This delightful social comedy was adapted by Mortimer into an eleven-part series for Masterpiece Theatre.
Ultraliberal clergyman Simeon Simcox, rector of the village of Rapstone Fanner, leaves his entire fortune to Leslie Titmuss, a social-climbing conservative politician. As Mortimer recounts the gossip and dastardly goings-on in Rapstone Fanner, he creates a wickedly funny, totally absorbing portrait of British life from the austerity of World War II to the dubious prosperity of the eighties. This delightful social comedy was adapted by Mortimer into an eleven-part series for Masterpiece Theatre.
Editorial Reviews
Publishers Weekly
Why does Simeon Simcox, ``left-wing cleric'' of an English village, leave the Simcox brewery millions to the morally loathsome Leslie ``The Toad'' Titmuss, city developer and Conservative cabinet minister? Simeon's sonsFred, the jazz-drumming doctor, and writer Henry, once ``Britain's brightest and angriest''conduct separate sleuthing inquiries into Simeon's life and will. Was the low-born Titmuss, who has bought and sold his upper-crust associates and climbed to power on their crippled backs, really Simeon's offspring? Barrister, playwright, scriptwriter, novelist Mortimer (Rumpole of the Bailey brings his legal expertise and somber humor to this competently cobbled, though dogged, plot that takes in the upheavals of British society from the '40s to the '70s. Where the gentry once rode to hounds, the constabulary now rides against women camping on the heath to protest the Cruise missile. Despite some funny scenes of sitcom buffoonery, readers are apt to feel indifferent to the squads of characters that Mortimer parades forth, who are largely representatives of social forces, with little human blood in them. 25,000 first printing; BOMC alternate. (April)
The author of the Rumpole TV series focuses here on the life of Rector Simeon Simcox of Rapstone Fanner, an English village. The novel begins with Simcox on his deathbed, and the remainder is a series of flashbacks featuring the Simcox family, their friends, and Leslie Titmuss, a singleminded manipulator who climbs from poor boy to cabinet minister. The ``mystery'' of the novel is why Simcox, in his will, leaves all he owns to Titmuss. After much tediously contrived suspense, we learn that Titmuss is Simcox's illegitimate son. The writing is witty and the wordplay entertaining, but Mortimer has overextended a flimsy plot. Glenn O. Carey, English Dept., Eastern Kentucky Univ., Richmond
Overview
Ultraliberal clergyman Simeon Simcox, rector of the village of Rapstone Fanner, leaves his entire fortune to Leslie Titmuss, a social-climbing conservative politician. As Mortimer recounts the gossip and dastardly goings-on in Rapstone Fanner, he creates a wickedly funny, totally absorbing portrait of British life from the austerity of World War II to the dubious prosperity of the eighties. This delightful social comedy was adapted by Mortimer into an eleven-part series for Masterpiece Theatre.