Sue Townsend writes about the British prime minister in a most impudent way, which is both entertaining and exhilarating. I can’t imagine such a book on our prime minister would ever get published in Singapore, and even if it did, I wonder what would happen to the author. Hah. It’s sad when a society isn’t open-minded enough (or confident) enough to laugh at herself.
In this daring satire of the British royal family, Edward Clare, the PM, crossdresses and transforms into Edwina St. Clare. Accompanied by Jack Sprat, policeman, they traverse across England, into the suburbs, the rural areas, the crime-filled areas… As he bumbles his way through life as commonfolk, he learns the value of family and personal life, and discovers for himself who he really is and what he really wants. In addition, he discovers the impracticality of many of those policies that he agonised over, and also learns to address the ‘bread and butter’ of his own nation.
A delightfully breezy read indeed!
