Douglas Hurd

Prime Minister Simon Russell's personal alarm clock is ticking away. Beyond No 10, prison riots, bombs in Ireland, corporate blackmail in China and civil unrest in Russia jostle for his attention. As the pressure builds, his judgement and his relationships become distorted.

799 pages ; 18 cm

"On the morning of October 8, 1856, a small vessel flying the British flag under charter, with a Chinese crew, was seized by the Chinese. The relatively minor incident was to trigger an imperialistic war that lasted four years and involved full-scale intervention by the european powers. One of its memoral incidents was the historic looting and burning of the incredibly beautiful Summer Palace, actually a compound of two hundred buildings extending over eighty square miles--pavilions roofed with gold, filled with silks, jade, and objets d'art of great worth."--Publisher's description.