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Fiction General

Birthday Present

by (author) Barbara Vine

Publisher
Penguin Group Canada
Initial publish date
Aug 2008
Category
General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780143170266
    Publish Date
    Aug 2009
    List Price
    $10.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780143170259
    Publish Date
    Aug 2008
    List Price
    $24

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Out of print

This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.

Description

It’s late spring 1990, and a love affair is flourishing between Ivor Tesham, a thirty-three-year-old rising star of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, and Hebe Furnal, a stunning North London housewife stuck in a dull marriage. What excitement Hebe lacks at home, however, is amply compensated by the well-bred and intensely attractive Tesham – an ardent womanizer and ambitious politician.
 
On the eve of her twenty-eighth birthday, Tesham decides to give Hebe a present to remember: something far more memorable than, say, the costly string of pearls he’s already lavished upon her. Years later, Tesham’s gift will ruin his career, his family, and his life.
 
Set amid an age of IRA bombings, the first Gulf War, and sleazy politics, The Birthday Present is the gripping story of a fall from grace, and of a man who carries within him all the hypocrisy, greed, and self-obsession of a troubled era.

About the author