The Death of an Owl - Softcover

Brought up in Switzerland, the only son of well-to-do parents, Charles Fryerne is somewhat unprepared for the world he meets when he goes up to Oxford University in the early 1980s. There he meets a fascinating social set, including a stellar young playwright, a student dubbed 'the future leader of the Conservative party' and a mercurial figure with ambitions to become the youngest prime minister since Pitt.

When they leave university, the characters go their separate ways. But as Charles's career as a journalist takes off, he finds himself once more in their orbit and observes at first hand the price of ambition, and the inner workings of the political machine. And when the country's future leader accidentally hits an owl on a country road, there are difficult choices to be made...

DEATH OF AN OWL is a satire on political expediency and spin from the author of SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN.

Paul Torday burst on to the literary scene in 2007 with his first novel, SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN, an immediate international bestseller which has been translated into 28 languages and has been made into a film starring Ewan McGregor, Kristin Scott Thomas and Emily Blunt. His subsequent novels, THE IRRESISTIBLE INHERITANCE OF WILBERFORCE, THE GIRL ON THE LANDING, THE HOPELESS LIFE OF CHARLIE SUMMERS, MORE THAN YOU CAN SAY, THE LEGACY OF HARTLEPOOL HALL and LIGHT SHINING IN THE FOREST, were all published to great critical acclaim. He was married with two sons by a previous marriage, had two stepsons, and lived close to the River North Tyne. He died at home in December 2013.

Piers Torday was born in Northumberland and is the eldest son of Paul Torday. He has worked in live theatre, comedy and TV and is the bestselling author of three children's books, THE LAST WILD, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Award and nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, THE DARK WILD, which won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2014, and THE WILD BEYOND. He lives in London.