John Mortimer

Al morir Simeon Simcox, el peculiar párroco socialista del pueblo de Rapstone Fanner, sus hijos descubren que ha dejado toda su fortuna al ambicioso diputado conservador local Leslie Titmuss. Los dos hijos de Simcox reaccionan de manera opuesta: Henry, famoso novelista e intelectual, y antiguo angry young man, impugnara el testamento alegando que su padre no estaba en sus cabales; en cambio, su hermano menor, Fred, un afable medico rural, decide investigar en el pasado de su padre y buscar una justificacion a la inesperada decision paterna. La narracion recorre cuarenta años de la historia de Rapstone Fanner y sus gentes los que van desde la segunda guerra mundial hasta el gobierno de Margaret Thatcher, durante los cuales la sociedad y costumbres inglesas sufrieron cambios radicales. Un paraiso inalcanzable es un delicioso retrato de la vida de provincias inglesa y tambien una feroz satira del thatcherismo y de los cambios que se produjeron en el pais durante la segunda mitad del siglo xx. En el poco tiempo que ha pasado desde su publicacion en 1985 se ha ganado justamente su condicion de clasico moderno.

When Simeon Simcox, a socialist clergyman, leaves his entire fortune not to his family but to the ruthless, social-climbing Tory MP Leslie Titmuss, the Rector's two sons react in very different ways. Henry, novelist and former 'angry young man' turned grumpy old reactionary, decides to fight the will and prove their father was insane. Younger brother Fred, a mild-mannered country doctor, takes a different approach, quietly digging in Simeon's past, only to uncover an entirely unexpected explanation for the legacy. An exquisitely drawn saga of ancient rivalries and class struggles, featuring a glorious cast of characters, "Paradise Postponed" is a delicious portrait of English country life by a master satirist.

Summer's Lease" - the classic, international bestselling novel by John Mortimer. "Amusing, entertaining ...and a cracking good read". ("Sunday Express"). "And summer's lease hath all too short a date". ("Sonnet 18", William Shakespeare). It's high summer when Molly Pargeter drags her amiably bickering family to a rented Tuscan villa for the holidays. Molly is sure that the house is the perfect setting for their three-week getaway, but soon she becomes fascinated by the lives of the absent owners - and things start to go horribly wrong. "With a cosy fluency of wit, Mortimer charms us into his urbane tangle of clues". ("Mail on Sunday"). "Summer's Lease", which was made into popular BBC TV mini-series starring John Gielgud, is a delightful novel from Rumpole author John Mortimer: witty, compassionate, humane, perfectly plotted and wonderfully readable. It will be adored by readers of P.G Wodehouse and P.D. James. Sir John Mortimer was a barrister, playwright and novelist. His fictional political trilogy of "Paradise Postponed", "Titmuss Regained" and "The Sound of Trumpets" has recently been republished in "Penguin Classics", together with "Clinging to the Wreckage" and his play "A Voyage round My Father". His most famous creation was the barrister Horace Rumpole, who featured in four novels and around eighty short stories. His books in Penguin include: "The Anti-social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole"; "The Collected Stories of Rumpole"; "The First Rumpole Omnibus"; "Rumpole and the Angel of Death"; "Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders"; "Rumpole and the Primrose Path"; "Rumpole and the Reign of Terror"; "Rumpole and the Younger Generation"; "Rumpole at Christmas"; "Rumpole Rests His Case"; "The Second Rumpole Omnibus"; "Forever Rumpole"; "In Other Words"; "Quite Honestly" and "Summer's Lease".

A fruity, foxy masterpiece, defender of our wilting faith in mankind Sunday TimesHorace Rumpole is in a strange state that could only be described as a kind of air-conditioned purgatory: he has retired to Florida with his wife, Hilda (She Who Must Be Obeyed). It is safely assumed the Old Bailey hacks wig has been hung up for good. But when a rather unkempt civil servant is mixed up in the mysterious death of a minor aristocrat, Rumpole seizes the opportunity to escape a life of leisure. He is soon back in court (via a budget airline) to do battle once more with Judge Mad Bull Bullingham.

Penguin Decades bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. When they were published, some were bestsellers, some were considered scandalous, and others were simply misunderstood. All represent their time and helped define their generation, while today each is considered a landmark work of storytelling. John Mortimer''s Paradise Postponed was first published in 1985. At the heart of the story lies a mystery. Why, on his death, has Simeon Simcox, the CND-marching Rector of Rapstone Fanner, left his fortune not to his two sons but to an odious Tory Minister? Paradise Postponed provides a brilliant, hilarious portrait of life in Margaret Thatcher''s England.

Horace Rumpole - cigar-smoking, claret-drinking, Wordsworth-spouting defender of some unlikely clients - often speaks of the great murder trial which revealed his talents as an advocate and made his reputation down at the Bailey when he was still a young man. Now, for the first time, the sensational story of the "Penge Bungalow Murders" case is told in full: how, shortly after the war, Rumpole took on the seemingly impossible task of defending young Simon Jerold, accused of murdering his father and his father's friend with a German officer's gun. And how the inexperienced young brief was left alone to pursue the path of justice, in a case that was to echo through the Bailey for years to come.

ASBOs may be the pride and joy of New Labour, but they don't cut much ice with Horace Rumpole - he takes the old-fashioned view that if anyone is going to be threatened with a restriction of their liberty then some form of legal proceeding ought to be gone through first...

Everyone thought Rumpole had received his last judgement - his dickey ticker failing him in front of Judge Bullingham. And indeed, now that he's tucked away in the Primrose Path Nursing Home, it seems that his colleagues don't expect him back - especially since they are busy organising his memorial service.

When your life at the Bar has been as rich as Rumpole's, the past is best avoided - who knows what might have happened to ex-defendants? Still, it keeps intruding on the present. When Rumpole takes a break in the country, he's sure he's met the local squire before. And that pantomime dame at the Tufnell Park Empire seems familiar . . .