The Man Who Held The Queen To Ransom And Sent Parliament Packing

by Peter Van Greenaway

The story of a modern coup ... 'thirty seven days of revolutionary rule. A small band of army officers invade the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, the Tower, and the BBC' A really gripping read.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published May 25, 1972

About the author

Peter Van Greenaway was a British novelist, the author of numerous thrillers with elements of horror and satire.

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found, absurdly, in the anarchist bookstore in Whitechapel, for one pound. Not a good book by any sense but an interesting artefact: one Captain Wyatt does what it says on the title, holding an unnamed but recognisable Queen Elizabeth II in the Tower of London some time at the close of the 60s ("There was another Wyatt, once," she recalls.) That Elizabeth is recognisable, president Johnson named, and Harold Wilson weirdly burlesqued as 'Wrigley', suggests a certain incoherence, also there in the book's structure: in places a collage of found texts, nominally a series of flashbacks from a future prosecution of the collaborators, but forgetting about that for dozens of pages at the time and switching into historic present so much that it starts to feel like an accident.

Wyatt's very particular and-another-thing-ish plan for the nation--abolition of titles, full emlpoyment, getting out of Vietnam and into Rhodesia, public exhibition of criminals--feels certainly like an exhibition of the author's personal betes noire. His success in the world of the book requires a series of mounting implausibilities: the royal family have no competent security detail; the Labour PM and the head of the TUC are collaborating to set the unemployment rate (I don't remember how In Place of Strife came about but, probably not like that); the establishment is run by a five-man cabal (They're called The Cabal.) I'm reminded of Jerry Pournelle or bad Heinlein, the construction of a straw world to enforce the author's outlook, though they have the advantage of starting with relatively blank slates. Could someone write this book now? probably there's a million versions self-published, but I don't imagine any of them can write; that Greenaway is basically capable of turning a sentence around and structuring a novel makes it feel very particular.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t believe this novel is out of print and though written and set during the 1960’s, can easily be read and enjoyed in this age of political unrest (somethings never change). I’ve awarded this book the maximum amount of stars simply because I really enjoyed reading it. I started it around noontime, after breaking for few hours, I picked it back up and read the remaining pages in one further sitting. I’m certainly looking forward to reading more from Peter Van Greenaway in the near future.

[M.k. Yost · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this is an interesting combination of what in contemporary terms would be considered conservative politics and liberal social policy. Van Greenaway, once of the most popular SF authors in the UK decades ago, has been virtually erased from literary history. His set up is predictable, and it often reads as wish fulfillment, expressing his own bitterness and prejudices, but it's an entertaining read.

[Miladaniloff · Rating 5 out of 5]

could make a nice script at the present time, provided you use Irak enstead of Vietnam and " God save th Queen"