Clifton Chronicles #6

The book opens at court, where Lady Virginia (Giles’s awful ex) has sued Emma Clifton for libel.  A note written by the newly-deceased Alex Fisher shows Lady V. to be at fault, while at the same time damaging Giles’s political career.  The court finds in favor of Emma Clifton.

Harry Clifton:  in this book, Harry’s  mother Maisie dies, leaving behind a note urging him, Emma and Seb to do more meaningful things with their lives.  Harry is still trying to free Russian author Anatoly Babakov.  Near the end of the book, Babakov is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the Russians agree to free him.  He dies of a stroke on his way to Sweden (suspicious? not sure). His wife returns to Russia for his funeral, and decides to remain there.

Emma Clifton: discovers politics, and becomes a major supporter and friend of Margaret Thatcher.  She also becomes involved in working on the board of one of the hospitals.

Sebastian Clifton:  CEO of Farthings Bank.  He falls in love with a Hindu woman, but her parents have already arranged a marriage for her.  During his attempts to get her out of India and out of the marriage, she is shot and killed.   Later in the book, Seb finally  meets his daughter (age 10), Jessie, and is reunited with Samantha.

Adrian Sloane and Desmond Mellor:  these two are doing everything they can do bring down Sebastian Clifton and Farthings Bank.  They manage to plant drugs on the bank’s chairman, Hakim Bishara, and have him arrested.  Ultimately, he is found innocent, though Seb and Co. have yet to prove that Sloane and Mellor were involved.  They later try to make it appear that Bishara is involved in insider trading, but that plan fails too.  At the end of the book, Mellor has convinced Seb to meet with him, but we don’t know why.

Giles Barrington:  When his political career is put on hold, Giles puts his energy into getting his love interest, Karin, out of East Berlin.  With the help of her father, he pulls it off.  It turns out that she really *is* a spy, as is her “father.”  She is found out by Cynthia Forbes-Watson, who appears to be an old retired politician, but is actually still active in intelligence.  She convinces Karin to work for her.  Karin, meanwhile, has actually fallen in love with Giles, and wants out of the whole business.  At the end of the book, her “father” confronts her with her treachery, and shoots her.

Lady Virginia Fenwick:  is running out of money, so she cons a rich Lousiana man (Cyrus T Grant III) into thinking he fathered her child, when in fact she convinced her butler and housekeeper to give her their child, and shafts Grant for child support for some serious money. At the end of the book, Grant’s wife has had enough of this, and figures out the truth, shutting off Lady V’s income.  Lady V also uses Sloane and Mellor against each other, to give herself some more money.  She also discovers that her father has left her nothing, but has left a property to her “son” Freddie when he reaches age 25.