Edwina Currie has written some steamy thrillers, but in this latest novel she has produced a credible vehicle for some serious ideas that show her as unusually free-thinking despite her own political roots.

The Ambassador falls somewhere between political thriller and science fiction, with a small romantic drama running through it. Set in 2099, the book advances a coherent vision of a fully federal European Union that has become so powerful it is the leading superpower. China remains in careful isolationism, as does a weak United States. The reason for the European success is its work on genetics; diseases and disabilities, along with tendencies to destructive behaviour, are eliminated carefully at conception or shortly after birth. Prosperity and long life are freely on offer. There seems to be no unhappiness. Can it be that, in Voltaire's ironic words, "the best of all possible worlds" has now arrived?

William "Bill" Strether, American ambassador to London, suspects not. Coming from a country where Fundamentalist Christianity has ensured the abolition of genetic work and cloning of humans, he has to overcome his distaste for the society while admiring its success (a nice inversion of how Europeans think of the U.S. in the present day). A naïve but brave humanist, he is impressed at first, but finds more and more reasons for concern as the futuristic paradise reveals sinister and secretive machinations. The novel acknowledges Brave New World as a model, but the abuse of eugenics has an even more terrible side in The Ambassador; Currie knows the political establishment and its arrogance and power well, of course, and compellingly renders the smooth self-justifications of her villains and the sickening terror of state control. In fact, the book transcends the thriller genre in its debates about genetic science; Currie articulates every side of this complex moral issue, and one's sympathies slide and waver.

The book also achieves a political wit in its details and asides that makes it even more of a pleasure. Despite the triumph of meritocracy in the U.S., the abolition of discrimination in Europe (not to mention the official denials about cloning), and the withering of the hereditary principle, the names of Currie's minor characters show that dynasties somehow maintain power anyway. A Kennedy is US President; a young Murdoch is still a media tycoon. Another media tycoon bears the hybrid name "Maxwell Packer". Margaret Thatcher is spoken of as a figure from history books, sometimes with approval and sometimes more sardonically. At one point President Clinton is referred to: "the second one, you know--Chelsea". These humorous references remind one that this amusing and compelling piece of political science fiction is based on themes--European federalism, genetics, civil liberties--that are, and will continue to be, highly topical.--Robert Potts

A good read on where we might be in a hundred years., 26 Nov 2000
The story moves along nicely but the best things about the book, which makes it un-put-downable, are the "one liners". Edwina Currie has looked ahead at our future and, as well as seeing stark possibilities there, she takes the chance to remark at the nonsenses that may be left over from today.

A good try but not successful, 21 Mar 1999
I read this on a long flight and somehow I finished it. Maybe because I didn't have anything else to read. Somehow it just missed, but I do admire her for trying to vary her content and style - she couldn't go on writing parliamentary sex novels for ever. I didn't think there was much tension and I didn't really care what happened to the characters.

Interesting and well written, 11 Mar 1999
I quite enjoyed this book, but the author clearly has had her mind mostly on certain developments, so while her thoughts on genetical engineering and the role of media are provocative and interesting, she seems to think that for example computers will evolve only marginally. But it's clearly worth reading.

A good read on where we might be in a hundred years., 26 Nov 2000
The story moves along nicely but the best things about the book, which makes it un-put-downable, are the "one liners". Edwina Currie has looked ahead at our future and, as well as seeing stark possibilities there, she takes the chance to remark at the nonsenses that may be left over from today.

A good try but not successful, 21 Mar 1999
I read this on a long flight and somehow I finished it. Maybe because I didn't have anything else to read. Somehow it just missed, but I do admire her for trying to vary her content and style - she couldn't go on writing parliamentary sex novels for ever. I didn't think there was much tension and I didn't really care what happened to the characters.

Interesting and well written, 11 Mar 1999
I quite enjoyed this book, but the author clearly has had her mind mostly on certain developments, so while her thoughts on genetical engineering and the role of media are provocative and interesting, she seems to think that for example computers will evolve only marginally. But it's clearly worth reading.

Synopsis from back cover, 28 Oct 2008
Helen Majinsky is sixteen, Jewish and confused. She is also in love, like every Merseyside schoolgirl, with four mop-topped young men, seduced by the Cavern Club and the exciting sound of 1963. In the year The Beatles have the world at their feet, Helen dreams secretly of reaching university and leaving Liverpool.

Her Liverpool. Her world. For a grammar school girl to even consider a future outside the city is to break taboos stronger than the Mersey undertow, and as the prospect of a place at Oxbridge shimmers into view, Helen knows she is restrained by the very forces of stability she longs to escape. But when love intervenes, with Michael Levison, a locally stationed US serviceman, Helen finds the means to break the chains of the old life, and her guide through the hidden dangers of the new....

good, 18 Jul 2001
i thouroughly enjoyed this book and was able to emphasise with the characters and cared what happened to them it was very well written and captured the difficulties facing young people especially women, at that time. i was disapointed to finish the book and found myself wondering what happened to helen and her family

A good read on where we might be in a hundred years., 26 Nov 2000
The story moves along nicely but the best things about the book, which makes it un-put-downable, are the "one liners". Edwina Currie has looked ahead at our future and, as well as seeing stark possibilities there, she takes the chance to remark at the nonsenses that may be left over from today.

A good try but not successful, 21 Mar 1999
I read this on a long flight and somehow I finished it. Maybe because I didn't have anything else to read. Somehow it just missed, but I do admire her for trying to vary her content and style - she couldn't go on writing parliamentary sex novels for ever. I didn't think there was much tension and I didn't really care what happened to the characters.

Interesting and well written, 11 Mar 1999
I quite enjoyed this book, but the author clearly has had her mind mostly on certain developments, so while her thoughts on genetical engineering and the role of media are provocative and interesting, she seems to think that for example computers will evolve only marginally. But it's clearly worth reading.

Synopsis from back cover, 28 Oct 2008
Helen Majinsky is sixteen, Jewish and confused. She is also in love, like every Merseyside schoolgirl, with four mop-topped young men, seduced by the Cavern Club and the exciting sound of 1963. In the year The Beatles have the world at their feet, Helen dreams secretly of reaching university and leaving Liverpool.

Her Liverpool. Her world. For a grammar school girl to even consider a future outside the city is to break taboos stronger than the Mersey undertow, and as the prospect of a place at Oxbridge shimmers into view, Helen knows she is restrained by the very forces of stability she longs to escape. But when love intervenes, with Michael Levison, a locally stationed US serviceman, Helen finds the means to break the chains of the old life, and her guide through the hidden dangers of the new....

good, 18 Jul 2001
i thouroughly enjoyed this book and was able to emphasise with the characters and cared what happened to them it was very well written and captured the difficulties facing young people especially women, at that time. i was disapointed to finish the book and found myself wondering what happened to helen and her family

Intriguing story line, an all round good read, 12 Apr 2001
This being the first Edwina Currie book I have read, I was pleasantly sirprised. Although I found it hard to get into at first, after I had read the first few chapters I was hooked. I have now started reading A Parliamentary Affair, the prequel, this is by far better than A Women's Place, and that's saying something.