'Brilliant study of neo-Nazi anti-Semitism ... Gillian Freeman is among the finest contemporary novelists.' - Brigid Brophy, <i>New Statesman</i>
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'Undoubtedly the best of her novels ... an exact and finely observed account of the lunatic right-wing fringe in Britain. I recommend this very strongly.' - <i>Oxford Mail</i>
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'Gillian Freeman's perception of psychological and sociological drives is combined with an ability to communicate them in suspenseful entertainments.... The implications grip the imagination.' - <i>Kirkus Reviews</i>
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'Horrifying reconstruction of how a new Hitler might arise.' - <i>Times Literary Supplement</i>
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Vincent Wright is a failure. Now in his mid-thirties, he's stuck in a dead-end job as a bank clerk and still lives with his mother. But he knows who is to blame for the shortcomings in his life: blacks, Jews, and immigrants, who are responsible for most of what's wrong with Britain today. After meeting a retired army officer who shares his passion for collecting Nazi paraphernalia, Vincent has a brilliant idea: the nation needs a new leader to rescue it from its decline - why not him? As he travels the country, giving speeches and using his charisma and oratorical gifts to recruit like-minded followers to his new Britain First party, we watch in horror while Vincent begins his terrifying and seemingly inexorable rise to power....
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With the recent surge in popularity of far-right political parties across Europe, Gillian Freeman's sixth novel, <i>The Leader</i> (1965), remains as chillingly relevant today as when first published. This edition, the first in more than 40 years, includes a new introduction by Alwyn W. Turner. Freeman's classics <i>The Liberty Man</i> (1955) and <i>The Leather Boys</i> (1961) are also available from Valancourt Books.