6 reviews for First Among Equals
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First Among Equals
by Jeffery Archer
Description:
Charles Seymour, second-born son, will never be the earl like his father, but he did inherit his mother’s strength-and the will to realize his destiny….Simon Kerslake’s father sacrificed everything to make sure his son’s dreams come true. Now it is Simon’s chance to rise as high as those dreams allow….Ray Gould was born to the back streets but raised with pride-a quality matched by a sharp intellect and the desire to attain the impossible….Andrew Fraser was raised by a soccer hero turned politician. Now it’s his turn for heroics, whatever the cost.From strangers to rivals, four men embark on a journey for the highest stakes of all-the keys to No. 10 Downing Street. Unfolding over three decades, their honor will be tested, their loyalties betrayed, and their love of family and country challenged. But in a game where there is a first among equals, only one can triumph
About The Author
Archer wrote his first book, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, in the autumn of 1974, as a means of avoiding bankruptcy. The book was picked up by the literary agent Deborah Owen and published first in the US, then eventually in Britain in the autumn of 1976. A BBC Television adaptation of the book was broadcast in 1990, and a radio adaptation was aired on BBC Radio 4 in the early 1980s.
Kane and Abel (1979) proved to be his best-selling work, reaching number one on The New York Times bestsellers list. Like most of his early work it was edited by Richard Cohen, the Olympic fencing gold-medallist. It was made into a television mini-series by CBS in 1985, starring Peter Strauss and Sam Neill. The following year, Granada TV screened a ten-part adaptation of another Archer bestseller, First Among Equals, which told the story of four men and their quest to become Prime Minister. In the U.S. edition of the novel, the character of Andrew Fraser was eliminated, reducing the number of protagonists to three.
As well as novels and short stories, Archer has also written three stage plays. The first, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, opened in 1987 and ran at the Queen’s Theatre in London’s West End for over a year. However, Archer’s next play, Exclusive, was not well received by critics, and closed after a few weeks. His final play, The Accused, opened at the Theatre Royal, Windsor on 26 September 2000, before transferring to the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in the West End in December.
Archer has stated that he spends considerable time writing and re-writing each book. He goes abroad to write the first draft, working in blocks of two hours at a time, then writes anything up to seventeen drafts in total. In 1988 author Kathleen Burnett accused Archer of plagiarising a story she’d written and including it in his short-story collection, A Twist in the Tale. Archer denied he had plagiarised the story, claiming he’d simply been inspired by the idea.
It has been suggested that Archer’s books undergo an extensive editing process prior to publication. Whilst Archer’s books are commercially successful, critics have been generally unfavourable towards his writing. However, journalist Hugo Barnacle, writing for The Independent about The Fourth Estate (1996), thought the novel, while demonstrating that “the editors don’t seem to have done any work”, was “not wholly unsatisfactory”.
Since 2010, Archer has written the first draft of each new book at his luxury villa in Majorca, called “Writer’s Block”.
In 2011, Archer published the first of seven books in The Clifton Chronicles, which follow the life of Harry Clifton from his birth in 1920, through to the finale in 2020. The first novel in the series, Only Time Will Tell, tells the story of Harry from 1920 through to 1940, and was published in the UK on 12 May 2011. The sixth instalment, Cometh the Hour, was published on 25 February 2016. The final novel in the series, This Was a Man, was published on 3 November 2016.
Archer’s next novel has been provisionally titled Heads You Win, and will be published in 2017, along with another volume of short stories.
Skryf Review
“Amazing Reading”
Tisha
It’s another great book of Jeffrey Archer. Recommended for those who love politics and all those who want to keep themselves occupied till the last page. It also defines how the parliament works. As a reader, you come to know in depth about the British government system. Further, it shows in detail about the life of people in political stream. What are the pressures, highs, and lows in life that politician observes. How media affect their personal lives. After this book, I have become a fan of Jeffrey Archer as he is one of the finest story makers and keeps on rotating the strike and keeps the balance. Also, the author shows very smartly about different personalities, their plan of action that would shape their career.
Hiten
‘First Among Equals’ is quite a different tale. Some of my friends told me that they found the initial part boring. Well, I didn’t find that assessment to be true. This novel makes a very interesting reading, and like many other Archer novels, it picks up action as you reach 200-odd pages.This is a tale of four aspiring gentlemen: Fraser, Gould, Kerslake and Seymour who enter the House of Commons in the 1960s, each aspiring to win the highest office – and to reach 10 Downing Street. But only one man can do it. Archer, the master storyteller that he is, narrates in detail the lives of each men – the ups and downs each must face – and winds it up with the final battle.The suspense is gripping and the man who becomes the Prime Minister is revealed only in the very last paragraph of the novel.
Overall a great story… hats off.
pankti
Pick this book only if you are interested in politics and if you did pickup, You will find it boring in the start but keep reading, you will love the characters.This one is quite different from the other archer’s books that I have read. It gives inside information about how British parliament works.I liked all the four characters.It tells a lot about different personalities and how their decisions would shape their career.I find it hard to remember the characters in the start.It is lengthy but makes up with the interesting plot.
Shrawan
‘First Among Equals’ by Jeffrey Archer is not an easy book to read, at least for me. Revolving solely around British politics, I found it a wee bit hard to comprehend and know the exact difference between the Conservative (They are also known as Tories, they sometimes can act like snobs!!) and the Labour party (They are the socialists and support the trade unionists!!), though of course you may think that I am a buffoon for not knowing such basic general knowledge stuff. But slowly and steadily as I began wading my way through the book, I came to understand what was actually happening. I admit that the actual reason of leaving this book half way through in the 9th standard had much to do with my not being able to make head or tail out of the printed letters.I must admit I did a Wikipedia search for this one- the exact reason being, in this book these guys actually interacted with the real life characters (Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill and many more). So, my doubt was whether this novel is inspired from the real life stories of four politicians or was it just a fictional account, though of course some of the incidents mentioned actually did happen. The latter part proved to be correct, as the author, drawing from his own hands-on experience in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, infused the characters with necessary soul. Another writer that I can think of, mixing fact and fiction into a lapel-gripping, helluva ride down the torturous path of plots and sub-plots is Dan Brown.
Jasmine
Certainly one of the best books I have ever read. It is true that Jeffrey Archer gives us an example of the pure art of storytelling. But what I most admired – as in every other book of J. Archer – was his incomparable use of the language and the structure of an original story. A very good idea finds a very good way of embodiment. However, what went wrong? I found the book a rather slow page turner at some points, and it was a little difficult to come to the end. Perhaps because of its 450 pages. Anyway, the book is not as fast paced as I would like it to be. This does not mean though that anyone should avoid it. On the contrary, this is a book I would definitely recommend, although “primus inter pares” comes second in favor of J. Archer’s “The Fourth Estate”.A first-class effort by Archer. Of the four primary characters, three were compelling men whom the reader pulled for up until the very end. As a man of the right, I found the two Labour men to be the most sympathetic figures in the book. Politicians, even the best of ’em, have their secrets. Archer serves to bring that out in spades. But, in the end, most of them — at their core (we hope) — have some spark of idealism.Would that, in real life, both sides were as more or less honorable as Archer would have it . . . we’d all be okay. In any event, a first class effort, even if one knows little or nothing about politics in the UK.