Corridors of Power

Lewis Eliot walks the echoing corridors of Whitehall observing political intrigues and shifting alliances in this exceptional portrait of the heart of the British government during the Suez Crisis.

At its centre is Roger Quaife, an ambitious MP determined to denuclearize Britain. His weapons: persuasiveness and a consummate skill in top-level diplomacy. In the committee rooms of Whitehall he plays with the highest stakes imaginable as he challenges the Government’s armaments policy. What ensues is a fascinating study of power – personal and political – handled with Snow’s inimitable authenticity and intimacy.

Deservedly famed as one of the most accomplished political novels of all time, Corridors of Power goes behind the scenes of the Cold War with precision and humanity.

A meticulous study of the public issues and private problems of post-war Britain, C. P. Snow’s Strangers and Brothers sequence is a towering achievement that stands alongside Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time as one of the great romans-fleuves of the twentieth century.

Praise for the Strangers and Brothers sequence

“Together, the sequence presents a vivid portrait of British academic, political and public life. Snow was that rare thing, a scientist and novelist.” Jeffrey Archer, Guardian

“Balzacian masterpieces of the age” Philip Hensher, Telegraph

“Through [the Strangers and Brothers sequence] as in no other work in our time we have explored the inner life of the new classless class that is the 20th century Establishment” New York Times

“A very considerable achievement … It brings into the novel themes and locales never seen before (except perhaps in Trollope).” Anthony Burgess

“The most comprehensive, the most informative and, all in all, the most impressive portrait of modern England that any novelist has yet given us.” Michael Millgate, Commentary