The Ambassador Book

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 PottsRead More