A Landing on the Sun
Encyclopedia
A Landing On The Sun is a 1991 novel
by Michael Frayn
, and was the Sunday Express Book of the Year. It was adapted into a 1994 TV movie with a screenplay written by the author.
who has been asked to investigate the unexplained death of Summerchild, also a civil servant, whose body was found outside the Ministry of Defence
some 15 years earlier, in 1974. His investigations reveal that Summerchild was involved in the setting up of a 'Strategy Unit' reporting directly to the Prime Minister Harold Wilson
(the book predates by 10 years the establishment by Tony Blair
of his Strategy unit in 2001)
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn
Michael J. Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy...
, and was the Sunday Express Book of the Year. It was adapted into a 1994 TV movie with a screenplay written by the author.
Plot introduction
It concerns a Jessel, a British civil servant working in the Cabinet OfficeCabinet Office
The Cabinet Office is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for supporting the Prime Minister and Cabinet of the United Kingdom....
who has been asked to investigate the unexplained death of Summerchild, also a civil servant, whose body was found outside the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
some 15 years earlier, in 1974. His investigations reveal that Summerchild was involved in the setting up of a 'Strategy Unit' reporting directly to the Prime Minister Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
(the book predates by 10 years the establishment by Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
of his Strategy unit in 2001)