With passion and flair, Palin (of Monty Python fame) details a journalist's quest to discover the truth about a reclusive environmental activist…. It's been a long time since Palin's first novel (Hemingway's Chair, 1998). The wait for this compelling book has been more than worth it.” Kirkus, starred review
“The Truth is an ingeniously plotted, beautifully written and hugely enjoyable book that raises tricky questions about the cost of progress, and even trickier ones about our need for heroes, the price of personal compromise, and what Palin calls ‘the uncontroversial assumption that the truth is immutable.'” The Daily Telegraph
“Well-crafted, warm heartedand wholly recommended.” Reader's Digest
“Entertaining...delightfully funny.” Sunday Express
“Part environmental thriller, part biting swipe at the publishing industry...a thoughtful and generous study of failure.” Daily Mail
“The Truth is the perfect example of his literary brilliancehere's hoping he won't leave it so long until his next novel.” Stylist
“An entertaining story of hero worship, compromise and grubby trade-offs.” Tatler
“It's a feel-good story leaving the reader on a real high.” Rachel Redford, The Observer
“Palin's dryly understated exasperation with the absurdities of daily life and his ear for dialogue raise an appreciative smile.” The Sunday Times Culture
“Winning characterization, clever plot and deep sense of humanity…it's an unmitigated delight.” Choice
“Michael Palin has proved himself a major talent at many things. Storytelling is another.” Entertainment Focus
“The Truth is a wonderful, heart-warming novel exploring the issues of media manipulation, private lives and public persona, and the balance of progress against environmental damage.” LoveReading UK
“Reads like a dream.” Christopher Bray, The Daily Express
“The Truth is a compelling and zippily paced book.” Time Out
“It's an enthralling and almost Kipling-esque tale for our times.” Metro
It takes 11 chapters before actor, comedian, and author Palin’s second novel in 15 years (after Hemingway's Chair) begins to get interesting. That’s when Keith Mabbut, a middle-aged writer, lands in India in search of an enigmatic international humanitarian named Hamish Melville. Mabbut was once a muckraking ecojournalist, but his career has languished to the point that he has been compelled to write glowing histories for mega-international oil corporations. Given a chance to pen the definitive biography of an environmental activist he much admires, he packs his bags. With leads and some luck, Mabbut tracks Melville to a remote hillside where local villagers are fighting a large-scale mining operation. As Mabbut struggles to convince Melville to share his story with the world, he confronts conflicting versions of the truth in all aspects of Melville's life. Mabbut is a clueless idealist, a tad dull, but well intentioned. So is this book, which is strongest when describing cultural details and adventure travel in India.
Verdict Fans of Palin’s televised travel programs may be intrigued. Just don’t expect the madcap hilarity of a Monty Python episode, despite the author’s résumé.Christine Perkins, Whatcom Cty. Lib. Syst., Bellingham, WA
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With passion and flair, Palin (of Monty Python fame) details a journalist's quest to discover the truth about a reclusive environmental activist. Once, London journalist Keith Mabbut was an award-winning crusader, exposing chemical polluters, but now he's just another hack, working on company vanity projects while mourning his separation from his Polish wife, Krystyna, who's just announced she wants a divorce (she's met somebody else). The good news is that a top publisher wants him to do a book on Hamish Melville, the elderly, widely admired environmentalist; the media-averse Melville works below the radar, encouraging native peoples to confront corporate power, so Keith must run him to earth. The publisher, hard-charging Ron Latham, will pay big bucks; he's chosen the 56-year-old Keith for his integrity. Krystyna's new beau, a well-connected one-time friend of Melville, gives Keith his first lead: The old boy is in Kalinga, East India. Palin ramps up the suspense as Keith arrives. He finds Melville with surprising ease before the canny agitator disappears. On his trail again, Keith is abducted by some Naxalites (Indian Maoists) who threaten to kill him: It's Melville who rescues him. Keith slowly gains his trust: Melville is as impressive as he'd hoped but also playful and irreverent. Keith is given a tour of the tribal areas. The indigenous people are threatened by a giant mining company that wants their bauxite. At the heart of the novel is the question: Can they assimilate change without losing their identity? Melville gives his blessing to the book, while limiting future contact. Keith meets his deadline, but Latham is not happy. Where's Melville's dark side, the dirt that will sell the book? There's an old adversary who may have damning evidence against him. The suspense continues as Keith is challenged by new revelations, some concerning the publisher's sinister corporate parent. It's been a long time since Palin's first novel (Hemingway's Chair, 1998). The wait for this compelling book has been more than worth it.