When Harry Clifton is elected the new president of English PEN he immediately launches a campaign for the release of a fellow author Anatoly Babakov. Babakov’s crime? Writing a book called Uncle Joe an insight into what it was like to work for Josef Stalin. So determined is Harry to see Babakov released and the book published that he puts his own life in danger. Emma Clifton now the chairman of Barrington Shipping is facing the repercussions of the IRA attack on the Buckingham. Some board members feel she should resign but her son Sebastian Clifton is determined that she’ll remain Chairman. Once again Giles’s political career is thrown off balance by none other than his old adversary Major Alex Fisher.