Read A Sentimental Traitor Online
Authors: Michael Dobbs
So
A Sentimental Traitor
began to take shape. By the time you’ve reached these words I hope you will have enjoyed it, and perhaps even been stimulated enough either to recommend it
to friends or even, exasperated beyond endurance, to throw it on the fire. The future of Europe, a dream for some, endless nightmare for others, should be a matter for passion. Yet whatever
pleasure you’ve had from these pages is largely down to my many friends, old and new, who have helped me bring these ideas together. Apart from the ubiquitous Andrei, I would like to thank
David Perry, Neil Sexton, David Miller, Martyn Morris and James Body who gave me invaluable help in various technical and aeronautical areas, while David Jolliffe, Jim Ryan and Robert Lefever
advised me on medical aspects. For the legal and criminal side of things I turned once again to Sean Cunningham and Mark Pepper, along with my old university colleague Robert Sykes. Mian Zaheen,
Kishor Sonigra and Steve Paramor helped out with the financial bits. Kevin Hughes lent me the atmosphere and inspiration of Brokers, his Leadenhall Market wine bar, and Eugenia Vandoros sustained
me in magnificent fashion with food from her family kitchen. My old flatmate Farrokh Jhabvala was the inspiration for his namesake. Nirj Deva and his wife Indra were wonderful hosts during my
researches in Brussels. Another former flatmate, Graham Wynn, who helped guide me through the treacherous landscape inevitably required by novelists. And I make no apology for squeezing the name of
E.L. Vale into the script. Ernie was my primary school headmaster at St Clement’s beside the brook in Turnford, and taught me not only to read and write but also so very much more.
Most of all, I have to thank Ian Patterson, a man of endless patience and courtesy, who understands Harry as well as I do.
From all of these good friends, I must ask forgiveness for anything I have misunderstood and also the occasional deliberate dramatic licence I have taken with their advice. My only excuse is
that I am a politician, so I’m expected to take a flexible approach to the facts.
My wife and sons showed their usual endless tolerance during a year of many milestones for our family, and gave me distraction when it was sometimes desperately needed. None of this would happen
without them, or have been half as much fun.
Michael Dobbs
Wylye, October 2011
www.michaeldobbs.com