The basis for the Emmy award-winning limited series starring Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw A behind-the-scenes look at the desperate, scandalous private life of a British MP and champion manipulator, and the history-making trial that exposed his dirty secrets While Jeremy Thorpe served as a Member of Parliament and Leader of the Liberal Party in the 1960s and 70s, his bad behavior went under the radar for years. Police and politicians alike colluded to protect one of their own. In 1970, Thorpe was the most popular and charismatic politician in the country, poised to hold the balance of power in a coalition government. But Jeremy Thorpe was a man with a secret. His homosexual affairs and harassment of past partners, along with his propensity for lying and embezzlement, only escalated as he evaded punishment. Until a dark night on the moor with an ex-lover, a dog and a hired gun led to consequences that even his charm and power couldn’t help him escape. Dubbed the “Trial of the Century,” Thorpe’s climactic case at the Old Bailey in London was the first time that a leading British politician had stood trial on a murder charge, the first time that a murder plot had been hatched in the House of Commons. And it was the first time that a prominent public figure had been exposed as a philandering gay man, in an era when homosexuality had only just become legal. With the pace and drama of a thriller, A Very English Scandal is an extraordinary story of hypocrisy, deceit and betrayal at the heart of the British Establishment.

ジョン・プレストンは、英国エスタブリッシュメントの欺瞞と、権力者の滑稽なまでの自己保身を、冷徹かつスリリングな筆致で描き出しました。本作の核心は、法と道徳が混迷する時代で仮面を被り続けた男の孤独と狂気です。格調高い文章に忍ばされた皮肉と、事実は小説より奇なりを地で行く展開の衝撃は、読者を一気に激動の１９７０年代へと引き込みます。 映像版ではヒュー・グラントが体現した怪物的な魅力が際立ちますが、原作は背景にある社会の歪みや共犯関係をより緻密に解剖しています。活字ならではの心理描写が、映像で語りきれない執着や絶望に深い陰影を与えており、両者を味わうことで、この英国的なる惨劇が持つ喜劇性と悲劇性の真のコントラストが浮かび上がるのです。