Medium – Audiobook
About the book – This book tells the story of Jeremy Thorpe and Norman Scott. Thorpe was the leader of the Liberal Democrat party during the sixties and seventies, but was caught up in a scandal around his previous romantic relationship with Norman Josieffe (Scott), a male model. The book is described as a non-fiction true crime novel, and it moves through the events of the story quickly and effectively. The basic premise of the story is that after Jeremy and Norman’s affair, Thorpe tries his best to cover it up (homosexuality being illegal at this point). Norman naively asks for help, which ends in the belief that he is blackmailing Thorpe. Desperately, Thorpe then is said to have ordered Norman’s assassination. He is arrested and tried for this, alongside the men who were his accomplices.
My Rating – 4/5
My Thoughts – This book was one that I got on an Audible offer, around the time that the BBC adaptation of the book, starring Hugh Grant, was produced. I haven’t yet had a chance to watch the adaptation yet, but after reading the book, I am definitely looking forward to! I really liked this book. It’s quite different to ones I have read before (although I like true crime, I prefer TV series to books), but I really enjoyed the true crime and biographical aspects of this book, together with the British Politics. It was super interesting but did make me think about our own political leaders and what might be going on behind closed doors! It’s also not an era of history I generally look at (you may have guessed that I am more into the war!), so it was nice to investigate a different era.
The book is written really intriguingly. The ‘accepted’ version of the story is that Thorpe did not order the death of Scott, and may not have even had an affair with him. This book takes the line that the events that Thorpe was found not guilty of at trial (i.e., incitement and plotting to murder) did in fact happen, as did the affair. From the book, Thorpe does not, it has to be said, emerge particularly favourably. Scott is a much more sympathetic character, as is the MP Peter Bessell, who was Thorpe’s ‘yes-man’ for a number of years, and who paved the way for some of Thorpe’s more shady dealings. The book uses a novel-like tone, making it far more interesting than the usual slightly dry memoirs! The narrator for this book was excellent, and I would recommend it! I will give a caveat that there is implied rape/sexual assault in the book, so if this is a trigger for you, you may want to skip the first hour or so.
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