{"product_id":"stonehouse","title":"Stonehouse","description":"'The minister's nephew recounts an extraordinary life . . . a vivid account'\u003cbr\u003e HENRY DE QUETTEVILLE, Telegraph\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Completely absorbing and told with huge compassion, integrity and skill'\u003cbr\u003e CAROL ANN LEE, author of The Murders at White House Farm and A Passion For Poison\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'What a book. I didn't have to turn the pages. They turned themselves I literally consumed the book in just a few hungry sittings . . . Julian Hayes is perfectly placed to tell this story, particularly it's captivating human side . . . most definitely a must read'\u003cbr\u003e DR SALEYHA AHSAN, filmmaker and journalist, Cambridge\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn November 1974, British MP and former cabinet minister John Stonehouse walked into the sea off a beach in Miami and disappeared, seemingly drowned.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Then he was found - on the other side of the world, in Australia - and his extraordinary story began to come to light: a Labour cabinet minister and a devoted family man; also in a long-term affair with his secretary, and a spy for the Czech State Security agency, who had committed fraud and attempted to fake his own death to escape catastrophic business failures.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Was it a mental breakdown as he later claimed? Or were there more sinister reasons for his dramatic disappearance?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This is the definitive biography of Stonehouse, written by Julian Hayes, who, as the son of Stonehouse's nephew and lawyer, Michael Hayes, is uniquely placed to tell the story of this charismatic but deeply flawed politician. As a criminal lawyer in London, Hayes has used his in-depth knowledge and experience of the criminal courts, not least the Old Bailey, where the Stonehouse trial took place, to forensically examine Stonehouse's story, including Czech defector Josef Frolík's claim that he was a spy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Hayes has unearthed secret reports in the archives in Prague written by Stonehouse's former spymasters. He has also gleaned much from family members and lawyers involved in the trial and from the trial documents and other government papers held in archives in the UK and Australia., \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57125164187983,"sku":"9781472146533","price":21.95,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0061\/0372\/8217\/files\/9781472146533_1-stonehouse.jpg?v=1772166349","url":"https:\/\/www.suomalainen.com\/products\/stonehouse","provider":"Suomalainen.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}