Maxwell Caulfield

The Postmaster General Maxwell Caulfield

This novel tells of that simple person Wilfrid Halterton, Postmaster-General in Mrs. Boulanger's second administration, that of 1960. The placing of the big Television Contract comes within the domain of the Post Office, and Halterton is soon deeply involved in a tangle of intrigue where his simplicity makes him an easy victim to clever financiers and politicians. Belloc enthusiasts and others alike will welcome such characters as Honest Jack Williams, the Home Secretary--Lord Papworthy, Permanent Minister for Fine Arts--James Haggismuir McAuley, financier, and many others. Arthur Lawson and his brother Jacob, and their relations with Halterton, introduce a markedly original note and give this book a distinction above its predecessors.

Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was an Anglo-French writer and historian who became a naturalised British subject in 1902. He was one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. He was known as a writer, orator, poet, satirist, man of letters, and political activist. He is most notable for his Catholic faith, which had a strong impact on most of his works and his writing collaboration with G. K. Chesterton. He was President of the Oxford Union and later MP for Salford from 1906 to 1910. He was a noted disputant, with a number of long-running feuds, but also widely regarded as a humane and sympathetic man.