The Palace of Enchantments

More than passing familiarity with British politics is prerequisite in this novel of a politician's tumble from power. Hurd (who is British Home Secretary) and Lamport (a British diplomat in Rome) chronicle the events that conspire to throw Edward Dunsford's carefully ordered career into chaos. An ambitious young Tory with a bright future, Dunsford has made all the right moves, including his marriage to a woman of means who is now tiring of him. But Dunsford makes a dangerous career move when he becomes embroiled in the oil politics of a small African nation and creates a controversy at home that splinters his own party. Although modestly interesting in its portrayal of the use of power, the novel has neither the brilliance of characterization nor of language necessary to lift it above the ordinary. (March 31)