George Evans
George Evans, an English banker, works in London for the American private bank Thomson, Guthrie. His closest friend--and competitor--is Charles Fletcher, an American who works for the bank in London and New York. In 1967, after the devaluation of sterling and the boom in shipping created by the Arab-Israeli war, Charles is asked to create a shipping division, with George as his deputy. But it is George who has a better sense of the business and who is largely responsible for keeping Thomson, Guthrie profitable. Under the surface, George is resentful. Complicating their relationship is competition in another area, the love both men feel for Nathalie Whitfield, the beautiful half-French daughter of a hero of the French Resistance. Nathalie works for a political public relations firm and is ambitious to win election to Parliament. She has an affair with Charles, and after Charles dies, marries George.
The novel spans thirty years, moving deftly from New York and London to Oslo, Athens, and the south of France. It depicts delightful dinner parties, country house weekends, and conflicting loyalties. Things come to a head when Robert Fletcher, Charles's son, comes to London to begin his own career--and uses George to further his ambition. Told in the form of a narration by the title character at the end of his career, George Evans takes us into a world reminiscent of the novels of Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh. The dialogue is fast-paced and the scenes often humorous, but there is a more menacing undertone, suggesting betrayal as the currency of the modern age.
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