Sue Townsend — Number Ten

Penguin UK 2003 Paperback, 336pp. Behind the doors of the most famous address in the country. All is not well. Five years ago, Edward Clare was voted in to Number Ten after a landslide election result. But things are starting to go wrong. The love has gone. The people are turning. Leaving behind his superwoman wife Adele, Prime Minister Clare enlists the help of Jack Sprat, a policeman on the door of Number Ten, and sets out to discover what the country really thinks of him. Sneaking out of the back door incognito, they venture into the great unknown: the mean streets of Great Britain. For the first time in years, the Prime Minister experiences everything life in his country has to offer - an English cream tea. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and the kindness of strangers, as well as having to wait for trains and undergo treatment in a hospital - and remembers some of the things he's forgotten he used to really care about . (ISBN: 9780140279412). Good.