The Speechwriter

Author(s): Martin McKenzie-Murray

Fiction

Toby, former speechwriter to the PM, has reached a new low: locked behind bars in a high-security prison, with sentient PlayStations storming the city outside, and the worst of Australia's criminals forcing him to ghost-write letters to their loved ones or have his spine repurposed as a coat-rack. How did he get here?


From the vantage point of his prison cell, Toby pens his memoir, trying to piece together how he fell so far, all the while fielding the uninvited literary opinions of his murderous cellmate, Gary. What Toby unspools is a tale of twisted bureaucracy, public servants gone rogue, and the ever-present pervasive stench of rotting prawns (don't ask).


Realising that his political career is far from the noble endeavour he'd once imagined it would be, Toby makes a bid for freedom ... before the terrible realisation dawns: it's impossible to get fired from the public service. Refusing to give up (or have to pay for his relocation fee), Toby's attempts to get fired grow more and more extreme, and he finds himself being propelled higher and higher through the ranks of bureaucracy.

Staff Review


This is a satire about the futility of idealism. It starts of in Perth (WA) and remains throughout in Australian political and bureaucratic settings. The narration is hyperbolic, features lots of swearing and the humour was exactly right for me: cynical and wordy! Anyone familiar with Australian politics will be able to recognise incidents and figures that have inspired characters and events in the story. The Speechwriter is a perfect allegory for the digression of politics into TV entertainment. A very amusing read. 


-Katrina

$29.99 AUD

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Product Information

General Fields

  • : 9781925713831
  • : Scribe Publications
  • : Scribe Publications
  • : 0.01
  • : June 2020
  • : length= 8.3, width= 5.3, units= Inches
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Martin McKenzie-Murray
  • : FA
  • : 240
  • : English
  • : 2102
  • : Paperback