The Last Hundred Days : Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2011

Set during a dictator’s last hundred days in power, Patrick McGuinness’ accomplished debut explores a world of danger, repression and corruption.In 1989, Nicolae Ceausescu was still clinging on to power in Romania. But with blood on his hands, his grip was slipping. When a young English student arrives in Bucharest he soon finds himself uncomfortably close to the eye of the storm. He encounters dissidents, party apparatchiks, black-marketeers, diplomats, spies and ordinary Romanians, their lives intertwined against a background of severe poverty and repression, as Europe’s most paranoid regime plays out its bloody endgame."There are shortcomings... the most interesting character after the city itself, disappears halfway; and Leo's pontifications... underscore the ironies too heavily. Still, the novel is stylish and of lasting value to readers interested in the twilight of the Eastern Bloc." - Publishers Weekly"The prose is often workaday-thriller ('I slept late and woke in sunlight so hot the blood bubbled inside my eyelids'), some of the characters generic. But McGuinness has reacted to the city with a kind of poetic intensity, and his fictional world expresses this." - Spectator (UK)Patrick McGuinness Born in Tunisia in 1968 to a Belgian French-speaking mother and an English father of Irish descent, he grew up in Belgium and also lived for periods in Venezuela, Iran, Romania and the UK. He is a poet and Oxford academic – specialising in modernist literature – as well as a novelist. He currently lives in Oxford and in Wales teaching French and Comparative Literature at St Anne's College, Oxford. Once'the Paris of the East', Bucharest in 1989 is a world of danger, repression and corruption, but also of intensity and ravaged beauty. As Ceausescu's demolition squads race to destroy the old city and replace it with a sinister Stalinist Legoland, its inhabitants live out communism's dying days not knowing how or where things will end. In'The Last Hundred Days'a young English student arrives in Bucharest to take up a job he never applied for and whose duties are never made clear. He finds dissidents, party apparatchiks, black-marketeers, diplomats, spies and ordinary Romanians, all watching each other as Europe's most paranoid regime plays out its bloody endgame. The socialist state is in crisis, the shops are empty and old Bucharest vanishes daily under the onslaught of Ceaucescu's demolition gangs. Paranoia is pervasive and secret service men lurk in the shadows. In The Last 100 Days, Patrick McGuinness creates an absorbing sense of time and place as the city struggles to survive this intense moment in history. He evokes a world of extremity and ravaged beauty from the viewpoint of an outsider uncomfortably, and often dangerously, close to the eye of the storm as the regime of 1980s Romania crumbles to a bloody end. Fixed : Š The Socialist State Is In Crisis, The Shops Are Empty And Old Bucharest Vanishes Daily Under The Onslaught Of Ceaucescu's Demolition Gangs. Paranoia Is Pervasive And Secret Service Men Lurk In The Shadows. In The Last 100 Days, Patrick Mcguinness Creates An Absorbing Sense Of Time And Place As The City Struggles To Survive This Intense Moment In History. He Evokes A World Of Extremity And Ravaged Beauty From The Viewpoint Of An Outsider Uncomfortably, And Often Dangerously, Close To The Eye Of The Storm As The Regime Of 1980s Romania Crumbles To A Bloody End. Patrick Mcguinness. The socialist state is in crisis, the shops are empty, and old Bucharest vanishes daily under the onslaught of Ceaucescu's demolition gangs. The author creates an absorbing sense of time and place as the city struggles to survive this intense moment of history.Longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize.Shortlisted for the 2011 Costa First Novel Award.Longlisted for the 2012 Desmond Elliot Prize.