The Leader

'Brilliant study of neo-Nazi anti-Semitism ... Gillian Freeman is among the finest contemporary novelists.' - Brigid Brophy, New Statesman



'Undoubtedly the best of her novels ... an exact and finely observed account of the lunatic right-wing fringe in Britain. I recommend this very strongly.' - Oxford Mail



'Gillian Freeman's perception of psychological and sociological drives is combined with an ability to communicate them in suspenseful entertainments.... The implications grip the imagination.' - Kirkus Reviews



'Horrifying reconstruction of how a new Hitler might arise.' - Times Literary Supplement



Vincent Wright is a failure. Now in his mid-thirties, he's stuck in a dead-end job as a bank clerk and still lives with his mother. But he knows who is to blame for the shortcomings in his life: blacks, Jews, and immigrants, who are responsible for most of what's wrong with Britain today. After meeting a retired army officer who shares his passion for collecting Nazi paraphernalia, Vincent has a brilliant idea: the nation needs a new leader to rescue it from its decline - why not him? As he travels the country, giving speeches and using his charisma and oratorical gifts to recruit like-minded followers to his new Britain First party, we watch in horror while Vincent begins his terrifying and seemingly inexorable rise to power....



With the recent surge in popularity of far-right political parties across Europe, Gillian Freeman's sixth novel, The Leader (1965), remains as chillingly relevant today as when first published. This edition, the first in more than 40 years, includes a new introduction by Alwyn W. Turner. Freeman's classics The Liberty Man (1955) and The Leather Boys (1961) are also available from Valancourt Books.