A Matter of Loyalty

Reviews / Votes

'While her husband was lead of the Conservative Party, Sandra Howard dutifully kept a low profile. Now the former Vogue model is happy to court controversy. Michael Howard's wife, below, tells Mandrake that her forthcoming novel A Matter of Loyalty, is about a Muslim journalist who becomes a hero after a terrorist attack. "My husband has been able to give me some useful advice on the Home Office side of things," she said at the launch of Special Forces Heroes, by Lord (Michael) Ashcroft, at Millbank Tower, in Westminster. "For my first novel, I did all my research in bed. Because it was about Westminster, the pillow talk came in very handy"' Sunday Telegraph 16/11 'The third novel from Sandra Howard, wife of the former Conservative lead, goes behind the scenes of the Home Office after a bomb explodes in London's West End. A young Muslim reporter persuades his paper to let him return home to Leeds to see what he can uncover. When he meets the Home Secretary's daughter at a party he can't get her out of mind. They begin seeing each other but when he discovers links to potential terrorists, he realise that they and the nation are all in terrible danger' Books to watch in 2009, Express 02/01 'How the NHS failed my mother -- Ex-Tory leader's wife Sandra Howard reveals her anger at how her mother was treated' Piece by author, Daily Mail 11/2 'Go to work to stay at home -- we mothers are always left feeling in the wrong...' 2nd piece by author, Daily Mail 12/2 Book of the Week 'A Matter of Loyalty is her third novel, and a particularly brave attempt at understanding, believe it or not, home-grown Muslim fundamentalism. The story follows young reporter Ahmed Khan who, after a terrorist atrocity in London, returns to his home town of Leeds to sniff out the "Muslim mood". Pretending to be a sympathiser, he hooks up with a nasty bunch of fundamentalists who are planning a far more spectacular show. Complicating matters are Ahmed's infatuation with his boss's stepdaughter, the micro mini-skirted Nattie. Her mother, Victoria Osborne, just happens to be the Home Secretary...it is with some skill that Howard manages to build a plot with plenty of pace and suspense' Mirror 20/2 'Sandra Howard has established herself as one of our most popular novelists. A Matter of Loyalty is her topical new book about the consequences of a bomb attack in London's West End and the unexpected relationship that develops between the daughter of the Foreign Secretary and a young Muslim reporter. The wife of Michael Howard, former leader of the Conservative Party, and one of the most successful models of the Sixties, Sandra Howard writes with a keen understanding of the ways of the world inhabit.' Daily Mail 27/2 'It's much better written than Jeffrey Archer, but it inhabits more or less the same territory -- romance and jiggery-pokery in high places. A bomb goes off in London; the Home Secretary, Victoria Osborne, feels she has failed in her duty to the public. She's married to a newspaper editor, and he has just taken on a young reporter who is a Muslim, who falls in love with Victoria's daughter...good entertainment' The Times 28/2 'Tory parties kick-off the games and activities in Folkestone' Interview, Telegraph 11/4 'Sandra Howard could be a tricky interviewee. That combination of beauty and brains often produces egos to match, and I wonder whether in having been privy so unreservedly to the world of politics she might have perfected that clam-like response to questioning. By contrast, I find a gentle and engaging character -- bright, articulate but considered, even a shade diffident...You'd never guess at Howard's innate reserve from her gutsy writing...a fledgling undercover reporter who is sent on an investigation to Leeds following terrorist attacks in London. It's heavy stuff, and could easily have been botched, but the Tory wife sitting opposite me has a knack of producing an unflinching -- and convincing -- narrative.' Interview, The Resident, April issue 'The Sphinx Effect' Travel article, Daily Mail 26/9 'After six general elections as a political spouse the heat is off. I'm a free spirit, fit to join the Dead Poet's Society, released from the strain of daily canvassing, the dread of low turnouts, the panic of getting out the vote. No more "knocking up", exit-poll nerves, the acute embarrassment of standing, blue-rossetted, alongside the other candidate's spouses in our town hall, making agonised small talk while watching the piles of counted votes grow in columns like a poll-chart graphic. Freedom is great' Feature, The Times 10/4