Letters From London

What happens when a leading novelist goes electioneering with Glenda Jackson; spends 346 hours watching Nigel Short fail to win at chess; shares a sandwich lunch with Mary Archer?

Since 1990, Julian Barnes has written a regular "Letter from London" for the "New Yorker" magazine. These already celebrated pieces cover subjects as diverse as the Lloyd's insurance disaster, the rise and fall of Margaret Thatcher, the troubles of the Royal Family and of the hapless Nigel Short in his battle with Gary Kasparov in the 1993 World Chess Finals. With an incisive assessment of Salman Rushdie's plight, an analysis of the implications of being linked to the continent via the Channel Tunnel and a search for chipolata sausages, this book provides a vivid a telling portrait of Britain in the Nineties.