An Act in a Backwater

An Act in a Backwater is set in a small sleepy English village where life seems uneventful and slow-moving. The story revolves around the inhabitants of this backwater focusing on the arrival of a new and ambitious young politician Sir Louis Bourne who decides to make the village his home. Sir Louis Bourne is determined to make a name for himself and sees the village as the perfect place to begin his political career. He is confident charming and somewhat manipulative believing he can easily sway the villagers to support his ambitions. The novel follows his attempts to influence local politics win over the village's influential residents and secure his place as a rising star in the political arena. The act in the title refers to the various schemes and strategies Bourne employs to gain power and influence. However as he becomes more entangled in village life he finds that the quiet backwater is not as simple or as easy to control as he imagined. The village is populated by a range of quirky and stubborn characters who are not so easily swayed by Bourne's charm and tactics.