The Ghost (novel)

Last updated

The Ghost
Ghost cover scan .jpg
First edition (UK)
Author Robert Harris
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre Thriller novel
Publisher Hutchinson (UK)
Simon & Schuster (US)
Publication date
26 September 2007
Media typePrint (hardback)(First edition)
Pages320 (1st UK)
ISBN 0-09-179626-1
OCLC 440621345
LC Class PR6058.A69147 G48 2007c

The Ghost is a 2007 political thriller by the best-selling English novelist and journalist Robert Harris. In 2010, the novel was adapted into a film, The Ghost Writer , directed by Roman Polanski and starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan, for which Polanski and Harris co-wrote the screenplay.

Contents

Plot summary

Most of the action takes place on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, where former British Prime Minister Adam Lang has been holed up in the holiday home of his billionaire American publisher to turn out his memoirs on a deadline. Lang's former aide, Mike McAra, was struggling to ghostwrite Lang's memoirs. However, McAra drowned when he apparently fell off the Woods Hole ferry. The fictional narrator of The Ghost, whose name is never given, is hired to replace him. His girlfriend walks out on him over his willingness to take the job: "She felt personally betrayed by him; she used to be a party member". The narrator begins to suspect foul play over McAra's death.

Meanwhile, Lang is accused by his enemies of war crimes. A leaked memorandum has revealed that he secretly approved the capture and the extraordinary rendition of British citizens to Guantanamo Bay to face interrogation and torture. Richard Rycart, Lang's disillusioned and renegade former foreign secretary (loosely based on Robin Cook), who before and during his early days in office made much of his wish to adopt an "ethical" foreign policy, is now at the United Nations in a position to do his former boss serious damage. Lang thus appears in imminent threat of indictment at the International Criminal Court.

The narrator borrows a car, which was previously used by McAra. McAra's last journey is still programmed into the satnav, and the narrator follows the route to the home of Professor Paul Emmett, who attended Cambridge with Lang, but Emmett is evasive about his connection to Lang. The narrator investigates Emmett and discovers an accusation that he is a CIA agent. The narrator discovers Rycart's phone number amongst McAra's things and arranges to meet him in New York. Rycart says that he and McAra had concluded Lang was recruited by Emmett into the CIA.

Lang is blown up by a British suicide bomber. The narrator finishes writing the book. At its launch party, he sees that Lang's wife Ruth knows Professor Emmett. The narrator recalls a remark Lang had made and realizes the first word of each chapter of the manuscript encode a hidden message: "Langs wife Ruth studying in 76 was recruited as a CIA agent in America by Professor Paul Emmett of Harvard University".

Reception

The character Adam Lang is a thinly-disguised version of Tony Blair. [1] [2] The fictional counterpart of Cherie Blair is depicted as a sinister manipulator of her husband. Harris told The Guardian before publication: "The day this appears a writ might come through the door. But I would doubt it, knowing him". [3]

The New York Observer commented that the book's "shock-horror revelation" is "so shocking it simply can't be true, though if it were it would certainly explain pretty much everything about the recent history of Great Britain". [4]

Harris said in a National Public Radio interview that politicians like Lang and Blair, particularly when they have been in office a long time, become divorced from everyday reality, read little and end up with a limited outlook. When it comes to writing their memoirs, that tends to make them need a ghostwriter. [5]

Film adaptation

In November 2007 it was announced that Roman Polanski was to direct the film version of the novel. He and Harris would be writing the script. [6] The cast was at first to consist of Nicolas Cage as the ghost, Pierce Brosnan as Adam Lang, with Tilda Swinton as Ruth Lang and Kim Cattrall as Lang's assistant Amelia Bly. Filming was delayed and a year later it was announced that Ewan McGregor would play the ghost instead of Cage and Olivia Williams would take over the role of Ruth Lang. The film was a French-German-British joint production, with Babelsberg Studios near Berlin having a central role and most scenes, especially those from Martha's Vineyard, were shot in Germany. [7] Harris was quoted as saying: "I want to be sure it's out before Tony Blair's own memoirs are published." [8]

Polanski was arrested by Swiss police in September 2009 on his way to the Zurich Film Festival. Babelsberg Studios initially announced that production was put on hold. However, Polanski continued working on post-production from his house arrest in Switzerland. The film, retitled The Ghost Writer, premiered at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival on 12 February 2010. [9] [10] It won multiple awards.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Polanski</span> French and Polish filmmaker

Raymond Roman Thierry Polański is a French and Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, ten César Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, as well as the Golden Bear and a Palme d'Or.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierce Brosnan</span> Irish actor (born 1953)

Pierce Brendan Brosnan OBE is an Irish actor and film producer. He was the fifth actor to play secret agent James Bond in the Bond film series, starring in four films from 1995 to 2002 and in multiple video games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriel Byrne</span> Irish actor

Gabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor. He has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for a Grammy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards. Byrne was awarded the Irish Film and Television Academy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and was listed at number 17 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors in 2020. The Guardian named him one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Harris (novelist)</span> English novelist

Robert Dennis Harris is a British novelist and former journalist. Although he began his career in journalism and non-fiction, his fame rests upon his works of historical fiction. Beginning with the best-seller Fatherland, Harris focused on events surrounding the Second World War, followed by works set in ancient Rome. His most recent works centre on contemporary history. Harris was educated at Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he was president of the Cambridge Union and editor of the student newspaper Varsity.

<i>The Pianist</i> (2002 film) Biopic directed by Roman Polanski

The Pianist is a 2002 biographical Holocaust war drama film produced and directed by Roman Polanski, with a script by Ronald Harwood, and starring Adrien Brody. It is based on the autobiographical book The Pianist (1946), a memoir by the Polish-Jewish pianist, composer and Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman. The film was a co-production by France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivia Williams</span> British actress (born 1968)

Olivia Haigh Williams is a British actress who appears in British and American films and television. Williams studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years followed by three years at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her first significant screen role was as Jane Fairfax in the British television film Emma (1996), based on Jane Austen's novel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Blair</span> Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007

Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He served as Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997 and held various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007. He is the second-longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history and the longest-serving Labour politician to have held the office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babelsberg Studio</span> German film studio

Babelsberg Film Studio, located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film, producing films since 1912. With a total area of about 460,000 square metres (5,000,000 sq ft) and a studio area of about 25,000 square metres (270,000 sq ft) it is Europe's largest film studio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Rintoul</span> Scottish actor

David Rintoul is a Scottish stage and television actor. Rintoul was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He studied at the University of Edinburgh, and won a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

For the Wales international footballer see Andrew Crofts (footballer)

<i>Rosemarys Baby</i> (film) 1968 film by Roman Polanski

Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American psychological horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on Ira Levin's 1967 novel of the same name. The film stars Mia Farrow as a young wife living in Manhattan who becomes pregnant, but soon begins to suspect that her elderly neighbors are members of a Satanic cult who are grooming her in order to use her baby for their rituals. The film's supporting cast includes John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Patsy Kelly, Angela Dorian, and Charles Grodin in his feature film debut.

<i>The Special Relationship</i> (film) 2010 film by Richard Loncraine

The Special Relationship is a 2010 biographical drama film directed by Richard Loncraine from a screenplay by Peter Morgan. It is the third film in Morgan's informal "Blair trilogy", which dramatizes the political career of British Prime Minister Tony Blair (1997–2007), following The Deal (2003) and The Queen (2006), both directed by Stephen Frears.

<i>The Ghost Writer</i> (film) 2010 film by Roman Polanski

The Ghost Writer is a 2010 neo-noir political thriller film directed by Roman Polanski. The film is an adaptation of a 2007 Robert Harris novel, The Ghost, with the screenplay written by Polanski and Harris. It stars Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, and Olivia Williams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of Tony Blair</span>

This page is a list of cultural depictions of Tony Blair onstage, in film and in other forms of fiction.

David Majzlin is an Emmy®-nominated composer whose credits include numerous critically acclaimed films such as The Loving Story, Youth Knows No Pain, and Sins of My Father for HBO, Herb and Dorothy, Stille,, Being Reel,, and Shenandoah, directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, David Turnley. He also wrote additional music for Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel, Sunshine Cleaning - starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, and Alan Arkin, and source music for The Ghost Writer, All Good Things, and The Joneses.

<i>A Journey</i> Book by Tony Blair

A Journey is a memoir by Tony Blair of his tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Published in the UK on 1 September 2010, it covers events from when he became leader of the Labour Party in 1994 and transformed it into "New Labour", holding power for a party record three successive terms, to his resignation and replacement as prime minister by his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown. Blair donated his £4.6-million advance, and all subsequent royalties, to the British Armed Forces charity the Royal British Legion. It became the fastest-selling autobiography of all time at the bookstore chain Waterstones. Promotional events were marked by anti-war protests.

The 23rd European Film Awards were presented on 4 December, 2010, in Tallinn, Estonia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kensington and Chelsea Register Office</span> Registry office in London, United Kingdom

Kensington and Chelsea Register Office is an office for the registration of births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships located in Chelsea Old Town Hall in Chelsea, London. It has hosted the weddings of many notable people.

Royce Pierreson Banemeck, better known by his stage name Royce Pierreson, is a British actor and narrator. Royce is best known for his roles as DC Jamie Desford in the fourth series of Line of Duty and as Reece in Murdered by My Boyfriend.

<i>An Officer and a Spy</i> (film) 2019 film by Roman Polanski

An Officer and a Spy is a 2019 historical drama film directed by Roman Polanski about the Dreyfus affair, with a screenplay by Polanski and Robert Harris based on Harris's 2013 novel of the same name. The name J'accuse has its origins in Émile Zola's article in l'Aurore in January 1898 in which the famous author accused many people of France of continuing to support the increasingly blatantly erroneous accusations against Dreyfus.

References

  1. ↑ Holden, Anthony (30 September 2007). This one's for you, Tony . Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  2. ↑ Greenland, Colin (13 October 2007). "Review: The Ghost by Robert Harris". the Guardian. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  3. ↑ Edemariam, Aida (27 September 2007). "'I think Tony Blair would see the joke'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  4. ↑ Bray, Christopher (13 November 2007). "The Blair Snitch Project: Thriller Pulps Britain's Ex-Prime Minister". New York Observer. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  5. ↑ National Public Radio interview, 31 October 2007.
  6. ↑ Siegel, Tatiana (7 November 2007). "Roman Polanski returns with 'Ghost'". Variety . Reed Business Information . Retrieved 25 June 2008.
  7. ↑ "Roman Polanski: "Studio Babelsberg has highly talented and enthusiastic crews"". Studio Babelsberg AG. Archived from the original on 22 July 2009. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
  8. ↑ "Polanski to sex up tale of 'Tony Blair's ghost'". entertainment.timesonline.co.uk.(subscription required)
  9. ↑ "Berlin Film Festival Program". www.berlinale.de.[ dead link ]
  10. ↑ "roman-polanski-ghost-writer". Guardian Online. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.