Brought up in Switzerland, the only son of well-to-do parents, Charles Fryerne is somewhat unprepared for the world he meets when he goes up to Oxford University in the early 1980s. There he meets a fascinating social set, including a stellar young playwright, a student dubbed 'the future leader of the Conservative party' and a mercurial figure with ambitions to become the youngest prime minister since Pitt. When they leave university, the characters go their separate ways. But as Charles's career as a journalist takes off, he finds himself once more in their orbit and observes at first hand the price of ambition, and the inner workings of the political machine. And when the country's future leader accidentally hits an owl on a country road, there are difficult choices to be made...DEATH OF AN OWL is a satire on political expediency and spin from the author of SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN.(p) 2016 Orion Publishing Group