The Whirligig

The year is nineteen thirty-something and Anton Guebler is locked in the boot of a moving car, racing through the darkened streets of an unnamed city. He contemplates his inevitable and imminent death, picking through the course of his life, from a poor neighbourhood of his childhood to the office of the city's charismatic and radical mayor.

When Anton joined the mayor's office as an adviser, he was full of optimism, intent on making the world a better place while also making his own mark upon it. He manages to hang onto his idealism even as events take a darker turn. Only once he is forced to choose, between loyalty to the mayor and betraying the people he loves, do the doubts creep in, too late. But was it all for nothing? And could he have defied his fate?

A thrilling story of politics and power, of loyalty and betrayal, and of the good intentions that pave the road to hell.

"Harvey's beautiful prose explores the personal side of professional politics and the flawed people who pursue it."
- Emma Burnell, journalist and playwright

"Harvey weaves a magnetic tale of human hope and betrayal with depth and insight. A triumph."
- James Silvester, author of 'Escape to Perdition'