Lesley Downer

"Then he spoke more seriously. When his first novel had been published, he said, his relatives had been furious. But the literary world liked it. He knew that what I had to write might well offend both him and his family. But as a writer himself he could only urge me to do exactly as he had done: to write freely, without constraint. It would be wrong to demand his approval or that of his family. ‘Write literature,’ he said, with sudden intensity. ‘Write literature.’"

"Then he outlined the projects for the year to come. There were new hotels planned, to be designed by the top architects in the country, new golf courses and ski resorts, building developments planned for abroad. Every year the assembled executives were taken by surprise. No one ever knew what he was planning. But they all had complete faith in their leader."