Amsterdam

About “Amsterdam”

Winner of the 1998 Booker Prize, the novel follows two old friends, Clive Linley and Vernon Halliday, who meet outside a crematorium to pay their last respects to Molly Lane. Both men had been lovers of Molly before they achieved success—Clive as Britain's most successful modern composer and Vernon as the editor of The Judge, a quality broadsheet. Molly had also been involved with Julian Garmony, the Foreign Secretary and a controversial right-winger expected to become prime minister. After Molly's funeral, Clive and Vernon make a pact that leads to devastating moral choices. Their friendship is severely tested, and Julian finds himself struggling to save his political career.