Almosen fürs Vergessen / Zur Leichenschau

London 1972: The upper echelons of the Conservative Party are in turmoil after a high-ranking politician from the Ministry of Economic Affairs unexpectedly takes his own life. A scandal must be avoided at all costs, and so a former associate and a specialist dispatched by the domestic intelligence service set out to get to the bottom of the matter. What mission has the ambitious undersecretary and scheming puppet master been pursuing lately? And where did he spend the day before his death? Could the key to the mystery even be found in his boarding school days, where he formed his few friendships while remaining unmarried until the end? In the ninth volume of his societal panorama "Alms for Forgetting," Simon Raven casts another ruthless gaze at the British establishment and the illustrious circle of former students from an elite boarding school. And as is often the case with Simon Raven, it is the fates that ultimately - and most cruelly - laugh amidst the tumult of human aspirations and desires.