A novel for our times, American Magna Carta holds to account the 0.1% of the 1% who act with total impunity above the law. When a fifth original Magna Carta is discovered, a cabal of bent academics, investment bankers and elements in the surveillance state conspire to possess the founding document of western democracy. Leaving a trail of destruction they are prepared to break every law in the book so they can bask in the glow of the 800-year-old Great Charter of Liberties that, ironically, embodies the notion we are all equal before the law.
Standing in their way are Ricky Taleb, a Harvard Law student, Alison Sinclair, an art history intern from London, and Harry James, a new kind of action hero – a veteran of the Occupy Movement. Set against a backdrop of iconic landscapes from Glastonbury to London and from Boston to New York, the deft plot gathers pace towards a dramatic showdown at the very heart of global power. American Magna Carta is favourably comparable to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Alan Moore’s graphic novel V for Vendetta.
Author ROBERT HAMBLETT explains his inspiration behind the characters: “Harry James, the activist hero, does all the things I wish I had the courage to do.” He adds, “I had imagined a new kind of hero, one who wasn’t a cop or a spy. There’s a lot of my mother in him. Harry became a composite of activists and site crew I have met over the years. Alison Sinclair is thrown in at the deep end. She grows in strength. It all depends on her resolve. Ricky Taleb really goes on a journey. He finds a courage he never knew existed. Welbeck, the Glastonbury bookseller is a Prospero figure. His role only becomes clear at the end... or does it?”