Crisply written, suspensfull, and with a cast from the pages of 20th centuary history,
"Famous Last Words" is a towering achievement in storytelling.
Set in World War II, the novel follows the exploits of writer Hugh Selwyn Mauberly, a character Findlay has drawn from the
poems of one of this novels secondary characters, Ezra Pound. Yes, That's right, I said secondary characters. The novel,
which examines the curious attraction of Germany to all symbols English spends much more time on the comings and goings of some other
pretty important folk, like German Foriegn Minister Von Ribbentrop, or the real murdered British diplomat Sir Harry Oakes.
Looming large throughout the novel, is the character of the Duchess of Windsor, known forever as Mrs. Simpson.
"Famous Last Words" tells of Mauberly's romantic obsession with Mrs. Simpson. It also proposes the shocking theory that the Nazi's
under Hitler had a unique and unhealthy obsession of its own involving Mrs Simpson and her brurned out hulk of a former king,
Edward VIII.
Along the way, Findlay masterfully weaves real history with gripping fiction making for a book that facsinates and teaches.
Withn "Famous Last Words" Findlay takes his place amoung the best of his countrymen, including fellow Canadians, Robertson Davis
and Margaret Atwood.