It's a Battlefield

the keynote is set in a quotation from Kinglake at the beginning of the volume: 'In so far as the battlefield presented itself to the bare eyesight of men, it... was made up of nothing except small numberless circlets... each separate gathering... went on fighting it's own little battle in a happy and advantageous ignorance of the general state of the action.... ' these 'circlets' began with the killing of a policeman at a political rally in Hyde Park. Drover, a bus driver with Communist leanings, had struck the blow when he thought the policeman was going to injure his wife. The Minister would like to grant a reprieve, but thousands of laborers were on the verge of a crippling strike; a reprieve would indicate weakness on the part of the Minister. On the other hand, if Drover were executed and the workers retaliated it would cost the country millions of pounds--and the Minister would probably lose the next election. Then in one way or another Drover's family and dozens of figures on the outside became involved in the drama; in one way or another each life was changed. "--