Paradise Postponed

Paradise Postponed - John Mortimer's classic novel, now part of the Penguin Decades series

Penguin Decades bring you the novels that helped shape modern Britain. When they were published, some were bestsellers, some were considered scandalous, and others were simply misunderstood. All represent their time and helped define their generation, while today each is considered a landmark work of storytelling.

John Mortimer's Paradise Postponed was first published in 1985. At the heart of the story lies a mystery. Why, on his death, has Simeon Simcox, the CND-marching Rector of Rapstone Fanner, left his fortune not to his two sons but to an odious Tory Minister?

Paradise Postponed provides a brilliant, hilarious portrait of life in Margaret Thatcher's Britain, as well as an exquisitely drawn saga of ancient rivalries and class struggles, featuring a glorious cast of characters conjured by a master satirist. With a new introduction by Jeremy Paxman, this delicious journey through English country life will be loved by readers of P.G. Wodehouse and fans of Mortimer's Rumpole.


'An hilarious novel' Daily Telegraph


Sir John Mortimer was a barrister, playwright and novelist. His fictional political trilogy of Paradise Postponed, Titmuss Regained and The Sound of Trumpets has recently been republished in Penguin Classics, together with Clinging to the Wreckage and his play A Voyage round My Father. His most famous creation was the barrister Horace Rumpole, who featured in four novels and around eighty short stories. His books in Penguin include: The Anti-social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole; The Collected Stories of Rumpole; The First Rumpole Omnibus; Rumpole and the Angel of Death; Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders; Rumpole and the Primrose Path; Rumpole and the Reign of Terror; Rumpole and the Younger Generation; Rumpole at Christmas; Rumpole Rests His Case; The Second Rumpole Omnibus; Forever Rumpole; In Other Words; Quite Honestly and Summer's Lease.