Sussex Drive: A Novel

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A startingly funny and deeply satisfying satirical novel that makes the Canadian political scene accessible from the female perspective, behind the scenes at the top of the hill. Torn from the headlines, Sussex Drive is a rollicking, cheeky, alternate history of big-ticket political items in Canada told from the perspectives of Becky Leggatt (the sublimely capable and manipulative wife of a hard-right Conservative prime minister) and just a wink away at Rideau Hall, Lise Lavoie (the wildly exotic and unlikely immigrant Governor General)—two wives and mothers living their private lives in public.Set in recent history, when the biggest House on their turf is shuttered not once, not twice, but three times, Becky and Lise engage in a fight to the death in a battle that involves Canada’s relationship to the United States, Afghanistan and Africa. The rest of the time, the women are driving their kids.From Linda Svendsen’s sharp and wicked imagination comes a distaff Ottawa like no other ever created by a Canadian writer, of women manoeuvring in a political world gone more than a little mad, hosting world leaders, dealing with the challenges of minority government, and worrying about teen pregnancies and their own marriages. As they juggle these competing interests, Becky and Lise are forced to question what they thought were their politics, and make difficult choices about their families and their futures—federal and otherwise.Review“In Sussex Drive, Linda Svendsen takes us deep behind the lines of Ottawa’s politics, polls and pomp, and into the lives of Canada’s two most powerful women. By turns shocking, funny, sizzling and illuminating, this story is brilliantly written with an unnerving authenticity that makes it seem all too real. You’re going to want to read this.” —Terry Fallis, author of Canada Reads winner The Best Laid Plans and Up and Down“Sharp and funny. . . . An insider’s book with great gossip and surprising plot twists, it will keep Ottawa talking for months.” —Stevie Cameron, author of On the Farm and On the Take“In our times Sussex Drive seems far from Camelot and so near to the Sunday service in Red Deer. In her rollicking novel, Linda Svendsen invents misbehaving Mounties, separatists in Rideau Hall, an opposition leader named Monsieur Triste, an African-born governor general caught up in her country’s tragedy, a prime minister’s wife determined to run her own show, and a prime minister marked by his ‘lumpen sourness.’  These are the unforgettable characters who hilariously rewrite our recent history.” —John English, author of Citizen of the World: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau: 1919–1968 and Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau: 1968–2000“Sparkling, witty and insightful! In this edgy and terrific satire we see Linda Svendsen’s eye for revealing detail, ability to create real characters, and crisp prose—everything that made those who read Marine Life want more. She targets politics in a way recognizable even to people who live not in Ottawa but Washington, D.C. Blending the political and personal, Sussex Drive shows us the brutality of political life and the essential humanity of those in it. Trollope might have written a book like this—if he’d collaborated with Jane Austen.” —Robert A. Lehrman, novelist and former chief speechwriter to U.S. Vice President Al Gore“Can Ottawa possibly be this out of control? It can be if it’s dominated by two fabulous women who happen to be the wife of the PM, and the Governor General herself. Sussex Drive, funny, chilling and addictive, gets my vote.” —Judith Timson, author and journalist“A witty, funny, sexy romp that flirts with international intrigue, love, lust and duty in an alternate Ottawa that seems eerily real. Svendsen’s novel is a delicious, subversive read.” —Paulette Bourgeois, writer and screenwriter About the AuthorLinda Svendsen's linked collection, Marine Life, was published in Canada, the United States and Germany and her work has appeared in the Atlantic, Saturday Night, O. Henry Prize Stories, Best Canadian Stories and The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Marine Life was nominated for the LA Times First Book Award and released as a feature film. Svendsen’s TV writing credits include adaptations of The Diviners, At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story, and she co-produced and co-wrote the miniseries Human Cargo, which garnered seven Gemini Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award. She received the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 2006. Svendsen is a professor in the Creative Writing Program at the University of British Columbia. She was born in the riding of Mount Pleasant and raised in Coquitlam-Moody.