The Judas Boy
The Judas Boy is Volume V of the novel sequence Alms for Oblivion by Simon Raven, published in 1968. It was the fifth novel to be published in The Alms for Oblivion sequence and is the sixth novel chronologically. The story takes place in London, Athens and on Cyprus in 1962.
Characters, in the order of appearance
Fielding Gray – Former officer turned writer. Protagonist of Fielding Gray and major character in The Sabre Squadron and Friends in Low Places. Terribly facially disfigured by a bomb explosion on Cyprus 1958. Sent to that same island in 1962 to make a documentary for his friend Tom Llewellyn at the BBC.
Tom Llewyllyn – Successful writer. Appeared earlier in The Rich Pay Late and Friends in Low Places.
Tessie Buttock – Hotel owner. Friend of Tom Llewellyn and Fielding Gray. Appeared in The Rich Pay Late and Friends in Low Places.
Patricia Llewyllyn – Wife of Tom Llewyllyn, née Turbot. Seems to be very sloppy and somewhat mentally instable. Appeared in Friends in Low Places.
Enid Jackson – A very strict lady at the BBC who keeps pestering Tom Llewyllyn about his national insurance card.
Maisie Malcolm – A prostitute who serves both Fielding Gray (of whom she is very fond), Somerset Lloyd-James and Lord Canteloupe. Appeared earlier in The Rich Pay Late and Friends in Low Places.
Gregory Stern – Publisher who has taken an unhealthy liking to his Jewish heritage lately. Husband of Isobel. Mentioned in Fielding Gray and The Rich Pay Late and appears in Friends in Low Places.
Isobel Stern – Née Turbot. Wife of Gregory Stern. Suffers a miscarriage.
Captain Detterling – MP and former army man. Appeared in Fielding Gray, The Sabre Squadron and The Rich Pay Late. Became partner of his old colleague Fielding Gray when he became a writer in Friends in Low Places.
Leonard Percival – In the intelligence service. Appeared in The Sabre Squadron.
Sir Edwin Turbot – Former politician. Appeared in Sound The Retreat and Friends in Low Places. Very senile and is only mentioned.
Somerset Lloyd-James – Editor and MP. A major character in Fielding Gray, The Rich Pay Late and Friends in Low Places. Old friend of Fielding Gray and Tom Llewyllyn, though trying to hinder their documentary by all possible means.
Lord Canteloupe – Marquis. Minor character in Sound The Retreat. Mentioned in The Sabre Squadron and a major character in Friends in Low Places. Minister with responsibility for recreation resources. Cousin of Detterling. Drinks heavily and is blunt and outspoken in general.
Carton Weir – MP. Right hand of Lord Canteloupe despite the fact that the lord hates him. Has often to deal with the lord's outrageous public behaviour and smooth things over. Appeared in The Rich Pay Late and Friends in Low Places.
Max de Freville – Member of high society and retired gambler looking for a comeback. Has an intimate but platonic relation with Angela Tuck. Appeared in The Sabre Squadron, The Rich Pay Late and Friends in Low Places.
Angela Tuck – Very promiscuous widow of 38. Appeared in Fielding Gray, The Rich Pay Late and Friends in Low Places.
Stratis Lykiadopolous – Greek gambler and friend of de Freville. Appeared in Friends in Low Places.
Georgios Grivas – Colonel. A real person who fought the British on Cyprus. Have correspondence with Fielding Gray.
Earl Restarick – American who most likely works for CIA. Appeared in The Sabre Squadron where he posed as an historian.
Savidis –American – Cypriot assistant of Restarick.
Robert Constable – Provost of Lancaster College. A man of high moral standing. Appeared in Fielding Gray, The Sabre Squadron, The Rich Pay Late and Friends in Low Places.
Harriet Ongley – Widowed American and friend of de Freville. Decent.
Plot summary
The story takes place in 1962. Tom Llewyllyn have been working at the BBC for some years. He engages Fielding Gray to do a documentary about Cyprus. Gray, who had his face disfigured on that very island is reluctant but gives in since he hopes to find some facts that will give him some kind of revenge. Llewyllyn is not terribly happy in his marriage with the sloppy and not 100% mentally stable Patricia. Her sister Isobel, on the other side, is very happily married to Gregory Stern. The publisher Stern has lately become very interested in his Jewish heritage and neglects his publishing a bit.
When Gray goes by train to Greece he meets Leonard Percival, who warns him to continue the trip on that particular train. A nervous Gray eventually jumps of the train in Yugoslavia right before it crashes off a bridge, killing all aboard. Gray, who is unharmed, is transported to Athens where he meets friend and colleague captain Detterling. Meanwhile, Somerset Lloyd-James and Lord Canteloupe, scared that nasty things about the British engagement on the island will be revealed, are trying to prevent Llewyllyn and Gray from making their documentary. Gray and Detterling also meet the couple Max de Freville and Angela Tuck. De Freville is trying to make a comeback as a gambler and tells some interesting things about Cyprus. Gray has sex with Angela and they discus memories from the summer of 1945.
Leonard Percival arrives also and confirms that forces on Cyprus wanted to kill Gray. An important person in this group is Earl Restarick, an American spook working for the CIA. De Freville can, however, prove that this man has been involved in killings on Cyprus since he left a handkerchief near the body of a murdered boy. Gray, after arriving at Cyprus, manages to find the body and the handkerchief. To get more proof against Restarick, Gray wants an interview with the famous guerrilla leader colonel Georgios Grivas. Restarick, who has been following the affair, has his own interview with Angela Tuck and she reveals some of Grays's weaknesses. Somerset Lloyd-James is trying to drag Tom Llewyllyn down by using Maisie but she refuses, and even tells Llewyllyn about the dodgy business.
Restarick sends out the beautiful Greek boy Nicos to catch Gray, and he manages quite well. The somewhat confused Gray takes him for his dead lover Christopher. Nicos manages to keep Gray away from Athens and Grivas and Gray forgets about all his duties. Meanwhile, Tom Llewellyn is fired from the BBC since it turns out that he hasn't had a National Insurance Card for years and didn't even know about it. Tom has even lied about the card since he wasn't that interested in the matter. When Restarick hears about this he recalls Nicos, who unceremoniously dumps the devastated Gray. At that moment Isobel Stern is having a miscarriage in London. Gray stays in Argos and drinks very heavily for a week but Max de Freville, a somewhat decent fellow, sends his friend Harriet Ongley to pick him up and get him in shape. Tom is invited to take up a Namier Fellowship at Lancaster College and accepts – right at the moment when his wife Patricia finds she's pregnant for the second time.