In a provincial Argentinian community, Charley Fortnum – a British consul with dubious authority and a notorious fondness for drink – is kidnapped by rebels in a case of mistaken identity. Their intended victim, the young but world-weary Doctor Eduardo Plarr, is left to pick up the pieces and secure Fortnum’s release, wading through a sea of incompetence and unearthing corruption among authorities and revolutionaries in the process. First published in 1973, The Honorary Consul was one of Greene’s own favourites of his works and is regarded as one of his finest novels, with Plarr perhaps the most moving and convincing figure in his fiction.