The friends of Freeland
Subtitle: a novel
By: [by] Brad Leithauser.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: A.A. Knopf
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 508
Subjects: Presidents -- Election -- Fiction.; Political campaigns -- Fiction.; Imaginary places -- Fiction.
Genres: Fiction.
Description: In this roomy, bawdy, exuberantly comic novel, Brad Leithauser takes us to an imaginary island-country, Freeland, during a crucial election year. The "friends" of the title are Hannibal, an expansive, lovable, unruly giant of a man who has been President of Freeland for twenty years, and Eggert, his shrewd, often prickly, always devious sidekick and adviser, who is Poet Laureate of Freeland and the book's narrator.

As the book opens, Freeland - long happily isolated and stubbornly independent - is in trouble. The sins of the rest of the world have begun to wash up on its shores in the form of drugs, restless youth, and a polluted, fished-out ocean. And, to add to the complications, when Hannibal, who has promised to step down as president, decides to run again, the opposition imports three "electoral consultants" from the United States.

As the story unfolds, the histories of the friends are revealed. While Hannibal is Fate's adored, Eggert travels perpetually under a cloud. Orphaned early, he must make his way by his wits. We follow him from his youth as he adventures Down Below (any place south of Freeland), collecting women, lovers, children, restlessly churning out fifty books in his search for love and admiration, returning home at last to raise a family and to serve his friend in his political hour of need.