The Dictator

'The Dictator' by Justin McCarthy is a novel that follows the story of a man who was once a powerful leader of a country but is now in exile in London. The novel begins with the Dictator waking up in a tastefully furnished hotel room in Knightsbridge, London. The room is filled with books and artifacts, including a copy of Watteau, a volume of Napoleon's maxims, a French novel, a little volume of Sophocles in its original Greek, and a map of South America. A young man named Hamilton, who serves as the Dictator's aide, enters the room to wake him up. The Dictator dresses quickly, admires himself in the mirror, and puts on his green-and-yellow button, which represents the order of the Sword and Myrtle, the great Order of his country.