Divided Kingdom
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Divided Kingdom is a novel by British author Rupert Thomson. It was published in Britain by Bloomsbury in April of 2005 and then in America by Knopf in June.
It is a picaresque novel about British politicians who believe the best when to solve the ills of society is to separate the population, not by race or religion but the ancient humors - people's personalities. The are the happy sanguines; depressives melancholics; the angry Cholerics and the spiritual Phlegmatic.
The Sanguines lived in the Red Quarter; The Cholerics in the Yellow Quarter; the Melancholics in the Green Quarter and the Phlegmatic in the Blue Quarter. Each country has a different way of running things like the Blue Quarter has cannals and the Yellow Quarter is industrious. No one is allowed to go from quarter to quarter, because there are walls with barbed wire, armed guards at the walls.
At the center of this story is Thomas Parry, who is a government official for the sanguines. But when he goes to a conference in the Blue Quarter and visits a club called the Bathysphere, where he sees his life as it was before the Rearraingment, so he goes on a journey to across all the quarters to find out about his past.
[edit] Characters
Thomas Parry- a man who doesn't know much about his life before the Rearraingment and is going on a quest to find answers
Victor Parry- Thomas's adopted father, a railroad engineer for the Red Quarter
Marie Parry- Thomas's adopted sister, who he has a crush on. Marie worked in a law office but she had a disastrous relationship with a man that led to a miscarriage and she seems to have given up on life.
Mr. Vishram- Thomas's boss at the Department of Transfer and Relocation. He is also an author who is writing a biography about the sinister Prime Minister Michael Song.
Fay Mackenzie- a Yellow Quarter rebel who owns the Axe Edge Inn, she was arrested and detained by the Government.
Walter Ming- a mysterious Blue Quarter agent who led Thomas to the Bathysphre.
The White People- a mysterious race of people who speak telepathically and don't belong to any Quarter.
