On the morning after he has celebrated his 60th birthday party at a
celebrity-filled party, Ned Marriott is in bed with his partner, Emma, when
there's a knock on the door. Detectives from the London police force's
'Operation Millpond' have come to arrest him over an allegation of sexual
assault. Ned is one of the country's best-known historians - teaching at a
leading university, advising governments and making top-rating TV
documentaries - but this 'historic' claim from someone the cops insist on
calling 'the victim' threatens him with personal and professional ruin and
potential imprisonment. Professor Marriott would normally turn for support
to Tom Pimm, his closest friend at the university, but Tom has just been
informed that a secret investigation has raised anonymous complaints, which
may end Dr Pimm's career. Swinging between fear, bewilderment and anger,
Ned and Tom must try to defend themselves against the allegations, and hope
that no others are made. The two men's families and friends are forced to
question what they know and think. Can the complainants, detectives, HR
teams, journalists and Tweeters who are driving the stories all be seeing
smoke that has no fire behind it? By turns shocking and comic, reportorial
and thoughtful, The Allegations startlingly and heart-breakingly captures a
contemporary culture in which allegations are easily made and reputations
casually destroyed. Asking readers to decide who they believe, it explores
a modern nightmare that could happen, in some way, to anyone whose view of
personal history may differ from someone else's.