I can't say that I've ever been interested in books about politics but Rory Stewart has certainly drawn a lot of attention in the past 10 years and I was intrigued to find out a bit more about him than the headlines and newspaper profiles.

Now a media sensation as a double act with Alistair Campbell (former spokesman for Tony Blair and New Labour) through their sell out appearances at theatres and auditoriums (like the Royal Albert Hall), and their chart-topping podcast The Rest is Politics, Rory Stewart seems to be bringing sense, dignity and altruism back into politics. 

He describes something of his privileged background, a little of his life in the army, and his motivation for stepping into politics and trying to make a difference. We learn he speaks 11 languages, walks a lot and is practical and dynamic, preferring to get on with a job rather than sit in endless debates.

We are given details of the challenges, obstacles and frustrations in his roles and his thwarted attempts to bring about change in the prisons, tackling flood defences, and engaging with conflict and poverty abroad.

This account of the past decade of his political life is beautifully written - it is a page-turner of a read, and there is humour and wit here. But it is also a grim account of the bureaucracy, cronyism and incompetence that we've all come to accept as the norm in Parliament today. 

Whatever your politics - and this has been named Book of the Year by the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian, the Observer and the Sunday Times, the New Statesman and the Church Times, and many more - I urge you to give this book a read.