The Truth

2000

William Worde is the second son of Lord de Worde, one of Ankh-Morpork's better families. As such he was expected to either join the military, but he'd never much enjoyed physical pursuits at school, or he could join a religious order. But his education had given him the sort of beliefs that weren't particularly conducive to a successful career in religion.

He did have a good grasp of his letters and an enquiring mind so his major income came from writing up a weekly news sheet for out of town dignitaries interested in the goings on in Ankh-Morpork.

When the template of his latest news sheet is broken after an encounter with a terribly heavy runaway wagon, William wonders how he's going to be able to afford a new one. But the owners of the wagon were dwarves. And dwarves always make good on their obligations! The wagon held a proper, movable type press and quicker than he could object, William found that the dwarves had printed his news-sheet up.

After a brief discussion on the economies of scale with the master printer, William soon finds himself in the newspaper business.

There is a minor little problem, however - neither the engravers guild, nor the religious orders are into movable type presses. Initially reluctant, Unseen University was bought off with another discussion of economics. Although also technically against them himself, Lord Vetinari takes a perverse delight in letting William and his associates continue with their operations. By now, The Truth is selling well amongst the burghers of Ankh-Morpork and even William is startled to see how much is believed just because it's written down. The plot by the engravers guild to stop William's paper by buying the paper it needs looks like it could be a disaster. But William promises the paper supplier a brilliant write-up for his daughter's wedding, which results in a wagon of paper.

So, what's the big news story of the day? Well, Lord Vetinari was arrested for attacking his secretary. And a good reason for the seventy thousand dollars in the saddlebags would be nice too. But William is suspicious; seventy thousand dollars weighs a lot! And Vetinari's dog has disappeared.

Will William be able to uncover what is going on before he's given a personal introduction to the New Firm?

Although Commander Vimes and the City Watch have their part in the novel, the real focus of the story is William and his attempts to get his newspaper accepted by those in power as something that is necessary to the city. There is also a fair bit of Terry's own background in local papers involved in this book.

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