29 Going Postal
Going Postal opens with a brand new character, Moist von Lipwig, who’s on his way to the gallows. Facing certain death and actually hanged, Moist is somewhat surprised to find himself being woken in the office of Lord Vetinari, Ankh Morpork’s Patrician. Moist is harangued to restart and run the defunct postal service, a once proud establishment that went out of fashion with the invention of Clacks, which themselves have fallen into disrepair because of shoddy management and underhand dealing.
Moist von Lipwig becomes a new kind of hero, looking to the future and wearing a gold suit, and the people of Ankh Morpork and beyond rediscover the joy of writing and receiving letters – and the new art of collecting stamps. All the while Moist battles with his own past and an unconquerable knowledge that he is a fraudster, yet it is a tall dark-haired lady, named Adora Bell Dearheart, who stands up for golems’ rights, that shows his heart a glimmer of hope.
As well as his own underlying problems, Moist has to battle with more urgent circumstances, such as a mountain of mail dating back twenty years that has taken on a personality, and the unscrupulous activities of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company and its new Board of Directors. On top of everything there is no chance of Moist ever being able to escape his duties as Vetinari has assigned a golem, Mister Pump, to keep an eye on him. Mister Pump follows Moist von Lipwig everywhere, does not need to sleep and never gets tired.
