Middle England: Winner of the Costa Novel Award 2019 (The Rotters' Club)

Coe, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0241983681 ISBN 13: 9780241983683

Publisher: Penguin, 2019

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2019

'The book everyone is talking about' The Times

'A comedy for our times' Guardian
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The country is changing and, up and down the land, cracks are appearing - within families and between generations. In the Midlands Benjamin Trotter tries to help his aged father navigate a Britain that seems to have forgotten he exists, while in London his friend Doug doesn't understand why his teenage daughter is eternally enraged. Meanwhile, newlyweds Sophie and Ian can find nothing to agree on except the fact that their marriage is on the rocks . . .

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'Coe's back with a bang. Middle England is the novel about Brexit we need' Daily Telegraph

'A pertinent, entertaining study of a nation in crisis' Financial Times, Books of the Year

'Very funny. Coe - a writer of uncommon decency - reminds us that the way out of this mess is through moderation, through compromise, through that age-old English ability to laugh at ourselves' Observer

Review:

Brilliantly funny . . . a compelling state of the nation novel, full of light and shade, which vividly charts modern Britain's tragicomic slide (Economist)

Expansive and often very funny . . . Coe - a writer of uncommon decency - reminds us that the way out of this mess is through moderation, through compromise, through that age-old English ability to laugh at ourselves (Observer)

A pertinent, entertaining study of a nation in crisis ('Books of the Year' Financial Times)

His affectionately witty attitude to our human foibles is always uplifting . . . Superb (The Times)

In Middle England, Coe shows an understanding of this country that goes beyond what most cabinet ministers can muster . . . he subtly builds a picture that exposes the cracks in society . . . he is a master of satire but pokes fun subtly, without ever being cruel, biting or blatant . . . his light, funny writing makes you feel better (Evening Standard)

Tackling his characters' opposing points of view, he draws a portrait of a recognisable Britain baffled by its loss of industry and jobs, and of everyday people shocked by a rise of acceptable racism and xenophobia. It's also very, very funny (Stylist)

Millions of words have been and will be written on Brexit but few will get to the heart of why it is happening as incisively as Middle England (John Boyne Irish Times)

This is a picture of England that comes from a place of compassion and understanding (inews)

Coe is as funny and tender as ever, restoring some humanity to the tumultuous societal backdrop (Grazia)

Middle England combines top-class soap opera storytelling with melancholy insight into what it means to be English (Metro)

From the Back Cover:

'THE BOOK EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT' THE TIMES

'It was tempting to think, at times like this, that some bizarre hysteria had gripped the British people'

Beginning eight years ago on the outskirts of Birmingham, where car factories have been replaced by Poundland, and London, where frenzied riots give way to Olympic fever, Middle England follows a brilliantly vivid cast of characters through a time of immense change.

There are newlyweds Ian and Sophie, who disagree about the future of the country and, possibly, the future of their relationship; Doug, the political commentator who writes impassioned columns about austerity from his Chelsea townhouse, and his radical teenage daughter who will stop at nothing in her quest for social justice; Benjamin Trotter, who embarks on an apparently doomed new career in middle age, and his father Colin, whose last wish is to vote in the European referendum. And within all these lives is the story of modern England: a story of nostalgia and delusion; of bewilderment and barely-suppressed rage.

Following in the footsteps of The Rotters' Club and The Closed Circle, Jonathan Coe's new novel is the novel for our strange new times.