Middle England
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Middle England by Jonathan Coe
From the acclaimed author of The Rotters' Club and The Closed Circle comes the novel for our strange contemporary times. Beginning eight years ago on the outskirts of Birmingham, where car factories have been replaced by chain retail, and London, where both frenzied riots and Olympic fever plague the streets, Middle England tracks a brilliantly vivid cast of characters through the transformation of their society.There are newlyweds Ian and Sophie, who disagree about England's future and, possibly, their relationship; Doug, the political commentator who writes impassioned columns about austerity from his Chelsea townhouse while his radical teenage daughter undertakes a relentless quest for universal justice; Benjamin Trotter, who embarks on an apparently doomed new career in middle age, and his father Colin, whose last wish is to vote LEAVE in the Brexit referendum. Through all these lives we see this very tentatively united kingdom itself: a place of nostalgia and delusion, bewilderment and barely-suppressed rage.
As acutely alert to the absurdity of the political classes as it is compassionate about those left behind by elites of all sorts, this is a novel only Jonathan Coe could have written.
Jonathan Coe was born in Birmingham, UK, in 1961. He began writing at an early age. His first surviving story, a detective thriller called The Castle of Mystery, was written when he was eight. His first published novel was The Accidental Woman in 1987, but it was his fourth, What a Carve Up!, that established his reputation as one of England's finest comic novelists, winning the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1985 and being translated into many languages. Seven bestselling novels and many other awards have followed, including the 2005 Samuel Johnson Prize for Like A Fiery Elephant, a biography of the experimental novelist, B. S. Johnson. Jonathan lives in London with his wife and two daughters. Chiara Coccorese, born in Naples, Italy, in 1982, is an artist and photographer who explores the issues of existence, time and spirituality. Her works have been exhibited in numerous museums and art shows in Italy and abroad, among them: National Archaeological Museum; Museo della Permanente; Palazzo Ducale; Museo MADRE; Pristine Gallery; Galleria Dino Morra; Foto Grafia Festival; Galleria Paolo Erbetta; Art Rawgallery in New York; and many more.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780525566847 |
| ISBN 10 | 0525566848 |
| Title | Middle England |
| Author | Jonathan Coe |
| Series | Vintage Contemporaries |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Random House USA Inc |
| Year published | 2020-07-14 |
| Number of pages | 448 |
| Prizes | Winner of Costa Novel Award 2019 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |