The Closed Circle by Jonathan Coe

The Closed Circle by Jonathan Coe

The characters of The Rotters' Club--Jonathan Coe's nostalgic, humorous evocation of adolescent life in the 1970s--have bartered their innocence for the vengeance of middle age in a story that is very much of the moment, charged with such issues as 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq.
On New Year's Eve of 1999, with Tony Blair presiding over a glossy new version of Britain, Benjamin Trotter watches the celebration on television in the same Birmingham house where he'd grown up. Watches, in fact, his younger brother Paul, now a member of Parliament and a rising star of New Labour, glad-handing his way through the festive crowd at the Millennium Dome. Neither of them could guess their lives are about to implode.
Paul begins an affair with his young assistant, soon realizes he has made the fatal mistake of falling in love with her, then is threatened with exposure by Doug Anderton, a journalist who happens to be one of his oldest schoolboy enemies. At the same time, Benjamin and his friend Claire, still haunted by memories almost thirty years old, make a desperate attempt to break free of the past, if only to escape the notion that their happiest years are behind them.
As Cool Britannia is forced to address its ongoing racial and social tensions--and as its role in America's war on terrorism grows increasingly compromised--The Closed Circle shuttles between London and Birmingham, where fat cats, politicos, media advisers, and protesters in both locales lay bare an era when policy and PR have become indistinguishable. Meanwhile, its rich cast of characters contends with startling revelations about their youth and the pressing, perennial problems of love, vocation, and family.

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	9780375713958
ISBN 10	0375713956
Title	The Closed Circle
Author	Jonathan Coe
Series	Vintage Contemporaries
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	2006-06-06
Number of pages	384
Prizes	Short-listed for IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 2006
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.