Beginning eight years ago on the outskirts of Birmingham, where car factories have been replaced by Poundland, and London, where frenzied riots give way to Olympic fever, u003ciu003eMiddle Englandu003c/iu003e follows a brilliantly vivid cast of characters through a time of immense change.u003cbru003e u003cbru003e 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.u003cbru003e u003cbru003e Following in the footsteps of u003ciu003eThe Rotters' Clubu003c/iu003eand u003ciu003eThe Closed Circleu003c/iu003e, Jonathan Coe's new novel is u003ciu003etheu003c/iu003enovel for our strange new times.
