ABOUT
THE BOOK

2020 Longlist

The country is changing, and up and down the land, cracks are appearing – within families and between generations. In the Midlands Benjamin Trotter is trying to help his aged father navigate a Britain that seems to have forgotten he exists, whilst 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 . . .

About the Author

Jonathan Coe is the author of twelve novels, all published by Penguin, which include the highly acclaimed bestsellers What a Carve Up!, The House of Sleep, The Rotters’ Club and Number 11. He is also the author of a biography of B.S Johnson, Like a Fiery Elephant, and The Broken Mirror, a children’s book.

Librarian’s Comments

A somewhat surprising yet most welcome sequel to The Rotters’ Club and The Closed Circle, Middle England captures the tumultuous spirit of the age like no other contemporary novel. Just like its predecessors, it delves deeply into the world of politics, but it does so without losing sight of the human predicament; the political gets portrayed by its impacts on the lives of the book’s main characters which is why it remains readable and immensely entertaining throughout. Furthermore, even though the point of view here is British, the concerns are fare more wide-reaching – not to say European. Tampere City Library, Finland

It captures all the questions of British national identity that have come under discussion by the Brexit process and shows how the country has changed over the last two decades. Universitäts-und Landesbibliothek Bonn, Germany