Emerging from London’s psychedelic scene in 1967, folksinger Elf Holloway, blues bassist Dean Moss, guitar virtuoso Jasper de Zoet and jazz drummer Griff Griffin together created a unique sound, with lyrics that captured their turbulent times. The band produced only two albums in two years, yet their musical legacy lives on.
This is the story of Utopia Avenue’s brief, blazing journey from Soho clubs and draughty ballrooms to the promised land of America, just when the Summer of Love was receding into something much darker – a multi-faceted tale of dreams, drugs, love, sexuality, madness and grief; of stardom’s wobbly ladder and fame’s Faustian pact; and of the collision between youthful idealism and jaded reality as the Sixties drew to a close.
Above all, this bewitching novel celebrates the power of music to connect across divides, define an era and thrill the soul.
David Mitchell is the author of many novels including Ghostwritten, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and Slade House, among others. He has been shortlisted twice for the Booker Prize and in 2018 he won the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence He lives in Ireland with his family.
What on the outset seems like just another tale of failed rock and roll dreams quickly turns into a captivating web of intrigue as Mitchell spins his story together with strands familiar from his previous work. It is also uncanny how seamlessly he manages to fit his fictional group into the late 60’s pop scene, making it strangely feel as if the rock history of the era would somehow be incomplete without the inclusion of Utopia Avenue. Utterly remarkable in all respects! Tampere City Library, Finland
“The novel chronicles the rise of a delightfully improbable genre-defying British rock band in the late 1960s and this struck a chord with our borrowers – brought up on The Beatles and the vibrant local music scene. It is a brilliantly written novel with compelling characters and a band whose music you wish was real.” Liverpool City Libraries, United Kingdom
| Author | David Mitchell |
|---|---|
| Nominating Library | Liverpool City Libraries, United Kingdom, Tampere City Library, Finland |
| Publisher | Sceptre Hodder & Stoughton |
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