by Jonathan Coe
The author has recently published Bournville – a book I am keen to read, perhaps next month in honour of my husband Martin’s big birthday (he was born in Birmingham 70 years ago). But rather than splash out on yet another £20 hardback, I decided to revisit Coe’s back catalogue. I had really enjoyed The Rotter’s Club when it came out in 2001. Martin also read and enjoyed it. The Closed Circle, its sequel, didn’t do much for me. So I left it at that, and this book – Middle England – passed me by when it was published in 2018. However, looking at a few reviews convinced me that it would be a worthy precursor to the new book – and, what’s more, it would be available from the library.
Middle England is set, surprise surprise, in the Midlands. The characters have mostly appears in Coe’s earlier books, but as I was quite rusty on these, it was as if I had not encountered them before. And that is fine; if this is the first of Coe’s books you read, you will still get something from it. Though you might miss the references to the events of 21 November 1974, when IRA bombs took the lives of 21 young people and injured 182 others – an event which takes centre stage in Coe’s earlier work.
The ‘outside world’ event that is at the heart of Middle England is the 2016 In-Out referendum on Britains’ place in the European Union. It is clear that Coe – in common with the majority of educated middle-class people, dare I say – is a firm Remainer. But he is able to give voice to other points of view through his characters, among whom Brexit remains a topic of conversation before, during and after the referendum campaign. Their conversations about EU membership not only shed light on their characters, but also reflect the kind of real conversations that were going on all round the country at the time the novel is set. And still are, but with a different flavour.
I enjoyed this book immensely, and am looking forward to reading Bournville in due course.
A rug and a book 