Author: Coe, Jonathan
Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)
Published on 7 November 2024 by Penguin Books Ltd (Viking) in the United Kingdom.
Hardback | 352 pages
242 x 160 x 31 | 560g
'A brilliant, shrewd, satirical novel – gimlet-eyed, funny, very clever and a searchingly profound look at the state of this strange country of ours' William Boyd'My comfort read: anything by Jonathan Coe' Bob Mortimer ---Post-university life doesn’t suit Phyl. Time passes slowly living back home with her parents, working a zero-hour contract serving Japanese food to holidaymakers at Heathrow’s Terminal 5. As for her budding plans of becoming a writer, those are going nowhere.
That is, until family friend Chris comes to stay. He’s been on the path to uncover a sinister think-tank, founded at Cambridge University in the 1980s, that’s been scheming to push the British government in a more extreme direction. One that’s finally poised to put their plans into action.
But speaking truth to power can be dangerous - and power will stop at nothing to stay on top.
As Britain finds itself under the leadership of a new Prime Minister whose tenure will only last for seven weeks, Chris pursues his story to a conference being held deep in the Cotswolds, where events take a sinister turn and a murder enquiry is soon in progress. But will the solution to the mystery lie in contemporary politics, or in a literary enigma that is almost forty years old?Darting between decades and genres, THE PROOF OF MY INNOCENCE is a wickedly funny and razor-sharp new novel from one of Britain’s most beloved novelists, showing how the key to understanding the present can often be found in the murkiest corners of the past.
---'Coe shows an understanding of this country that goes beyond what most cabinet ministers can muster . . . he is a master of satire but pokes fun subtly, without ever being cruel, biting or blatant . . . his light, funny writing makes you feel better' Evening Standard'A novelist who gains in range and reputation with every book' Pat Barker'Please, God … if there’s a next life, let me write as well as Jonathan Coe' Anthony Bourdain 'Probably the best English novelist of his generation' Nick Hornby