It's always enjoyable reading Jonathan Coe, and he is a master in comic set pieces. Middle England is little different in this respect, but what perhaps marks it out as somewhat different is that there is also a palpable note of poignancy which runs through it. Coe's point seems to be one of inquiry, not just of what might constitute the country's identity, but also whether it might ever be possible to return the country to a more tolerant place. This is not meant to be wistful left-leaning thinking, but more, as Coe points out, how the country descended from its 2012 Olympic high to the Brexit farce (from Farage to the stabbing of Jo Cox). Maybe England has always been riven by divides; it was just Brexit which brought them to the fore. To be in denial might be considered naive. I returned to the notion of “It couldn't happen here” several times. Coe also writes well on the contrast between the bucolic British countryside and the tensions which seethe beneath it. Middle England makes for fascinating reading, since the book foretells the present: a great cast of characters, most of whom exhibit mostly plausible behaviour. 9/10.
By Jonathan Coe