Bornville

The new book by Jonathan Coe is a multi-part novel suite, where each part is an event in British history of the 20th - 21st century, among them - the end of World War II, the final of the 1966 World Cup, the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana, the death of Princess Diana, the pandemic...
In this historical prism, the fates of Bourneville, the chocolate capital of the United Kingdom, and the family that lived there at different times are refracted. From the events of unnoticed private lives with their trifles, both fleeting and repeating, from situational decisions by ordinary Brits to nationwide shocks and emotions - everything exists in this incredibly capacious novel. Following the characters from generation to generation, over seventy-five years, Coe traces the changes that both Britain as a whole and the private lives of the Brits undergo. Coe leads his characters through nostalgia for wartime, through a sense of English exceptionalism, weakening with each passing decade, through personal secrets and national myths - his characters drift in the flow of history, of the novel, bewildered, confused, but also inspired. Coe's novel is full of good-natured humor, sorrow, hope, and, of course, honest wisdom. It is an attempt to answer the question of where the British nation is headed and how exactly it chose this path.