After setting a previous novel, Middle England, against the turbulence of the EU Brexit referendum, Jonathan Coe's latest novel is located during the short lived political regime of Liz Truss. It's a strange read, flirting with notions of truth and reality, and contemplating life as fiction and, probably, fiction as life.
Looked at from one angle, it contains a number of different stories. There's a cosy crime story, all little villages, aristocrats and Cotswolds. Then, there's a rather unlikely memoir and, finally, an exercise in auto fiction or a conclusion to the novel - take your pick.
As well as featuring Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng, the other element of stability in the novel is the University of Cambridge, where most of the central characters first crossed paths. It is a snobby privileged world and maybe the young Jonathan Coe struggled to fit in as well. It is also seen as a stronghold of right-wing opinion with clear links to government. Christopher Swann, a Cambridge graduate and one of the main characters in the novel, is an observer of right-wing tendencies in British society and comments on them in his blog. He comes to stay with Phyl's parents on his way to a conference on Conservative thought, and she is worth a mention as her auto fiction contribution wraps up the story. Confusing isn't it? Add in a case of stolen identity, murder and some odd coincidences and it's hard to keep track of what is happening.
It's a very clever novel playing with reality and genre along the way and funny as well as satirical. Jonathan Coe switches from cosy crime to Cambridge memoir without taking a breath while keeping the whole thing realistic and rooted.
So, what's it about? There's something here about the workings of the deep state and the innate conservatism of British society, driven by the most prestigious universities, elements of the media and the political class and then all wrapped together in self-perpetuating power. There's also a commentary on fiction and the novel and how fiction now blurs with social media and assumed reality. Weirdly, you can say what you like on social media but novelists are quickly condemned for being inauthentic or giving offence to any group perceived as minority or disadvantaged.
Finally, if you want to really muddy the waters, there's a book within the book entitled My Innocence, and a crucial mix-up between the proof and final copy of that work. Make of that what you will in terms of the title although it is unlikely that Jonathan Coe has ever murdered anyone!
In the end this is an excellent, absorbing and amusing novel. It's a great read!
(The Proof of my Innocence is published by Viking. Thanks to the publishers and to NetGalley for an advance copy.)
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