Expo 58: A Novel - Hardcover

Coe, Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 054434376X ISBN 13: 9780544343764

Publisher: New Harvest, 2014

Synopsis

A comic spy caper and international love story, set in Europe in the middle of the last century, Expo 58 is the latest sublime creation by Jonathan Coe, hailed by Nick Hornby as “probably the best English novelist of his generation.”

Handsome, unassuming Thomas Foley is an employee at the Central Office of Information whose particular biography (Belgian mother, pub-owning father) makes him just the man to oversee the “authentic British pub” that will be erected at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. It’s the first major expo after World War II, meant to signify unity, but there’s inevitable intrigue involving the U.S. and Soviet delegations. In the shadow of an immense, imposingly modern structure called the Atomium, the married Foley becomes both agent and pawn—when he’s not falling head over heels for Anneke, his Belgian hostess.

Funny, fast-paced, and genuinely moving, Expo 58 is both a perfect evocation of a moment in history and the welcome return of one of today’s finest novelists.

About this title

About the Author:

Jonathan Coe is the author of The Winshaw Legacy and nine other novels. His many prizes include the Everyman Wodehouse Prize and the Samuel Johnson Prize.

Review:

“Expo 58, like Our Man in Havana and all the best comic novels, reminds us that comedy is not the sugar that makes the medicine go down. Comedy is the medicine—medicine that exists not to cure you but to make you realize, once the medicine wears off, how sick you really are.” —New York Times Book Review

“[A] rip-roaringly funny satire by Coe.” —Kirkus, Starred Review

“Like the best books of this kind, Expo 58 is funny and smart...a light, blessedly short, dry English satire.” —Booklist, Starred review

“Coe is a gifted satirist...a droll, clever novel that ends on a bittersweet note...impressive” —Publishers Weekly

“Coe’s Expo 58 is a world of fakery and illusion.” —LA Review of Books

“Expo 58 is Coe at his funny-serious best, offering idiosyncratic mixture of slapstick and profundity in a love-and-spies story set at the height of the cold war...pure enjoyment.” —Financial Times

“Brilliant and satisfying... This is entertainment of a very high order, and all the more delightful for being grounded in the more bizarre dimensions of reality, the inspiration of all the best fiction.” —Robert McCrum, The Guardian

“Delightfully funny and utterly absurd...tremendously good fun.” —The Spectator

“A rich and splendidly comic confection.” —Independent

“Masterful English novelist...Coe serves another of his absorbingly comic romps [in Expo 58].” —The Oregonian

About this edition

• Publisher: New Harvest
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 054434376X
• ISBN 13: 9780544343764
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288