The Proof of My Innocence

Jonathan Coe

ISBN 10: 0241678420 / ISBN 13: 9780241678428

Published by Penguin Books Ltd (UK) Nov 2024, 2024

About this Item

Neuware -'The premier satirist of great British crapness is on killer form in this gag-a-minute mystery' Observer'A new Jonathan Coe is always a treat. Coe is a master at exploring the pains of modern life' The Times---Post-university life doesn't suit Phyl. Time passes slowly, living with her parents and working a zero-hours contract at Heathrow Airport, while her budding plans of becoming a writer are going nowhere.That is, until family friend Chris comes to stay. He's been investigating a radical think tank, founded at Cambridge University in the 1980s, that's been scheming to push the British government in an ever more extreme direction. When he follows this story to a conference in a rambling old hotel deep in the Cotswolds, events take a bizarre and sinister turn. Soon he is caught up in a world of cryptic clues, secret passages and, eventually, murder.In the end, despite the efforts of a suitably eccentric detective, it falls to Phyl herself - ably assisted by Chris's outspoken adopted daughter Rashida - to look for answers to the fatal mystery. But will they lie in contemporary politics, or in a literary enigma that is almost forty years old ---'Full of energy. a madcap caper, a sideways memoir, a tricky jeu d'esprit that is also a quiet defence of fiction in a post-truth age, and enormous fun to read' Guardian'Deeply pleasurable, and a lot of fun. You emerge from it glowing' iPaper'Fantastic, wickedly funny and gripping. Coe has written a beautifully crafted mystery that dovetails as a sharp, smart, state of the nation' Simon McCleave'I was delighted. it's clever and political - while also being very funny' John Self 352 pp. Englisch.

Seller Inventory # 9780241678428

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Proof of My Innocence
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd (UK) Nov 2024
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0241678420
• ISBN 13: 9780241678428
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 232W x 151H x 28D millimeters 232 millimeters width by 151 millimeters height by 28 millimeters depth
• Weight: 432 grams

About this title

Synopsis

When Phyl, a young literature graduate, moves back home with her parents, she soon finds herself frustrated by the narrow horizons of English country life. As for her plans of becoming a writer, those are going nowhere. But the chance discovery of a forgotten novelist from the 1980s stirs her into action, as does a visit from her uncle Chris - especially when he tells her that he’s working on a political story that might put his life in danger.

Chris has been following the careers of a group of students, all present at Cambridge University in the 1980s, now members of a think-tank which has been quietly pushing the British government towards extremism. And now, after years in the political wilderness, they might be in a position to put their ideas into action.

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 mysterious conference taking place deep in the Cotswolds. When Phyl hears that one of the delegates has been murdered, she begins to wonder if real life is starting to merge with the novel she’s been trying to write. But does the explanation really 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 reimagines the coming-of-age story, the cosy crime caper and the state-of-the-nation novel with Coe’s trademark humour and warmth. From one of Britain’s finest living novelists, this is a witty, razor-sharp novel which explores how the key to understanding the present can often be found in the murkiest corners of the past.