The book opens with Benjamin Trotter returning
to his home in the Midlands after his mother’s funeral. He has his father with
him, and, as the evening progresses, they are joined by a succession of close
friends and relatives who turn up uninvited, concerned at his quiet departure
from the wake. That is in 2010, and the cast assembled form the core of characters
that will take the reader through the events of the ensuing decade with all its
challenges.
They are a diverse bunch, though a couple were
at grammar school with Benjamin - an owner of a garden centre who gives a
businessman’s perspective and a newspaper columnist who provides an insight
into the political machine. From the family is Benjamin’s sister, Lois who is a
university librarian, and her daughter, Sophie.
Sophie brings the younger generation into the
picture. Her best friend, Sohan, is gay and of immigrant stock. Sophie,
herself, in a reaction against her previous relationships with liberal
metropolitan academic types, starts one with a working guy in Birmingham. His
mother is far to the right and employs a Polish cleaner. Throwing in a couple
more friends from Benjamin’s schooldays, Charlie Chappell, the children’s
entertainer, and Jennifer Hawkins, Ben’s first failed attempt at coupling,
provides additional scope for comedy.
The interplay between this panoply of
characters and the significant events of the decade – the London Olympics, the
US presidential election, the EU referendum, three general elections, and
Brexit - paints a broad but vivid picture of Middle England in the 2010s. Each
viewpoint is given respect, placed in real life context, with mouthpieces that
articulate the debates of the day: immigration v racism; political correctness
v equality of opportunity; and taking back control v cultural isolation. The
destructive nature of the arguments takes its toll, but is there some hope for
reconciliation at a personal level?
Difficult as the task is, the book
successfully and entertainingly achieves its aims of reflecting life in middle
England in a turbulent decade.
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