Our England

Perhaps I should refer to Our Britain but no, I think England is right. The Celtic nations have their own particular malaises and the novel I want to review carries a distinctly English tone.

The Closed Circle by Jonathan Coe is a novel about Blair's England and the part in its delusions played by the generation to which I belong. It is a comic but still painful analysis of the retreat of decency. It has no hero but it does allow the dreadful Paul Trotter a chance of deliverance in his resignation letter as an MP. This is a skilful fiction from a voice of my generation. It runs to four hundred pages yet the ending feels a little rushed - that however should not detract from its undoubted quality. Its gentleness disguises a proper rancour.