A novel about the hundreds of tiny connections between the public & private worlds & how they affect us all. It`s about the legacy of war & the end of innocence. It`s about how comedy & politics are battling it out & comedy might have won. It`s about how 140 characters can make fools of us all. It`s about living in a city where bankers need cinemas in their basements & others need food banks down the street. It is Jonathan Coe doing what he does best -- showing us how we live now. ” Coe is among the handful of novelists who can tell us something about the temper of our times”. (Observer).