A review by sarahmatthews
Bournville by Jonathan Coe

emotional funny reflective medium-paced
Bournville by Jonathan Coe

Read on audio

Pub. 2022, 354pp

Penguin
___

A new book from Johnathan Coe is always a treat, he’s one author I come back to without hesitation. I first read him in the ‘90s when I picked up What a Carve Up (let’s be honest, because of it’s gorgeous illustrated cover) and since then I’ve read most of his books. Recently, Middle England and Mr Wilder and Me have been great reads. His writing is so clear, funny and insightful and I enjoy how he tackles big, complex topics like Brexit and other burning political issues in a way that presents so many angles with empathy. In Bournville we start at those nervous days of the early pandemic when nobody quite knew whether to hug eachother and then we visit Bournville, a small area in Birmingham,on V. E. Day and we learn how Cadbury’s built this community, employing 1,000s and investing in housing.

We then follow the lives of an ordinary Bournville family, their summer holidays, marriages and frictions.

The tagline for this book is “Everything changes, and everything remains the same” and it’s so striking in the relationships, conversations and social issues discussed throughout the novel how this theme plays out. 

I particularly enjoyed how the different chapters often felt like short stories, like when David emails his cousin, recounting a shared episode in their past from his point of view. In fact I think David may have been my favourite character. As I learned from the afterward,he also appears in 2 other novels so now I want to reread these books!
Coe also always writes beautifully about classical music, here through Lorna and Peter
And the audio narrator, Peter Caulfield, does a stellar job, effortlessly switching between a whole host of regional accents.
The final chapters, as we enter the pandemic, are very moving and best read when you’re alone, and definitely with a comforting bar of chocolate.