Number 11 cover art

Number 11

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About this listen

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Number 11 by Jonathan Coe, read by Rory Kinnear and Jessica Hynes .

This is a novel about the hundreds of tiny connections between the public and private worlds and how they affect us all.

It's about the legacy of war and the end of innocence.

It's about how comedy and politics are battling it out and 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 and others need food banks down the street.

It is Jonathan Coe doing what he does best ­- showing us how we live now.

 Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Political Funny Mind-bending Scary Thought-Provoking Witty

Critic reviews

Thank goodness for Jonathan Coe, who records what Britain has lost in the past thirty years in his elegiac fiction
Everything a novel ought to be: courageous, challenging, funny, sad - and peopled with a fine troupe of characters
Coe has huge powers of observation and enormous literary panache
All stars
Most relevant

What did you like most about Number 11?

This is an engaging novel with vivid characters whose lives are interwoven with real life political events. As a fan of both Jessica Hynes and Rory Kinnear this was just an absolute treat to listen to.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Number 11?

The pit... first the original plans were so ridiculously funny and then the inhabitant/s...

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The revelation about the mix up between the two protagonists - a lovely funny moment.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The relationship with the grandparents was very moving.

Any additional comments?

The treatment of the 'celebrity' and the 'benefit fraud' - horribly realistic.

Humour, politics and an unsettling undercurrent.

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Excellent writing and a story that will make you listen for hours to get to the end. Totally gripping story . Beautifully read

Number 11

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This is my first Jonathan Coe book so hopefully I can be forgiven for expecting this to be a political 'Yes Minister' type satire. On commencing the story I thought there must be some mistake. I didn’t expect a gothic story of two children being frightened by a crazy bird woman and I thought there might have been some sort of digital mix up. I did however stick with it and on the whole I was rewarded with a mesmerising story of modern Britain and the austerity measures we are all supposed to be living under. The ill treatment of the poor is a given and the injustices were effective rallying calls. But what is very clever is the way in which the lucky ones, the very rich, are portrayed as being trapped in almost hellish meandering lives, roaming the world visiting their increasingly vulgar properties, siring children they despise and devising schemes to hold onto the money they neither need or can spend on anything worthwhile. The limitations of extreme wealth are hilariously portrayed. It may enable you to excavate the pointless 11th level of your depressing and claustrophobic basement extension but it cannot entice the lions to come out to play when you safari in Africa.

In a way this is basically a story about revenge and the bizarre way in which it is enacted didn’t really work for me. I did however relish the journey of the three main characters, Rachel, Alison and Val, and regrettably I know that there really are people like Freddy out there.

The narration from Jessica Hynes was outstanding and a real credit to the material. I note from reading reviews that Jonathan Coe fans do not see this as his best work. I thought it was very good /excellent and this will certainly lead me into reading more books from him.

‘Austerity Britain’ or ‘Business as Usual’

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Very clever observations with an unexpected ending. Definitely worth a listen/read
I enjoyed Jessica Hynes narration.

Very clever observations with an unexpected ending

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Totally loved it. Couldn't stop listening in the end. Gripping, interesting, current. Also good women characters for a change.

Fantastic

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