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Bournville

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Bournville

By: Jonathan Coe
Narrated by: Peter Caulfield, Cara Horgan
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

From the bestselling, award-winning author of Middle England comes a profoundly moving, brutally funny and brilliantly true portrait of Britain told through four generations of one family.

In Bournville, a placid suburb of Birmingham, sits a famous chocolate factory. For eleven-year-old Mary and her family in 1945, it's the centre of the world. The reason their streets smell faintly of chocolate, the place where most of their friends and neighbours have worked for decades. Mary will go on to live through the Coronation and the World Cup final, royal weddings and royal funerals, Brexit and Covid-19. She'll have children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Parts of the chocolate factory will be transformed into a theme park, as modern life and the city crowd in on their peaceful enclave.

As we travel through seventy-five years of social change, from James Bond to Princess Diana, and from wartime nostalgia to the World Wide Web, one pressing question starts to emerge: will these changing times bring Mary's family - and their country - closer together, or leave them more adrift and divided than ever before?

Bournville is a rich and poignant novel from the bestselling, Costa award-winning author of Middle England. It is the story of a woman, of a nation's love affair with chocolate, of Britain itself.

©2022 Jonathan Coe (P)2022 Penguin Audio
20th Century Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literature & Fiction Political Royalty Satire Fiction Comedy Funny Heartfelt Inspiring Tear-jerking Witty Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

"A wickedly funny, clever, but also tender and lyrical novel about Britain and Britishness and what we have become." (Rachel Joyce)

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I really don’t understand the criticism of this book’s narration, I thought it was spot on, as was everything else. Coe writes both male and female characters that are totally recognisable and believable. Although I don’t know the Midlands well, Coe’s sense of place is such that I feel as if I do.

Another great read/listen from Coe

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This is a brilliant book by Jonathon Coe. The narration is spot. I agree with the review in the Financial Times - which heaps praise on Peter Caulfield and Cara Horgan. Sublime

Fantastic

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I enjoyed all of it especially the narrative. Was also interesting to hear about bornville and Birmingham

Family story and history

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Very interesting to read about the chocolate war as it threads its way through this warm family saga. Beautifully read, I was completely engaged throughout. And poignant to discover at the end that Mary is based on the author’s own mother. Really recommend this.

Fascinating insights

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This is a glorious retelling of British history since the 1940s through the lives of a family in the West Midlands. Re-reading the sentence prior to this one would not make me want to consume this book. It's so much transcends the sum of its parts and like other novels by the same author gets to the heart of so many awkward, painful and funny aspects of our nation's story, when viewed through contemporary eyes. Other reviewers have noted some words are mispronounced. That is true. I would add that some aspects of the story seem either inevitable or predictable (take your pick) but this is a warm, funny, sad and poignant book written by someone with a clear view of history, and I guess a point of view that I would agree with. I would also commend the narration as extremely fitting.

Epic and moving book

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