Welcome to Kyrzbekistan, winner of Most Corrupt Country 2011 and 2012. A place where anyone can be happy - as long they aren't poor, ill, foreign, a pedestrian, or in any way interested in the truth. A country that takes fake news and false promises to new levels. Expelled from school, Ellis Dau has been forced to help his father out at the Chronicle, the last bastion of free speech in this strange world. But when the country's power supply fails and dark voices threaten the Chronicle's future, Ellis finds himself in an unlikely fight for freedom.

'I loved this rollercoaster of a ride into a corrupt, fictitious country that feels only too hideously real' Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

About the Author
Simon Wroe is a freelance journalist and former chef. He writes food and culture features for the GUARDIAN and arts reviews for the ECONOMIST. His first book, CHOP CHOP, was shortlisted for the 2014 Costa First Novel Award, longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and won a Betty Trask Award. He was born in 1982 and lives in Camberwell, south London.

Reviews
Clear-eyed and caustic... Nineteen Eighty-Four crossed with Adrian Mole * Daily Mail *
Often very funny and always pacy, Wroe's novel is at once a capering Bildungsroman and a serious examination of how easily democracy can crumble if the institutions and morals that keep it robust are attacked * Sunday Times *
I loved this rollercoaster of a ride into a corrupt, fictitious country that feels only too hideously real. Highly recommended -- Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Scarily prophetic about news, freedom and truth. Whip smart and very funny -- Antonia Hodgson, author of The Devil in Marshalsea
Take Sacha Baron Cohen, add a twist of Kafka and lace it with Groucho Marx. You're entering the surreal and blackly funny world of Simon Wroe. A brilliant novel by a very special writer -- Miranda Seymour
A tour de force. A page-dazzler. A dark dream that may come true -- Piers Plowright
Far funnier than any account of approaching far-right revolution has the right to be. Highly recommended -- John Higgs
Crammed full of funny lines, dazzlingly perceptive and witty * Claire McGowan, author of the Paula Maguire novels *
As resonant as Orwell's 1984 -- Vine Voice
1984 brought up to date with teenage black humour and hormones -- Vine Voice
'Raucous and inventive, peopled with technicolour characters and savagely funny, Chop Chop announces Simon Wroe as both an heir to Martin Amis and an oven-fresh talent unto himself' -- A D Miller on Chop Chop
Depicts the literal underworld of a restaurant kitchen with wit, vigor, and gleeful, necessary profanity -- New York Times on Chop Chop
Dark, pungent, twisted, surprising and above all genuinely funny. If you enjoy eating out, don't read this book -- William Sutcliffe on Chop Chop
Perfectly baked [with] a rich, gooey pool of dark comedy hiding beneath the surface -- Independent on Chop Chop
Brutally funny... Sometimes the truth is so strange it needs to be sauteed in a pan of fiction -- Gary Shteyngart on Chop Chop
Dave Eggers channels Anthony Bourdain -- Kirkus on Chop Chop
A complete page-turner. Reminiscent of Kitchen Confidential but with an entirely fresh voice that is a pleasure to read -- Thomasina Miers on Chop Chop
A greasy, hilarious tale of loyalty, revenge and dark appetites. A gripping look behind the kitchen wall -- Shortlist on Chop Chop
Brace yourself for this lively, amusing and alarmingly informative novel -- Daily Mail on Chop Chop
A great kitchen novel. From describing the battle-scarred hands of a chef to the overall rhythm that goes into making every plate of food, Wroe . . . makes this ugly world delicious -- Book of the Week, Flavorwire, on Chop Chop
Lip-smacking . . . As shocking and witty as it is savage -- Vogue on Chop Chop
sets out comically and satirically what can happen when the rules break down * ISLINGTON TRIBUNE *


Awards
Short-listed for Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize 2017.



Book Information
ISBN 9781474604970
Author Simon Wroe
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Publisher Orion Publishing Co
Weight(grams) 290g
Dimensions(mm) 199mm * 133mm * 23mm