'A brilliant, shrewd, satirical novel - gimlet-eyed, funny, very clever and a searchingly profound look at the state of this strange country of ours' William Boyd

'My comfort read: anything by Jonathan Coe' Bob Mortimer

---

Post-university life doesn't suit Phyl. Time passes slowly living back home with her parents, working a zero-hour contract serving Japanese food to holidaymakers at Heathrow's Terminal 5. As for her budding plans of becoming a writer, those are going nowhere.

That is, until family friend Chris comes to stay. He's been on the path to uncover a sinister think-tank, founded at Cambridge University in the 1980s, that's been scheming to push the British government in a more extreme direction. One that's finally poised to put their plans into action.

But speaking truth to power can be dangerous - and power will stop at nothing to stay on top.

As Britain finds itself under the leadership of a new Prime Minister whose tenure will only last for seven weeks, Chris pursues his story to a conference being held deep in the Cotswolds, where events take a sinister turn and a murder enquiry is soon in progress. But will the solution to the mystery lie in contemporary politics, or in a literary enigma that is almost forty years old?

Darting between decades and genres, THE PROOF OF MY INNOCENCE is a wickedly funny and razor-sharp new novel from one of Britain's most beloved novelists, showing how the key to understanding the present can often be found in the murkiest corners of the past.

---

'Coe shows an understanding of this country that goes beyond what most cabinet ministers can muster . . . he is a master of satire but pokes fun subtly, without ever being cruel, biting or blatant . . . his light, funny writing makes you feel better' Evening Standard

'A novelist who gains in range and reputation with every book' Pat Barker

'Please, God ... if there's a next life, let me write as well as Jonathan Coe' Anthony Bourdain

'Probably the best English novelist of his generation' Nick Hornby

About the Author
Jonathan Coe was born in Birmingham in 1961. He is the award-winning, bestselling author of 14 novels, which include The Accidental Woman, What a Carve Up!, The House of Sleep, The Rotters' Club, The Rain Before It Falls, Expo 58, Middle England, Mr Wilder and Me and Bournville. He has won the Costa Novel Award, the Prix du Livre Europeen, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the Prix Medicis Etranger and the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, among many others. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His work been translated into 22 languages. Suspended Moment, an album of his musical compositions recorded live in Italy, was released on the British Progressive Jazz label in 2023. Jonathan Coe lives in London.

Reviews
Wonderfully accomplished and darkly funny. The Proof of My Innocence is a murder mystery, a satire on Britain's ever right-ward drift, culminating in Liz Truss; and an inquiry into truth and perception. Jonathan Coe gets better and better -- Luke Harding
A brilliant, shrewd, satirical novel - gimlet-eyed, funny, very clever and a searchingly profound look at the state of this strange country of ours. -- William Boyd
The premier satirist of great British crapness is on killer form in this gag-a-minute mystery - who but Coe would think to structure a book around the abysmal transport police mantra "See It. Say It. Sorted"? * Observer *
Coe channels his anger and frustration at the direction his country has taken, as well as his abiding love for it, into prose of enduring beauty * Guardian *
The funniest serious novelist practising in this country * Independent *
A funny, smart and innovative exploration of contemporary British political dynamics -- Nussaibah Younis
For many in the UK, the last fourteen years have felt like living in an irredeemably bad novel. How wonderful, then, to mark the changes with Jonathan Coe's wise and playful reprise of the years in which we lost the plot - and maybe gained some gentleness in its unravelling -- Lyndsey Stonebridge
My comfort read: anything by Jonathan Coe -- Bob Mortimer
A novelist who gains in range and reputation with every book -- Pat Barker
Please, God ... if there's a next life, let me write as well as Jonathan Coe -- Anthony Bourdain
Splendidly disturbing -- Anita Brookner on The House of Sleep
Wonderful storytelling -- Paul Merton on The Rotters' Club
An insightful and moving story about how memories can or cannot be passed down through the generations -- Kazuo Ishiguro on Mr Wilder and Me
A sustained feat of humour, suspense and polemic, full of twists and ironies -- Hilary Mantel on What a Carve Up!
Astute, enlightened ... Both moving and funny. As we'd expect from Coe -- Ben Elton on Middle England
Probably the best English novelist of his generation -- Nick Hornby
Coe is among the handful of novelists who can tell us something about the temper of our times * Observer *
Coe shows an understanding of this country that goes beyond what most cabinet ministers can muster . . . he is a master of satire but pokes fun subtly, without ever being cruel, biting or blatant . . . his light, funny writing makes you feel better * Evening Standard *
Coe has huge powers of observation and enormous literary panache * Sunday Times *
British novelists love to diagnose the state of the nation. Few do it better than Jonathan Coe, who writes with warmth and subversive glee about social change * Spectator *
Few contemporary writers can make a success of the state of the nation novel: Jonathan Coe is one of them * New Statesman *



Book Information
ISBN 9780241678411
Author Jonathan Coe
Format Hardback
Page Count 352
Imprint Viking
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 564g
Dimensions(mm) 242mm * 163mm * 31mm