'Sometimes I feel that I am destined always to be offstage whenever the main action occurs. That God has made me the victim of some cosmic practical joke, by assigning me little more than a walk-on part in my own life . . .'

Coming of age in 1970s' Birmingham, teenager Benjamin Trotter is about to discover the agonies and ecstasies of growing up. Whether it is first love or last rites, IRA bombs or industrial strife, prog versus punk rock, expectations of bad poetry or an unexpected life-changing experience involving lost swimming trunks, The Rotters' Club is a heartfelt and hilarious portrait of a particular time and place featuring characters recognisable the world over . . .

'Very funny, a compulsive and gripping read' The Times

'Hugely entertaining' The Observer

'A book to cherish, a book to reread, a book to buy for all your friends' Independent on Sunday

The bestselling comic novel, now a Penguin Essential.

About the Author
Jonathan Coe was born a few miles from Bournville in 1961. The author of political satires such as What a Carve Up! and Number 11, and family sagas such as The Rotters' Club and The Rain Before It Falls, his novels have won prizes at home and abroad, including Costa Novel of the Year and the Prix du Livre Europeen (both for Middle England).

Reviews
One of those sweeping, ambitious yet hugely readable, moving and richly comic novels that you find all too rarely in English fiction ... a masterpiece * Daily Telegraph *
Very funny ... a compulsive and gripping read. Coe has achieved that rare feat: a novel stuffed with characters you really care for * The Times *
A book to cherish, a book to reread, a book to buy for all your friends * Independent on Sunday *



Book Information
ISBN 9780241986479
Author Jonathan Coe
Format Paperback
Page Count 416
Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 226g
Dimensions(mm) 181mm * 111mm * 25mm