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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
Political Royalty Satire World War II Fiction Comedy Funny Heartfelt Inspiring Tear-jerking Witty Thought-Provoking
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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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Fantastic

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

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I love this writer

Fantastic book Jonathan Coe writes so well. Really moving story. Narration not very good, mispronunciation & other irritating tics. Have hard copy so that helped.

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Covid in its awful reality -you cnn not be unmoved

I found this book extremely moving mirroring so many of the emotions I experienced at that rime

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Excellent book

So pleased I was recommended this book by friend - it was wonderful in all ways

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Beautiful narrative of post-war Britain

I loved the gentle cadences of this story that takes us on a journey with a family from VE Day to the Covid lockdown. It’s clever. It’s beautifully written and it weaves its way through the significant moments of 75years of British history.

Some might find looking in the mirror of English attitudes and social norms uncomfortable. For me, having lived through a good number of the key moments, it was a wonderful way to reflect on those times with the benefit of perspective.

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Absolutely loved this book

Brilliantly written. Very thoughtful. Funny. You continue to think about the book after finishing it.

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Wonderful

Massive fan of mr Coe …beautiful writing
I’ve read the book and not disappointed with the audio book xxx

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Good premise but rather dull.

Halfway through and I‘m only going to finish this to listen to something while on long walks. The idea of hanging a family saga to key events in British society is really interesting but the family are just dull. I was also expecting Bournville itself to play a bigger role. I was so looking forward to this, having been recommended in a podcast and reading the glowing reviews but it’s just boring. On the plus side I didn’t mind the narration as much as other reviewers. Sorry!

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Excellent!

Brilliant narrator made me laugh out loud when impersonating various radio and tv presenters. Jonathan Coe's books might be fiction but he writes a pretty accurate social history of how England has sunk so low. Particularly the scurrilous behaviour of the British Government . Very depressing but nevertheless an excellent read.

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Another great read/listen from Coe

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.

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