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Bournville

A moving, brutally funny portrait of Britain told through four generations of one family by the award-winning author of Middle England

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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

'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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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 new 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.
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PRAISE FOR MIDDLE ENGLAND

'Brilliantly funny . . . a compelling state of the nation novel' Economist

'A comedy for our times' Guardian

'Very funny. . . a writer of uncommon decency' Observer

'The great chronicler of Englishness' Independent

© 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

With his third novel in four years, Coe is on a roll; he tracks the fortunes of a family through snapshots of communal experiences, from the Queen's coronation through the 1966 World Cup to pandemic lockdown, in a moving, compassionate portrait of individual and national change
The way Coe starkly captures the paranoia and fear of the early days of the pandemic is impressive and he has written what he calls a "faithful account" of the death of his mother during lockdown. It makes an intensely affecting finale to a fine novel.
Few contemporary writers can make a success of the state of the nation novel: Jonathan Coe is one of them
Epic in scope, but personal in resonance (Elizabeth Day)
Coe's interwoven paeans to the lives of those rooted in the very centre of the UK - The Rotter's Club and Middle England among them - blend comedy, tragedy and social commentary in enjoyably memorable fashion, and his latest, Bournville, is no exception . . . Coe's particular gift is to understand how nostalgia, regret and an apprehension of what the future will bring might make us more, not less, empathetic to the frailties of those around us
Very tempting
In this affecting generational saga, framed by the pandemic and structured by seven milestone broadcasts, Jonathan Coe - known for his state-of-the-nation novels - once again takes the temperature of Britain
At heart Bournville is a novel designed to make you think by making you laugh, and the seriousness of the subject matter is tempered throughout by the author's piercing eye for the more ludicrous elements of human nature
A compelling social history that's sprinkled throughout with Coe's inimitable humour, love and white-hot anger
A hugely impressive state-of-the-nation tale
All stars
Most relevant
I’m a bit fan of Jonathan Coe and enjoyed hearing familiar names from his other novels pop in. The story was enjoyable overall but some sections which would probably have been skimmed through in a paper copy were quite dreary to sit through in this audiobook. The fear of missing a vital piece of information prevented me from skipping on. The biggest let down was the narrator. Mispronounced words throughout were distracting and infuriating, and the one small section narrated by a different person seemed completely unnecessary. Having stuck through it to the end I’m glad I did, but I will be glad not to have to hear the dreary voice of the reader any more!

Good story terrible narration

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If you want to know what makes the English tick, read this!
A tragi-comic tewwtment of four generations of a Birmingham family go through their own upheavals and changes against the backdrops of national events: covid, Brexit, VE day anniversary, death of Diana, coronation of the Queen. Set in the garden suburb of Bournville
Does the English character change since 1945? Well attitudes to race and sexuality certainly. Technology goes forward in leaps and bounds, and the economy evolves.
But in the end, Coe concludes that everything changes, everything stays the same. Lusten to the author's note at the end.
Truly moving with regard to his mother and scathing of the UK government's handling of lockdown and its heartbreaking effect on the elderly. Coe is no fan of Boris Johnson who he weaves into the plot.
Maintains his position as premier state-of-the-nation author working today. A Dickens for our times.
Brilliantly read with authentic Brummy accents! Compliment to the reader(s)!

Touching ode to author's mother

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This book was everything that an audiobook should be. Not only was the story engaging, moving and funny, it was only enhanced by the fantastic reading. LOVED IT

Just fantastic

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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!

Good premise but rather dull.

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Coe Captured 80 years of British social history in an engaging and sometimes moving way.

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