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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 20th Century Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literature & Fiction Political Royalty Satire Fiction Comedy Funny Heartfelt Inspiring Tear-jerking Witty Thought-Provoking

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

Covid in its awful reality -you cnn not be unmoved

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This is a novel that pivots for convenience around 7 national events in British History from 1945. I was alive to witness 5 of these, but VE Day and the Queen’s coronation were close enough to my childhood to make them feel very recent. The effect of these events is that they sew themselves into your own memories of the times, your experiences, broader events, feelings, the people around you – most especially your family and the social and political landscapes of the times. The families and relationships are drawn with such clear definition. The changes through time and the way that some essential things stay the same ring true in this novel and likely so in reflections on your own family histories. I questioned what a younger listener or reader would make of this wonderful book and whether it would be diminished, therefore. I do not think so, and this is about people. More than enough is given for everyone to make sense of events. I asked the same kind of question about the Bournville and wider Birmingham setting. The same applies, though it has to be said that there must be a dividend for those who can identify with the area. As someone born and brought up in Birmingham from 1954, places described had an increased vibrancy. The places I knew so well, the smell of chocolate in the air I could still remember… These were extremely potent in my own listening to and reading this novel. This create a dual-streaming where the novel interplayed with experienced past. In doing so it raised so many questions, prompts to compare, thoughts about “what if…” and so much more. At times it was quite unsettling, but the challenge was more than rewarding. Jonathan Coe’s liberal views, do not mean that harsh judgements and disappointments are not made plain. They naturally arise from the novel. One of the ‘scenes’ is the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020 within recent memory for every reader – it really does pull at the heart, and will do so for so many. But do not be misled; there is life, vibrancy, fun and so much to enjoy in this exceptional telling. On completing the novel I instantly ordered a print copy for one of my sisters with the strong recommendation that she read it and share it with widely with others; “You MUST read this!” The audio-book is well better than average, though I was disappointed that in the 'retelling' of radio and TV commentaries, the performer was unconvincing. I do not expect a mimic, but there is a tone, sometimes used, that is disagreeable. This is not enough to take away from this family experience from 1945 to 2020. There is treasure in this novel and one that will not fail to have listeners and readers interacting with it. Pleased and privileged to have experienced this novel. Listen or read Bournville, you will not be disappointed.

Everything Changes, Everything Stays the and Same

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Jonathan Coe does write our current milieu so well . His characters are nuanced and ferl real

Great characters

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I’m from Bournville so was intrigued to read this novel about a place I know so well
It’s a family saga spanning 4 generations and touching on some important topics - prejudice, ignorance, social structure, Brexit and covid. I enjoyed it. I think had I not just read Kate Akinson Behind The Scene at the Museum which is a much funnier, more clever family saga, I may have enjoyed it more.
I also didn’t enjoy the performance - his brummie accent just wasn’t good enough and I found it irritating.

An Interesting family yarn

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I grew up in Bournville and I loved the references to places that I was familiar with. My Sister and her family lived in Birch Road where the character, Mary was born.
Good story line and I will listen to this again in a few months.

From a Bournvillian

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