An Evening with Jonathan Coe - Birmingham

Join for a brilliant evening with bestselling author of Middle England, Jonathan Coe, as we celebrate the launch of his latest novel The Proof of My Innocence. Darting between decades and genres, The Proof of My Innocence is a wickedly funny and razor-sharp new novel, showing how the key to understanding the present can often be found in the murkiest corners of the past.About the BookPost-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 M**der 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?About the AuthorJonathan 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 Européen, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the Prix Médicis Étranger 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“Probably the best English novelist of his generation.” – Nick Hornby“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“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 and the comforting mundanities it imperils” – Spectator

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Waterstones, 24-26 High Street, Birmingham, United Kingdom