Having previously read 'Bournville' by Jonathan Coe, and enjoyed it, I was eager to read The Proof of My Innocence. Overall I enjoyed the book. I like the writing style, and the easy-to-read feeling I got from it. To me, this was like a book of two halves - intertwined. The murder mystery part of the book I found great to read, but I admit I struggled with the political side (but this is just down to my knowledge and understanding of politics, rather than the author's). There is a major twist at the end, and it did have me confused for a while, but eventually I caught up, and had the 'ohhh' moment. I would recommend this book, and look forward to Jonathan's next book.

Following on from Bournville which is one of my all time favourite novels, I have to admit that I was somewhat confused by this novel.
Jonathan Coe's work is always complicated, but I found the ending of this novel muddled.
I guess that if I read this a few more times I will understand where the author was trying to take us.
Parts of this novel are brilliant, parts insightful, but I am afraid that parts were too complex for me to fathom.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The latest book by the satirical political novelist Jonathan Coe gives a fictionalised background to the short leadership term of Liz Truss. Told in several ways the story revolves around a group of Cambridge students and in particular a small group from a state school background. Partly a murder mystery and part political satire aimed at far right conservatism I found this to be very readable and at the same time thought provoking..
With his keen eyed view of the modern political scene in Britain and its roots in the 1980’s the author has written a novel that both entertains and educates or perhaps annoys depending on your political persuasion. In either case it is well worth reading.

It’s been 26 years since I read Jonathan Coe, his “House Of Sleep” which I really enjoyed. I have an outrageous five unread titles of his on my shelf ranging from his 1987 debut "The Accidental Woman” to his 2019 Costa Novel award-winning “Middle England”. Perhaps an early 2025 Resolution should be to catch up with him as I’ve liked everything of his I’ve read.
His latest is described as a “state of the nation” novel and much of it takes place in that strange time in recent British history from Liz Truss’ arrival as Prime Minister, through to the death of the Queen and the resulting public mourning leading up to the funeral, to the disastrous Budget which led to the PM’s resignation after just 50 days in office. (Nobody mention the lettuce!)
The novel partly focuses on the right wing of the party who heralded her appointment as the Second Coming Of Margaret Thatcher feeling that this is what the country needed. These are represented by a Conference held by the TrueCon supporters which has a central part to play in the plot. Alongside this there is much to do with the notion of fiction itself. Phyl Maidstone, fresh out of university and contemplating her future whilst back home with her parents and working at a Heathrow branch of a sushi chain wishes to write a novel and unable to decide on a genre explores cosy crime, dark academia and auto fiction, all of which become incorporated into Coe’s novel. It becomes a whodunnit concerning a blogger critical of the TrueCon group but it is much more than that.
Well written, memorable characters, craftily structured, a myriad of modern references and flashpoints, often funny as well as scathing of the nation we have become this is strong satire which keeps the reader on their toes throughout. It has done enough to convince me that I really need to read a lot more Jonathan Coe.
The Proof Of My Innocence is published on 7th November 2024 by Viking Books. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

I found this novel somewhat convoluted and had expected it to be more of a political thriller, given the early chapters. Nevertheless it was a good read, with many twists. The style of writing was interesting in that sections were played out by different characters. The novel gives glimpses of Cambridge University’s secret societies and the control these had on the political landscape. Dark secrets lie in wait to be discovered and for justice to be served. The most notable character for me was retiring Detective Inspector Pru Freeborne, whom I found entertaining, highly intelligent, with many quirks to her personality.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.

This is such good fun! I love Jonathan Coe’s novels and this is certainly one of the most entertaining though seriously difficult to review. It crosses all sorts of genres from political satire through cosy crime, taking in academia and auto fiction along the way. It’s one of those books where you totally think you are one step ahead and then find yourself completely upended when you turn the page. It bounces around time periods too, just to add another level.
I read it in a couple of sittings and then had to let it sit in my head for a while before I could read anything else. I’m not sure any other writer could make something so complex so much fun and actually coherent. Do go and read it, it will make you think and make you laugh and drive you slightly mad all at the same time.

Coe often discusses political and contemporary matters in his novels, and in a funny way as well. In ‘The Proof of My Innocence’ he focusses on conservative politics and how society (and conservatism) has changed in the last decades. Writing, literature and genre is another point of focus and I love how he plays with different genres here (cosy crime, dark academia, autofiction). A great and fun read.
Thank you Penguin Random House UK and Netgalley UK for the ARC.

'The Proof of My Innocence' is an immensely readable and enjoyably post-modern literary and political satire centred on right-wing British politics from the 1980s to Liz Truss's short-lived premiership.

The novel is a murder mystery of sorts, following the violent stabbing of researcher and blogger Christopher Swann at a TrueCon conference in the Cotswolds in September 2022. Swann's death is a classic 'locked room' mystery, which due to a convenient secret passageway narrows the potential pool of suspects to just four: the hotel's proprietor Lord Randolph Wetherby (whose family's historic links to the slave trade Swann has threatened to uncover), leading neo-conservative Roger Wagstaff and his devoted acolyte Rebecca Wood (whose secret plans to privatise the NHS have also been discovered by Swann), and literary scholar Professor Richard Wilkes who specialises in the novels of largely forgotten conservative novelist Peter Cockerill who died in the 1980s.

The whodunnit is great fun in its own way (not least for its Lamborghini-driving, bon vivant sexagenarian Detective Inspector Pru Freeborne), but fans of Jonathan Coe's previous novels might think this all sounds a little modest. In fact, Coe's approach is far more ambitious and playful than this. The novel is framed by Chris's stay with his former university friend Joanna (now a vicar in Berkshire) before the conference, which introduces us to Joanna's Generation-Z daughter, Phyl. Phyl has recently graduated and is now working a minimum-wage, zero-hours contract job at a sushi restaurant at Heathrow Terminal Five. She wonders whether she might ever write a book, and together with Swann's daughter Rashida comes up with three possible genres which are currently popular in which she might write: 1) COSY CRIME, 2) DARK ACADEMIA and 3) AUTOFICTION.

Once the story proper begins, we realise that Coe is going to try his hand at each of this genres in turn, and he has a lot of fun doing so. There is some deliberately and hilariously bad writing early on in the cosy crime section - 'At the sound of his engine (even though he was driving a quiet, hybrid model) the ducks on the eponymous body of water took flight with a volley of complaining quacks' - which made me guffaw, but like all good parody, Coe shows a genuine appreciation of how each genre works, using and subverting their tropes with effortless confidence, and there are some truly ingenious plot twists along the way.

Coe is one of our best state-of-the-nation novelists and once again, he captures so much: the general insanity of Liz Truss's 49 days in office and the vacuity of 'anti-woke' rhetoric ('Listening to experts was woke. Believing in science was woke. Oxford and Cambridge were woke. North London was woke. Chai lattes were woke. Lentils were woke. Not having a car was woke. Riding a bicycle to work was woke. Working from home was exceptionally woke, about the wokest thing you could do.'); the strange mix of emotions inspired by the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the queues to see her lying in state; and our strange nostalgia for times before we were born, epitomised by Phyl's obsession with watching episodes of 'Friends'.

Above all, this novel manages both to say serious things about contemporary society and politics whilst also being tremendous fun to read. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

The Proof of My Innocence is a fun and enjoyable read by the inimitable Jonathon Coe, The book is set at the time of the Liz Truss premiership and the death of the Queen with flashbacks to Cambridge in the 1980s. Chris, a left-wing blogger, infiltrates a right-wing conference and ends up being murdered in a locked room. This is a multi-layered novel combining political satire and murder-mystery. A fun, enjoyable and thought-provoking read - ideal for book groups.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Phyl is home from university with no real idea about what comes next. An old friend of her mother, Christopher Swann, comes to stay. He has concerns about a right wing think tank and its influence over the government. This is a multi-layered and quite complex novel but remains highly readable and engaging.

On the one hand this was great fun, on the other hand a serious assessment of late Tory rule centred around the farce of Liz Truss' brief premiership. There are conservative, rather reactionary, certainly sinister, pressure groups. There is a mystery 40 years old, the early death of an aspiring novelist who focused on conservative values, and his rediscovery and promotion by an obscure academic. There is a group of friends in late middle age, all graduates of Cambridge University, one of whom is a mildly left-wing blogger, about to blow the whistle on a reactionary group, when he ends up murdered. His death is investigated by his daughter and Phyl, her friend, lately graduated with a degree in Literature, and unsure where her future lies. There is even a brief and thinly disguised reference to the author himself, as a shy, retiring student, prone to composing terrible poetry for unattainable objects of desire, who achieved some minor literary success after graduation with his novel, 'What a mash-up!'

Coe's artistry is priceless. The whole thing is composed in three parts, the first as Cosy Crime, the second as Dark Academia, the third as Autofiction. This is great, even when one genre overlaps with another. The writing is clever, the plot twists and turns, full of surprises, the characters are well drawn. Of course I enjoyed it a lot.

I was looking forward to reading Jonathon Coe’s latest book, and I was not disappointed. I am politically active so really enjoyed reading the right wingers being thrashed but those who are not on the left politically may not like this aspect of the book. It does veer off course at times, but overall it is a fascinating read.

You have to get creative to hammer the right wing and the Tories these days and Jonathan Coe has done just that with his latest, which sees Chris, a left wing independent columnist/blogger depending on your worldview, attending the TrueCon conference tackling the rightest of the right Tories in the days following the appointment of Liz Truss as PM and in the wake of the death of the Queen. Chris manages to get the backs up of many attendees of the conference and is found murdered in his hotel room.

Chris was a friend of Phyl's parents and prior to his death he sought to give her some advice on life post-university and she finds herself enraptured by the mystery of his death. Along with Chris's daughter she seeks to discover the culprit with Coe employing creative means to keep the story moving forward.

The obvious comparison for me is The New York Trilogy and while Coe's work isn't quite as arch as Auster's, it plays with language throughout and includes passages of stories and manuscripts within the overall story of the novel. The book is split into three parts firstly as a cosy crime/locked room mystery, then as a piece of dark academia set around Oxford University and finally as a piece of autofiction as Phyl gets ever closer to answers.

All around just a majestic piece of work from Coe, who continues to show new wrinkles even while finding new ways to poke fun at the Tories.

It’s probably not the life that Phyl had in mind after graduating from university. Rather than using her degree, she’s working in Heathrow’s Terminal 5 at a Japanese restaurant and still living at home with her parents. When family friend Chris comes to stay, Phyl gets a glimpse at what a life in writing could involve. But Chris has got plenty of plans, on a mission to uncover a 1980s-estabblished think tank that has a more extreme political direction on its agenda. Darting between genres and decades, expect a murder enquiry, contemporary politics, literary nods and razor sharp dialogue.

How do I describe or review this?? But it was brilliant!

I've found myself reading a few Coe novels over the years, and always find my brain flexes a bit to do so. Intelligent writing, very cleverly put together, topical and so effortlessly smart. Always.

This really is a hard one to pin down though, as it both covers multiple genres and subverts them. We have books and stories inside books and stories. Early scenes come back to the mind much later, there are hints and red herrings and so many coincidences that may or may not be coincidences or even relevant.

I made the mistake of not reading this in one session, as every time I broke off, I needed to backtrack a little when returning to remember who I was with, what voice, what time period, what section of whose story. If I could have read it in one go, I would have (damn those working/parenting commitments!).

So how do I summarise this? Can I? If you're already a fan of Coe, you probably won't care what the story is, as you already trust the author to deliver. If you're new to Coe, this is as good a place to start as any. Set before and during the Liz Truss era of prime ministering, a few strands of story interweave. One is a recent graduate back home at her parents figuring out her life - should she stay in the airport fast food place? Should she become a writer and put her English degree to use? If so, what should she write? At the same time, her uncle and his daughter descend on their household, Phyll bonds with the young woman and then watches as her uncle Christopher, himself a writer of a fairly popular political blog, attends a Conservative conference... and dies. Or was he murdered?

We then travel back to Christopher's earlier life, but not always his, other characters who interacted with him and those he knows back in their Cambridge days, and yet more threads are skilfully woven in and around what we already know. Detectives are investigating, papers are found, clues are offered, multiple suspects are squinted at. Phyll and her new sidekick/relative also look into the matter. Many stories are told, books are quoted, we find ourselves being pushed deeper and deeper into each layer of the story within a story within a...

I felt triumphant upon finishing, as while this wasn't a difficult novel to read technically, keeping everything straight in my head definitely felt like a challenge. One I thoroughly enjoyed.

This gets political. It gets murder-mystery. There's elements of university coming-of-age and young love in there in the past, Coe manages to fit a lot in without it feeling bloated.

I loved this, and still am struggling to define it. But it was intelligent writing and worth spending several hours with on a cold winter's evening. Very rewarding.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

Thanks to Penguin UK and NetGalley for ARC.

This brilliant state-of-the-nation novel about academia, think tanks, shadowy conspirators and the very secret corridors of power is intriguingly set in the recent historical period of Liz Truss' premiership. Told largely from the point of view of two young women, one an aspiring writer and one the recently bereaved adopted daughter of a blogger who is an expert on the emergence of the far right in mainstream politics. When the blogger dies suddenly, the pair of not-yet-friends investigate, far reaching consequences. It switches time periods, melds near fact and fiction and is thoroughly entertaining from start to finish. What/who to believe? What is auto fiction and what merely fiction? Is it cosy crime if it has real-world ripples of grief?

"See It! Say It! Sorted! When everyone sees the world differently, how do you find the truth? See It. How do you tell the truth? Say It. How do you agree on the truth and what isn't? Sorted "

Once again Jonathan Coe shines the spotlight on the English political system and Englishness in this razor sharp dissection of recent events and current attitudes. Make no bones, this story takes place around the rise and rapid fall of Liz Truss and explores a forty year pathway of extremism within the right since the arrival of Thatcher; the demise of community and the rise of the self.

This is a multi-layered novel that plays tricks on the reader - what is the reality, what is the truth, who can we trust? In a world where the smart phone and social media seem to be confusing and dividing Jonathan Coe explores the impact upon truth through a murder mystery story

Phyl is living with her parents post-uni and is making sushi at Heathrow- not what she had planned. Things change with the arrival of Christopher Swann - a blogger who focuses attention on right wing think tank politics and tries to reveal the 'truth' about the bigger plans these people have- i.e. bringing down the NHS and privatising it, lowering taxes etc...

But events take a darker turn when Swann attends a conference organised by such a group ... Phyl, Swann's daughter Rash and DI Pru Freeborne endeavour to find the truth behind events

Reflecting upon current publishing trends and using them as devices to plot the narrative; Cosy Crime; A Dark Academia Tale; Autofiction. Jonathan Coe takes us on a unique read; the world of Friends the TV show and its impact, the divisions between Gen Z and Baby Boomers and the world of publishing and machiavellian events

This is a complex novel - so much to digest and consider during the read and after - sharp , pertinent and relevant.

Another winner from the master of contemporary English fiction

Favourite interesting quotes :

What can we all agree on? What is our common ground? Proof /Reality

The thing that struck her about the conference was angry everybody seemed. For forty years the country's been shaped in their image and now they look around and even they don't like what they see.The world they see and the world that Rash and I see bear no reaction to each other. We see different worlds.

What is the word 'instagrammable' , after all, if not today's version of picturesque ?

Any act of writing must also by definition, be an act of selection; therefore distortion; and therefore invention.

The Proof of My Innocence is a complex novel, combining elements of political satire, crime thriller and memoir. I had read that this book had a 'book within a book' style format, but found it a very immersive read, as the different sections and writing styles all contributed to one central story, offering different perspectives and time windows on events.

Recent graduate Phyl has returned to her parents' home and is working in a Japanese fast food restaurant. She's bored with her lifestyle and contemplating taking up writing, but is undecided about which genre to choose. Her mother's old university friend Chris, a political blogger, comes for a visit on his way to a right wing political conference which is set to feature an array of people known to him and Phyl's mother from their university days. It's not long before a tragic event sparks a murder investigation.

The action in this novel is split between events surrounding Liz Truss's brief stint as Prime Minister in 2022, and events which happened in the 1980s at Cambridge University. The murder mystery and political satire elements of the story are both intertwined with these two periods and the people involved. I was intrigued and gripped by the histories of the characters and their relationships, the murder mystery and the commentary on the political shift to the right which started in the 1980s and has continued ever since.

The ultimate ending of the novel, contained within an epilogue, may divide the crowd and it didn't quite work for me. I can't fault this novel otherwise.

Jonathan Coe has firmly established himself as a chronicler of our turbulent times.
This story is mainly set in September and October 2022, the manic weeks of Liz Truss’ ill-fated go at hardcore conservatism.
I really liked this novel and it did surprise me a couple of times.
At first, it’s a political satire, like a reprise of Coe’s hilarious ‘What a Carve Up’. Then there’s a change of pace with all the elements of a cosy crime novel and right at the end another twist.
Funny, touching, illuminating and very entertaining.

The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe is an electrifying and mind bending which grabs you from the very first page and doesn’t let go until the thrilling conclusion. The story takes you on a wild ride that blends suspense, mystery, and just the right touch of dark humour.
The Proof of My Innocence is so gripping and is full of twists, as every chapter seems to reveal new clues that change everything you thought you knew. Timothy is the quintessential an "everyman" protagonist and is someone you root for even as his situation spirals further out of control. The novel's pacing is brisk, keeping you on the edge of your seat as Timothy navigates a complex and bizarre legal system, shady characters, and a series of red herrings that keep you guessing until the very end.
You’ll laugh, gasp, and maybe even shout at the book in frustration as the stakes rise, making it impossible to put down and the novel raises fascinating questions about justice, trust, and how easily lives can be upended by misunderstandings. It’s a fast-paced, thought-provoking read that lingers long after you’ve turned the last page.
The Proof of My Innocence is a rollercoaster of suspense, wit, and emotion. It is an exciting and engaging story that will appeal to fans of psychological thrillers and literary fiction alike. Buckle up as you’re in for one hell of a ride.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.