by John Arden
First published 1988
The characters in this novel navigate the shifting landscape of 1980s Britain, where traditional institutions face mounting pressure from social and economic change. Arden places his protagonists at the intersection of personal belief and political reality, examining how ordinary people respond when their fundamental assumptions about authority and community come under assault. The central tension emerges as characters must choose between preserving familiar structures and embracing uncertain transformation. Through their struggles with questions of loyalty, justice, and belonging, the novel reveals how deeply personal convictions become entangled with larger forces of historical change. At its emotional core lies the fundamental question of where true authority resides in a world where old certainties no longer hold.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-vs-political, uncertain-transformation
Setting: Britain
Period: 1980s
212 pages · Paperback · Heinemann