Bournville

August 15, 2023
One family's odyssey spotlights England's transformation between VE Day and the coronavirus pandemic. Just south of grimy industrial Birmingham, Bournville was established in the late 19th century by the Cadbury family as a model village with healthy housing and amenities for the workers in their chocolate factory. It's there in 1945 that 11-year-old Mary joins a celebration of the European war's end that introduces her to her future husband--and to the bigoted nationalism that will contend into the next century with a more expansive view of Britain's future. In 1953, she becomes engaged to stodgy, conservative Geoffrey Lamb around the time of Queen Elizabeth's coronation; it's the second in a series of iconic events on which Coe hangs his exploration of intermingled societal and personal change. By the time of the England-West Germany World Cup final in 1966, the Lambs have three sons with very different personalities and outlooks. Eldest Jack has Mary's outgoing nature but shares Geoffrey's values; by the end of the novel, he's a Brexit supporter and admirer of Boris Johnson. (Johnson flits around the fringes of the story, seen first as a joke and then revealed to be a shrewd manipulator of social anxieties.) Quiet, deliberate Martin--married to a Black woman, to Geoffrey's open dismay--works for Cadbury; his efforts to get English chocolate certified for sale in the European Union provide a hilarious scene of E.U. dysfunction. Youngest son Peter, a musician, finally acknowledges that he's gay during the period of turbulent emotionalism surrounding the death of Princess Diana, an episode of national hysteria that most of the Lamb family (except Jack, of course) regard with bemusement. As Coe follows his richly characterized cast across 75 years, he hews to the venerable traditions of the English realistic novel, capturing Britain's increasingly diverse, cosmopolitan society in the varying reactions of his characters. The pandemic-restricted commemorations of VE Day's 75th anniversary bring this pensive novel to an appropriately sober close. Perfect for readers who appreciate thoughtful and substantive fiction.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2023
Coe's (Middle England, 2019) elegiac ode to British history of the past 80-odd years is told through the lens of a single family, that of Mary Lamb, a fictional portrait loosely inspired by Coe's mother, who passed away during the pandemic. Mary's life coincided with a seismic cultural shift during the latter half of the twentieth century and into the early twenty-first. The real-life town of Bournville, located just outside of Birmingham, was founded by the Cadbury family, Quakers who wished to provide an ideal community for employees of their famous chocolate factory. Each section of the narrative is built around a momentous occasion in the nation's history. Mary was a young girl on VE Day and recalls the pride and patriotism displayed by the county's citizens. Coronation Day, England's victory in the 1966 World Cup, the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and the latter's tragic death serve as subsequent checkpoints. Mary's family reflects the sentiments of the changing national ethos, schisms that tear at the fabric of the whole. A poignant delineation of tradition and progress.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from October 1, 2023

The enlightened planners of Bournville, a model village on the outskirts of Birmingham, England, envisioned a place that would not only house the workers of the Cadbury chocolate company but also enrich their lives with parkland, gardens, and green spaces for exercise and good health. Mary Lamb, whose father works at Cadbury, makes her first appearance at age 11, sitting by the radio listening to the king and Winston Churchill proclaim VE Day. She is last seen in failing health, struggling to connect with family on Skype during COVID isolation. In the years between, Mary works as a music teacher and raises three sons with a narrow-minded husband whose racist and homophobic attitudes don't soften over time. VERDICT Bookended by the events of March 2020, when the world went into pandemic lockdown, the novel lands lightly on the major happenings of British life, from the queen's coronation to Diana's funeral and the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Coe (Middle England) deftly encapsulates 80 years of British history in this tender portrait of a woman, based on his mother, who lived through it all.--Barbara Love

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