Synopsis "The Proof of My Innocence"
A blisteringly funny political critique wrapped up in a murder mystery, from one of Britain's most beloved novelists.
When Phyl, a young literature graduate, moves back home with her parents, she soon finds herself frustrated by the narrow horizons of English country life. As for her budding plans of becoming a writer, those are going nowhere. But the chance discovery of a forgotten novelist from the 1980s stirs her into action, as does a visit from a family friend, Chris - especially when he tells her that he’s working on a political story that could put his life in danger.
Chris has been following the progress of an opaque think-tank, founded at Cambridge University in the 1980s, which has been steadily pushing the British government in a more extreme direction. After years in the political wilderness, they are finally poised to put their ideas into action.
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 murder 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?
Darting between decades and genres, The Proof of My Innocence re-imagines the cosy-crime caper, dark academia and the auto-biographical novel with Coe’s trademark humour and warmth. From one of Britain’s finest living novelists, this is a wickedly funny and razor-sharp novel, showing how the key to understanding the present can often be found in the murkiest corners of the past.
MEDIA REVIEWS
Wonderfully accomplished and darkly funny. The Proof of My Innocence is a murder mystery, a satire on Britain's ever right-ward drift, culminating in Liz Truss; and an inquiry into truth and perception. Jonathan Coe gets better and better - Luke Harding
A brilliant, shrewd, satirical novel – gimlet-eyed, funny, very clever and a searchingly profound look at the state of this strange country of ours. - William Boyd
My comfort read: anything by Jonathan Coe - Bob Mortimer
A novelist who gains in range and reputation with every book - Pat Barker
Please, God … if there’s a next life, let me write as well as Jonathan Coe - Anthony Bourdain
Splendidly disturbing - Anita Brookner on The House of Sleep
Wonderful storytelling - Paul Merton on The Rotters’ Club
An insightful and moving story about how memories can or cannot be passed down through the generations - Kazuo Ishiguro on Mr Wilder and Me
A sustained feat of humour, suspense and polemic, full of twists and ironies - Hilary Mantel on What a Carve Up!
Astute, enlightened … Both moving and funny. As we’d expect from Coe - Ben Elton on Middle England
Probably the best English novelist of his generation - Nick Hornby
Coe is among the handful of novelists who can tell us something about the temper of our times - Observer
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
Coe has huge powers of observation and enormous literary panache - Sunday Times
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 - Spectator
Few contemporary writers can make a success of the state of the nation novel: Jonathan Coe is one of them - New Statesman
