London Country
A punk with a sampler, a nurse on a mission, a skinhead with a thirst – these three big-hearted locals just want to be left alone to live their lives to the scorching sounds of the Herbert Hi-Fi, but events are clouding their moods. When two friends look sure to clash in deadly fashion, a monster steps out of the shadows and romance looms in the shape of someone who may or may not have been abducted by aliens, some tough decisions are needed. And these decisions will have consequences.
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While the Establishment obsesses over Brexit and Trump, the realities are very different for those on the boundaries of London Town. In these freedom-loving lands, where past and future merge in a never-ending present, honesty remains the best policy. Wrongs must be righted. A lost soul saved. With its eclectic cast of characters – none perfect, one possibly in spirit – London Country is an upbeat tale from the margins. Out here, different rules apply. Anything is possible.
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“Since his earliest football novels, through Human Punk and The Prison House, until his latest, London Country, John King has etched out narrations of faith and conviction. He touches on the human possibilities which lay over our vast, latent suburbs and their county lines, of a Britain vibrant with life and vitality, a Britain which most writers ignore, but which is firm in identity and sensitive to history. His complete work is far more complex – even more mysterious – than any casual comment presumes.” Alan Warner
“London Country is by far the most original and ambitious work that I have read this year. A clever, artful and optimistic book in which, to misquote King’s hero George Orwell, hope really does lie quite literally with the proles.” Andrew Hussey’s Book of the Year 2023, New Statesman
“An absorbing take on real life, yet with mystical and spiritual strands that move it into another realm. King comes from this place, and knows it well; it's out of the way pubs, its estates and semi-industrial units, its class tensions and creative edge. He also knows that where country meets town, nothing is ever quite straightforward.” Peter Mason, The Brown Dog Affair