The master of social satire turns to the Cold War for his latest comedy and has the hapless Thomas Foley way out of his depth in a Brussels staging the first world fair since the Second World War. That the Russian and American exhibits stand side by side gives you the flavour of this curious tale, a book about choice, life and the late 50s.
The Lovereading view...
Good-looking girls, sinister spies and a naive Englishman at loose in Europe in Jonathan Coe's brilliant comic novel. 1958: an unassuming civil servant is transferred from a dull desk job at the Central Office of Information to a Brussels to watch and report on the comings and goings of The Brittania, a brand new pub which will form the heart of the British presence at Expo 58. But this transformation in his life’s fortunes comes at a cost and he must choose where his public and private loyalties really lie.
Jonathan Coe, author of The Rotter’s Club and What a Carve Up! is on fine comic form in this acidic, romantic espionage comedy.
London, 1958: unassuming civil servant Thomas Foley is plucked from his desk at the Central Office of Information and sent on a six-month trip to Brussels. His task: to keep an eye on The Brittania, a brand new pub which will form the heart of the British presence at Expo 58 - the biggest World's Fair of the century, and the first to be held since the Second World War. As soon as he arrives at the site, Thomas feels that he has escaped a repressed, backward-looking country and fallen headlong into an era of modernity and optimism.
| Primary Genre | Modern and Contemporary Fiction |
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London, 1958: unassuming civil servant Thomas Foley is plucked from his desk at the Central Office of Information and sent on a six-month trip to Brussels. His task: to keep an eye on The Brittania, a brand new pub which will form the heart of the British presence at Expo 58 - the biggest World's Fair of the century, and the first to be held since the Second World War.
Expo 58 features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, eBooks of the Month, Historical Fiction, General Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
Paperback, Hardback. Not Available.
Expo 58 was written by Jonathan Coe and published by Viking an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd
