Expo 58

Description

The World's Fair, Belgium, 1958. Freshly arrived is mild-mannered civil servant Thomas Foley, here to ensure the British contribution - a pub called the Britannia - is no national embarrassment. But it is the height of the Cold War and the Fair is a hotbed of paranoia and deceit. With his superiors fearful of leaked secrets and defections, Thomas is spied on and directed to spy on others. Thrust into a game he barely understands, distracted by a romance which tests his marital and family loyalties to their limit, Thomas gamely tries to do the right thing - if only someone will tell him what that is . . . 'Jonathan Coe hits his comic stride again.' Independent 'Top notch, rollicking, more than a clever comedy.' Literary Review 'A comico-serious delight, absorbs from start to finish.' Evening Standard 'Delightfully funny and utterly absurd. Tremendously good fun.' Spectator

Jonathan Coe was born in Birmingham in 1961. His novels include Rotters, The Accidental Woman, A Touch of Love, The Dwarves of Death and What a Carve Up!, which won the 1995 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Itranger.The House of Sleep won the Writers' Guild Best Fiction Award for 1997.