The Proof of My Innocence

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 on Bournville

Few contemporary writers can make a success of the state of the nation novel: Jonathan Coe is one of them

New Statesman on Bournville

Coe has the great gift of combining engaging human stories with a deeper structural pattern that gives the book its heft

Guardian on Bournville

Coe is among the handful of novelists who can tell us something about the temper of our times

Observer

Coe is on engaging form… satiric and entertaining brio

Sunday Times

Probably the best English novelist of his generation

Nick Hornby

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

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

A sustained feat of humour, suspense and polemic, full of twists and ironies

Hilary Mantel on What a Carve Up!

Splendidly disturbing

Anita Brookner on The House of Sleep

Wonderful storytelling

Paul Merton on The Rotters’ Club

Astute, enlightened … Both moving and funny. As we’d expect from Coe

Ben Elton on Middle England

An insightful and moving story about how memories can or cannot be passed down through the generations

Kazuo Ishiguro on Mr Wilder and Me

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

The premier satirist of great British crapness is on killer form in this gag-a-minute mystery - who but Coe would think to structure a book around the abysmal transport police mantra "See It. Say It. Sorted"?

Observer

A funny, smart and innovative exploration of contemporary British political dynamics

Nussaibah Younis

For many in the UK, the last fourteen years have felt like living in an irredeemably bad novel. How wonderful, then, to mark the changes with Jonathan Coe’s wise and playful reprise of the years in which we lost the plot - and maybe gained some gentleness in its unravelling

Lyndsey Stonebridge

Fantastic, wickedly funny and gripping, I couldn’t put this down. Coe has written a beautifully crafted mystery that dovetails as a sharp, smart state of the nation novel

Simon McCleave

Light as a souffle and tremendously funny

Observer

Coe knows how to write a novel: it is well paced, he makes complex plots look easy, he has a way of marshalling a large cast of characters that never feels contrived, the prose is pleasant and not invasive, and he is — rare for a novelist — funny

Deeply pleasurable, and a lot of fun. You emerge from it glowing

iPaper

I was delighted by Jonathan Coe’s The Proof of My Innocence. It’s clever and political – while also being very funny

John Self

A new Jonathan Coe is always a treat . . . Coe is a master at exploring the pains of modern life

Rosamund Urwin, The Times

A wonderfully farcical and absurd book that puts into perspective the political chaos of post-Brexit Britain

Foyles

For all its irony, its tricksiness, its surface light-heartedness, The Proof of My Innocence is a novel earnestly using fiction as a way of telling the truth

The Arts Desk

Full of humour and warmth, this re-imagining of the cosy crime genre is irresistible

Hatchards

Full of energy... a madcap caper, a sideways memoir, a tricksy jeu d’esprit that is also a quiet defence of fiction in a post-truth age, and enormous fun to read

Guardian

As for my own stocking, Jonathan Coe has a new novel out, which is always a cause for celebration… Santa has been informed

Mick Herron, Observer Books of the Year 2024

Endlessly satisfying

Spectator

A droll crime caper

Country and Townhouse