Caledonian Road
A Novel
by Andrew O'Hagan
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Pub Date Jun 18 2024 | Archive Date May 31 2024
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Description
A biting portrait of British class, politics, and money told through five interconnected families and their rising—and declining—fortunes.
Campbell Flynn, art historian, professor, and feted fixture of the literati, always knew that when his life came crashing down, it would happen in public—yet he never imagined that a single year in London would expose so much.
He’s never taken other people half as seriously as they take themselves, which is the first of his mistakes. The second is a new project: opportunistic and precisely calibrated to rake in a fortune. Riding on the high of a best-selling biography of Vermeer and fielding more inquiries and requests than he has the time or patience to pursue, Campbell has nevertheless still not managed to shake the question of money. The fact of his quiet loan from a school friend now embroiled in scandal makes the ever-present worry feel even more pressing. His unflappable agent, Atticus; his steadfast wife, Elizabeth; his sister, Moira, crusading parliamentarian for the poor; his well-adjusted, well-off adult children, Angus and Kenzie; and all the outward trappings of success can’t conceal that something in his life is off.
As Campbell becomes increasingly entangled with a brilliant student, convention-smashing and working class, like he used to be, he feels he’s been given a second chance to embrace the change that frightens him, even as he sees trouble brewing for his family and friends. Campbell’s personal quest takes him down darker roads than he could have imagined, and all his worlds—the art scene and academia, fashion and the English aristocracy, journalism and the internet—collide in spectacular fashion, culminating in one shocking night on Caledonian Road.
About the Author: Andrew O'Hagan, a Scottish novelist and essayist, is a winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, a three-time nominee for the Booker Prize, the editor-at-large of the London Review of Books, and a contributor to The New Yorker.
Advance Praise
"A brilliant, barnstorming state-of-the-nation novel that blasts the doors off shady workplaces, pulls down the facades of high society, and knocks over the ‘good liberal’ house of cards. But Andrew O’Hagan is not only a peerless chronicler of our times. He has other gifts—of generosity, humor, and tenderness—which make this novel an utter joy to read." - Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane and Love Marriage
"A masterpiece. . . . Flynn is such a powerfully complete portrait of a person, a wonderfully rounded and compelling character, and I deeply felt for him. And the comedy! Not just line by line but page by page are laugh-out-loud funny. Amazing. Caledonian Road is extraordinary." - John Lanchester, author of The Wall, Capital, and The Debt to Pleasure
"I loved this novel—loved its ambition and scale and scope and certainty—its panache and brio and the joy in the writing. It’s Dickens and Wolfe and Thackeray and Hogarth and Amis." - Peter Morgan, creator of The Crown and Frost/Nixon
"Identity politics has shrunk our literary ambitions and cowed writers into shirking the task, which remains the same for us as it was for the original Victorians: to encompass the present in prose like Britain is rung around with water. Andrew O’Hagan, with his new two-fisted, triple-decker, four-on-the-floor magnum opus has made more than a great book—he has made a social miracle." - Joshua Cohen, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Netanyahus
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781324074878 |
| PRICE | $32.50 (USD) |
| PAGES | 608 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Sarah P, Reviewer
Caledonian Road was a meticulously written, detailed look at modern British society. The sheer volume of the book initially intimidated me, but I quickly found myself wrapped up in this world. The number of characters also left me a little discombobulated at the beginning (you know you're in for a ride when there's a character glossary!). At first, I wasn't sure who was a passing character versus who I should focus on. Like I said, it didn't take too long to sort through what's what.
We primarily follow Campbell Flynn's journey, who has made a name for himself as an esteemed art historian and biographer. He schmoozes with other society types, and we peek into their conversations about art, academia, the political scene, and so much more. I enjoyed Flynn's story and appreciated the many obstacles and conflicting thoughts he went through over the course of this book.
Even though it does take a little bit to settle into the story, don't let it intimidate you! Caledonian Road is surely a book that will be talked about this summer.
Candace Siegle, G, Reviewer
"People have has enough and there are new energies in the world," says Moira Flynn, a Member of Parliament and attorney in Andrew O'Hagan's magnificent new novel. Like a book by Dickens, "Caledonian Road" brings people together from different strata of current London society. None are unblemished, but boy, are they all compelling and worthy of books of their own.
The main characters are Campbell Flynn, an art historian and "celebrity academic," as O'Hagan describes him. The other is Milo Mangasha, one of Campbell's graduate students at the University of London, who has a BS in computer science. Campbell grew up in Glasgow public housing, and Milo still lives with his father in council housing. His late mother, an Ethiopian immigrant, is still revered in the community as a teacher and activist. Both men have dear childhood friends who are involved in bad stuff. Both have connections to all sorts of people, nobility, human traffickers, mobsters, artists, drug dealers, you name it, and no one's head is resting easily.
There is such an air of nastiness beneath this modern world that you feel that those new energies Moira describes are just about to blow everything apart. O'Hagan describes a party as being like filthy litter on a windy day, spinning in circles and ready to lift off. Will Milo's computer brilliance and the activism instilled by his mother be able to bring some of the worst down? Will Campbell be able to find his way out of the nightmare he's created? The humanity of every character will keep you glued to the page, and their discoveries will keep you up at night.
Many, many thanks to WW Norton and Netgalley for a digital review copy of this novel in exchange for an honest. Read this book. It will both infuriate you and break your heart.
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