Jonathan Coe: "The British government knows Brexit was a mistake, but it's afraid to reverse it."

Jonathan Coe was in Germany on a promotional tour for his latest book when the world stopped and we all hunkered down in our homes due to the pandemic. From city to city, everything was shutting down, and it was increasingly difficult to get around. At the time, all the Germans he spoke to asked him only two questions: why had the English approved Brexit and why had they voted for someone like Boris Johnson? "I eventually got tired of not having an answer, because it wasn't something you could answer in two sentences. There were multiple factors. So I decided to write a novel in which I could go back in time and see how I could explain the historical reasons for that decision," Coe told ABC.

This is the motivation behind his excellent latest novel, 'Bournville' (Anagrama), a tragicomic approach to the recent history of Great Britain based on seven key moments of the last 75 years, from May 8, 1945, VE Day , to the outbreak of Covid. In between, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the victory in the 1966 World Cup, and the death and funeral of Princess Diana. "I suppose we could reduce the English essence to four points: the war, the monarchy, football, and James Bond. There's some truth in that. Four of the chapters have to do with the monarchy, and many ask me why I'm so interested in it, when it doesn't interest me at all; it only serves to freeze time and capture the English in that moment," notes the author of 'Menudo Partido'.

The writer was mentally constructing the structure of the novel when COVID-19 hit, and for a second, any ideas he might have had stopped, just as the world stopped. Three months later, his mother died of the disease, and he saw how grief, rage, and the desire to grieve took over his novel. "I saw that the protagonist of the novel was going through the same timeline my mother had gone through, and I decided to base my protagonist on her. It was a way of continuing to be with her, of making her present even though she was no longer with us," Coe says.

Thus was born Mary Lamb , one of the most endearing and special characters Coe has ever written. Through her life and the lives of her children and grandchildren, we see how the English have changed from generation to generation. "My family may not have been 100 percent like the Lambs, but the atmosphere of those times, the environment, and the interaction of the characters were. We were also among those who didn't say what we felt to people's faces and abused subterfuge and irony," says Coe, the most English of the English.

Of course, he wasn't alive when the end of World War II was celebrated, but he does remember most of the moments he chose. "The image of all my family members sitting around the TV watching the World Cup final is something I still hold dear. It was a cathartic moment, a monumental burst of joy, that leaves a lasting impression on those who lived through it," Coe says.

This "Bournville" is part of a series of recent novels that Coe has compiled under the title "Unquietude." It includes, among others, "Expo 58" and "Mr. Wilder and I," and is a satirical exploration of contemporary England. "The truth is, I have a mind that seeks order, and having so many novels scattered about gives me a bit of vertigo. I've always linked them with common elements. It helps. That way I don't repeat myself. Ten years ago, I thought I'd run out of ideas, but now I'm back to full," says Coe, who has just published a metaliterary novel in England and is already in the middle of writing another. "I'm very curious to see how the Spanish public will respond to this more experimental novel," he says.

Despite having already written a novel about Brexit, *The Heart of England* (Anagrama) , he still has no answer as to why they voted for Brexit. “The same reasons that led Americans to vote for Trump led the English to vote for Brexit. Today, everyone knows it was a mistake, and if the vote were repeated, it wouldn't happen. Now we're seeing, with Trump's antics, that we have to look to Europe for allies, not the United States,” says Coe.

What is certain is that if the vote were to be repeated, it would not succeed. "Let's see, the young people who have gained the right to vote in the last ten years are against the closure, and the old people who yearned for the idea of ​​the British Empire are already dead," he says.

What never leaves Coe is his sense of humor . The novel is full of those little details that lighten the plot and fill it with heart. "Only one of my novels doesn't have any humor, 'The Rain Before It Falls,' and I think it would have been better if I had added some humor to lighten the plot. That's me. That's all of us, a conglomeration of jokes. Authors who don't add humor to their novels aren't realistic, because life is full of humor," he says.

And here's a sample. A scene in the book, which takes place at a European Union meeting on chocolate quality during the post-war period, includes a Spanish politician named... Jorge Herralde! It's his personal homage to the legendary Anagrama editor who introduced him to the Spanish public. "The truth is, I needed a Spanish name, and this was the first Spanish name I knew. It was a perfect fit," the English writer comments with his ironic lilt.