Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Rotters’ Club | 2001 | Jonathan Coe | Buy |
| 2 | The Closed Circle | 2004 | Jonathan Coe | Buy |
| 3 | Middle England | 2018 | Jonathan Coe | Buy |
The Rotters’ Club trilogy by Jonathan Coe traces a group of Birmingham schoolmates from adolescence in the 1970s through to middle age during the Brexit years. The series is named after the Hatfield and the North album, and music runs through all three books alongside politics, class, and personal disappointment.
The first book, The Rotters’ Club (2001), is set in the late 1970s and follows Ben Trotter and his friends at King William’s School as they grow up against a backdrop of IRA pub bombings, industrial strikes, and the rise of punk. The Closed Circle (2004) picks up the same characters around the turn of the millennium, with Ben stuck in his childhood home and his brother Paul serving as a New Labour MP. Middle England (2018) covers the period from the 2012 Olympics through the Brexit referendum, and won the Costa Novel Award and the European Book Prize.