Caledonian Road

A Novel

By: Andrew O'Hagan

Narrated by: Michael Abubakar

A finalist for the 2024 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction

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 fêted 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.

©2024 Andrew O'Hagan (P)2024 Audible, Inc.

All Around Standout

Well-written, intricate and interesting story of the state of our times; and exceptional narration.

Great Story

Long, complex deep dive into our world:status, immigration, families, community, etc. Just the right length.

Tedious

I really wanted to like this book but after 7 chapters gave up. The narrator was very good but the story just meandered and wasn't interesting enough to keep listening. I think some serious editing might have made the difference.

Great story

A fine satire of our own age, with all its injustice and our efforts to meet it and ourselves

Exciting BIG Current Novel

Andrew O’Hagan writes of our times here like someone who has never believed the blather about novels being a dead form. His attention to detail has a classic eye for detail, like Theodore Dreiser or Flaubert. Yet he never forgets that this is an entertainment: his phrasing and word choices are delightful and illuminating. By turns funny and shocking, he builds the magnificent sandcastles that are his characters lives without stinting on detail just because we all know that the tide will come to wash them all away.