Meet the residents of Pemberton Place - where the period homes are large, tasteful and expensive. Max Anderson and his wife Karolina have just moved into a rented house with their two small children when a group of twenty-somethings arrive and start raising uneasy questions about social justice.
Hackney author David Annand’s memorable first novel, Peterdown, tackled themes of the clash between the rooted and the cosmopolitan. His new book, The Dice Was Loaded from the Start, tackles generational divides.
The story is set in leafy North London, mainly occupied by ageing baby boomers who protested in the 1960s, travelled the world and then became quietly affluent as property prices rose and their final-salary pension pots filled.
Max, on the other hand, is having a mid-life crisis. At the age of 42, he is coming to terms with the fact that his career as a filmmaker has stalled and a decade of loafing about in Berlin has not got him anywhere.
When eight tech-savvy youngsters shake up the street with their self-righteous anger at generational inequality and the state of the planet, Max is torn: he shares their sense of precarity, but longs for the recognition of his more affluent neighbours.
Lovely turns of phrase and a zippy plot line keep the narrative moving along at a good pace, with the underlying social themes never weighing down the text. If you like sharp social commentary bathed in wit and character, you’ll find this a delicious read.
'The Dice Was Loaded from the Start' by David Annand is published by Corsair. ISBN: 978-1-4721-5587-0; RRP: £17.59. Coming 5 March.
