Caledonian Road

Finalist for the 2024 Orwell Political Fiction Book Prize o Sunday Times bestseller o Named a Best Book of the Summer by The Times, The Guardian, The Observer, and Financial Times o Named a Best Book to Read in 2024 by The Independent and Harper's Bazaar o One of the Globe and Mail's most anticipated books of 2024

"Everything is connected in this teeming, gripping, horrifying panorama of British society. In the tradition of Fielding, Dickens, and Orwell himself, the novelist gets everywhere: slipping into the Old Bailey, inviting himself to the polo, sharing a Mayfair magnum while taking notes. And, true to that tradition, Caledonian Road is absolutely contemporary: it gets to work in a world of branding and media spin, of hacking and cover-ups. It asks where the money is coming from, and who knows what, and how chasms of inequality are widening between people passing on the same London pavement."
--Alexandra Harris, Chair of the 2024 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction panel

"Majestic . . . O'Hagan excels at his 'deep dive into the nonsense of now' . . . a brilliant, disturbing novel."
--The Independent
 
"Just the most brilliant book . . . incredible and funny, intellectual, moral, epic and beyond sharp."
--Marina Hyde, The Rest is Entertainment
 
"One cannot help but root for Andrew O'Hagan's creation in this brilliantly-written, compelling book, satisfying to the last page."
--Country Life
 
 "I was totally blown away by Caledonian Road--it is a towering accomplishment."
--Douglas Stuart, author of Young Mungo
 
"Sensational."
--Irish Independent
 
"O'Hagan demonstrates the uneasy power of fiction to move as much as, if not more than, reality . . . Caledonian Road is wildly readable, brimming with energy and filled with enjoyable contemporary detail."
--Times Literary Supplement

 "Unputdownable."
--Bookshop.org

 "An addictively enjoyable yarn; a state-of-the-nation social novel with the swagger and bling of an airport bestseller and an insider's grasp on the nuances of high culture. . . . A bold, bullish tale of hubris and corruption, a book simultaneously dazzled and disgusted by the city it depicts. . . . Nimble, lively and sure-footed."
-Xan Brooks, The Guardian

"A pitch-perfect tragicomedy of manners. . . . A book-it's hard to resist the word Dickensian-that feels as near an authentic slice of contemporary London life as any packed tube carriage."
-Tim Adams, The Observer (Book of the Week)

"A searing Dickensian portrait of modern Britain. . . . Gloriously ambitious."
-Johanna Thomas-Corr, Sunday Times (UK)

"Capacious. . . . Caledonian Road is wildly readable, brimming with energy and filled with enjoyable contemporary detail. Brash, prating characters stalk its pages, demanding attention and understanding; yet, in Andrew O'Hagan's redistributive narrative justice, the most heartfelt, and heart-rending, moments tend to involve those whose fate is to lurk on the periphery."
-Suzi Feay, Times Literary Supplement

"Vast and riveting. . . . O'Hagan is an enthralling guide to the different worlds that exist cheek by jowl in the city."
--The Spectator (UK)
 
"Smartly plotted, eminently readable. . . . a scathing portrait of a society steeped in corruption."
--Sydney Morning Herald
 
"Rich, moving."
--New York Times Book Review

"A hugely enjoyable ride: one that zips along with all kinds of twists and turns, finding ingenious links between its characters along the way. The energy never lets up, not even for a single paragraph."
--The Evening Standard (UK)
 
"[Caledonian Road] is a big book, in every sense of the word. Clocking in at just under 650 pages and featuring sixty characters from all walks of society--including immigrants trafficked across the border, politicians, gangsters, and minor royals--Caledonian Road is a sprawling social novel that harks back to the work of Balzac and Dickens while never feeling less than completely contemporary."
--Globe and Mail

"An epic way-we-live-now social novel set in a rapidly corroding London. . . . O'Hagan shares [Tom] Wolfe's gift for delivering a panoply of unique characters. . . . There's no doubting the scope of [O'Hagan's] ambition; when future generations seek to understand post-pandemic Britain, this will be one of the first places they look. A sprawling critique of so-called polite society."
-Kirkus Reviews

"A hugely enjoyable read, all delivered in O'Hagan's customarily stylish prose. . . . A book that will get people reading-and talking."
-Susie Mesure, iNews

"Remarkable. . . . A novel on a scale which is rare today, and one which makes you think and feel at the same time."
-Allan Massie, Scotsman

"A deeply powerful and engaging book."
--The Arts Desk

"Caledonian Road is simultaneously funny and savage. . . . O'Hagan's prose sparkles with verve and conviction."
--The Herald

"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

"A remarkable feat of imaginative empathy, panoramic and witty, a Dickensian dream that blazes with profundity and philosophical inquiry. It is O'Hagan's best novel yet."
-Nikita Lalwani, author of You People

"We will still be talking about this book twenty years from now. This is Andrew O'Hagan at his best, velvet prose delivering shivs of truth. Caledonian Road is a state-of-the-nation novel that really does rise to the occasion and dares to portray the way we live now, in all its neurotic, unmoored and interconnected multiplicity. I could compare Caledonian Road to The Bonfire of the Vanities, but it is, in truth, a better book. Do not miss it."
--Matthew D'Ancona, journalist and author of Post-Truth

"Caledonian Road is an utter showstopper, folks."
-- Kirstin Innes, author of Scabby Queen

"Honestly, it's the book everyone's going to be talking about this spring, summer and for the foreseeable. I couldn't put it down, even for meals. Our Mutual Friend for the 21st Century."
-- Hadley Freeman, author of Good Girls and House of Glass

"Five stars. A London epic that is just so readable."
--Jono McLeod, filmmaker and director of My Old School

"What a stupendous phenomenon! State of the nation to end all state of the nation books, wicked and lacerating satire, forensic class analysis, full of rage and wit, but also profoundly touching on children and parents, friendships and loss - and the idea of what and where is HOME. All those astonishing details of the underworld and the overworld! Breathtaking. And the whole thing - as in Campbell's Dutch painters - a 'reflection of reality, plus the compositional method, a matter of almost infinite deliberation and refinement.'"
--Hermione Lee, author of Tom Stoppard: A Life

"Andrew O'Hagan's writing has always inspired me and I am beguiled by this novel." 
--Justine Picardie, author of Daphne

"Extraordinary. When I finished it I went right back to the start because I missed the characters so much."
--Diana Melly , author of Take A Girl Like Me

"This novel is superb, dazzling and moving. A Bonfire of the Vanities for our time. Utterly engrossing."
--Jenny Colgan, author of The Summer Skies

"A terrific, wickedly acid account of our dysfunctional times. The extraordinary panoply of characters jump off the page. It's a moral fable, yet entirely believable, and what a page-turner." 
--Polly Toynbee, author of An Uneasy Inheritance

"Andrew O'Hagan is our Franzen. I loved this book."
--Nina Stibbe, author of Reasons To Be Cheerful