I found this book difficult. It's brilliantly written with amazing insights both big and small that resonate and are both amusing and interesting. However, the characters are incredibly unlikeable and unsympathetic, so although I struggled through the book, enjoying some parts of it more than other, I really didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped to. I am a fan of Andrew O'Hagan so I'm putting it down to my headspace while reading this specific book.

In my last review I expressed my disappointment that the author had situated their novel in a timeless, place-less bubble. Well, this novel more than made up for it. It is rooted firmly in London - the title refers to a rood just north of Kings Cross, an area that has been transformed in the last decade into a shopping destination, a high-end collection of speciality stores that cater to people with style and money. Campbell and Milo both live close to Caledonian Road, but are from very different backgrounds. Professor Campbell is known for his biography of Vermeer, and moves in circles which include politicians, authors and academics. His son is a DJ and daughter a model and although he was born in a high-rise in Glasgow, he is now related by marriage to minor aristocracy. One of his young students, Milo Mangasha, lives in a flat with his widowed dad and went to the local primary school, where his mum used to teach. He deals in cryptocurrencies and moves easily between his university life and the turf wars of his Caledonian Road friends. The two start to spend time together and their lives and worlds intertwine, revealing inequality, corruption and the threads that run through the communities of London.

The author draws on very recent historical events, including similar incidents and what was particularly notable is that two of these events occurred again whilst I was reading this novel. O’Hagen is writing about important, urgent issues that we are still dealing with and the specificity brings this slap-bang into the present, making this a very pertinent novel. It’s a real page turner with huge cast of characters to be entertained by, to love and to disagree violently with. I would thoroughly recommend this book to any adult who enjoys a good story which illuminates many of the issues that our country faces.

A fantastic new state-of-the-nation epic from Andrew O'Hagan. A snapshot of the varied lives of those living around the mile and a half long Caledonian Road. It cover a range of topics including class, race, migrant labour, corruption, gang violence, and Russian money.

Brilliantly written and sure to be one that will be read over and over for years to come.

Thank you for the advanced copy, I have read all previous work by Andrew O'Hagan and was pleased to get an advanced copy of this.
This is truly a state of the nation novel set on Caledonian Road, which is an area that is very diverse and covers a year starting from May 2021 which is during the COVID pandemic and stops at the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
I read this in the evenings before bed and felt this was the first one of his that I needed to read in stages.
This is so well written, covers this time period so we'll and goes into what many think but maybe won't say.

This is a must read and I believe will become a novel that many will read in th next few years to look back on this time.

I struggled with this book, finding both the characters and the writing style somewhat pretentious. The story is very London-centric, and although it has been described as a ‘state of the nation’ novel, it reflects only a small sliver of society. Much as I wanted to persevere to the end, irritation won out half way through. My apologies to the author, but this was not for me.

Caledonian Road is the insanely good new book by Andrew O’Hagan (author of the wonderful Mayflies amongst others). A state of the nation novel set in Britain and which starts in May 2021. Brexit and the pandemic provide a loose context though both are only tangentially mentioned.

The novel's primary focus is on the corruption in the heart of the establishment, and how that ripples through the rest of society. It's an epic novel with an impressive scope which embraces Parliament, the aristocracy, street gangs, people smugglers, Russian oligarchs, cultural commentators, business, privilege, immigrants, and high end art dealers. It's extraordinary and perfectly captures the mood of the times. It reminds me a bit of Martin Amis's zeitgeisty novels of the late 80s but, unlike those, casts its net far and wide.

I can't praise it highly enough and look forward to seeing it mentioned in all those end of year lists of the best books. I also predict it will become something of a touchstone for later generations trying to make sense of this era. Make sure you read it.

Not for me, I'm afraid. I found this to be an over written, over long story of cliched characters, none of them likeable or believable, cramming in every stereotype possible. I've seen it described as a state of the nation novel but I can only see that it would be for those who already agree completely with everything it says, none of which is new or original. It certainly says absolutely nothing of the nation outside London. A bit of a disappointment for.me, unfortunately.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance.copy in return for an.honest review.I

Where to begin with this epic novel .... with echoes of other stories that attempt to explore the state of society and the human condition at certain pivotal points in contemporary history...Caledonian Road is quite simply a rollercoaster of secrets and scandals

Andrew O'Hagan has dived into the the global playground that is London and what emerges is a story of worlds colliding and the darker underbelly of class divisions and the so-called 'establishment " of the rich and privileged.

Campbell Flynn - an art historian and social commentator - has what appears to be the "perfect privileged " lifestyle and with this comes an attitude of laissez-faire and not fully taking issues of life and people's attitudes seriously.. but things start to fall apart...Enter Milo Mangasha - a student of Campbell's - who starts to challenge his perceptions and show him an alternative view of life in modern day London and post Brexit England. Campbell is spellbound and so begins his downfall ..

With a cast of characters (many who are quite odious) there is a sense of a contemporary Dickensian London novel; class divisions, the stench of corruption in politics and and nobility, the confusion of identity in contemporary society and culture, old money versus new money and ultimately the human cost of exploitation to maintain position .. all twist together in a dark fable or our times- rather like a disturbing Brothers' Grimm story- full greed and retribution.

The book feels like a nail in the coffin of "Britain" and old established views and hierarchies- there are no winners.

There is humour amidst the drama and the pace is fast. There are some biting one liners . The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe spring to mind as well as John Boyne's recent Echo Chamber as the reader observes the collapse of preconceived expectations of entitlement.

This is a book that will be much spoken about ... does it give answers ? Not necessarily but it shines a spotlight beautifully on London and the greed, exploitation and the battle to survive .

Biting, satirical, moving,... take a deep breath and enter Caledonian Road but don't expect a smooth swim and this book will without a doubt leave you questioning many, many things!

" What does anything mean in relation to the true value of life and living- is what many value truly worth anything?"


"We thought we were normal. Turns out we were delusional even about our delusions. One day we might look back and say normal was the word we gave to our negligence ."
" You mean, as a society?"
" I mean as people"

I do enjoy Andrew O'Hagans books. This one is quite complex. Its a cleverly woven together contemporary story of politics, family and greed
I couldn't put it down but forced myself to read it in stages. The characters all seemed vividly real.
Will it appeal to readers who shop at our small town bookstore in New Zealand? That will probably depend on reviews. I can hand sell a few but it feels too complex to become a bestseller on its own.

This is indeed a 'state of the nation' novel and deals with so many contemporary themes that it is hard to think of one that isn't included. A scathing satire on liberal guilt and lives of privilege there is also, as another reviewer has pointed out, a Victorian feel to this long novel with multiple characters and points of view. It is skillful, thought provoking and very clever with many touches of dark humour. I admired it, enjoyed it and expect it to be a great success when published - so long as the reviewers don't feel that too clear a mirror is being held up to their lives.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a review copy.

High society. The world of the chronically vain and self-absorbed.

Campbell Flynn, middle-aged art historian. Milo Mangasha, his less than squeaky clean student.

Is vanity ultimately everyone's undoing?

Caledonian Road is set largely on and around the titular thoroughfare, which heads northwards from near London’s King’s Cross station. Its action takes place in the very recent past, in a year’s period between early 2021 (and the ending of major Covid restrictions) and early 2022 (with Russian’s invasion of Ukraine on the imminent horizon). It’s introduced (at least in this pre-release version) by an extensive list of characters, setting the tone for the sprawling, somewhat Dickensian nature of the 600-ish pages to follow. At its undoubted centre, though, is the aging white liberal academic Campbell Flynn, clearly something of a proxy for the author. Having worked his way up in society from humble Glaswegian roots, through a combination of academic achievement and marriage into minor aristocracy, Campbell is a lecturer at UCL, a published art historian (most recently of an acclaimed life of Vermeer), sometime glossy magazine columnist and podcaster. Yet he senses shifting sands in society, and mostly the ones that uphold everything that he holds dears. Campbell, like the liberal intelligentsia he represents, is in crisis. And so, it seems, are his city and his country.

It’s a novel that’s unafraid to stake its claim to be a ‘state of the nation’ epic, and its pages check off just about every concern that’s been dominating the national news agenda for the past few years. Russian interference in global affairs, and the void in financing soon to be left by their sanctioning on the back of Ukraine, looms large over the whole novel, in the shape of the father/son Bykov duo. Immigration is of course present and correct, providing one of the novel’s most shocking moments as well as a more subtle thread highlighting the trials and hardships which Brexit and a fanatically anti-migrant government agenda have driven those who want to make a life in Britain to endure. Being set in London, gang violence is obviously in there to a significant extent too. Institutional corruption underpins all of the above, with Campbell connected by marriage and friendship to various corners of a rotten elite that is both crumbling and seemingly indestructible. The impact of Covid is also interestingly addressed, largely something that’s being brushed away in the timeframe of the novel, but its impact still very much felt by at least two key characters. The rise and fall of Bitcoin is an important plot point. Alongside all of that, we get token nods to questions of gender identity (there’s one non-binary character), celebrity / influencer culture and the Climate Crisis. The latter in particular is given especially cursory attention - perhaps one issue too many to cram in.

If that sounds a lot for one book, however hefty, it certainly is. There’s a lot going on, and a lot of characters to keep track of, many of whom seem to be introduced to exemplify a trend or a side of an argument rather than existing as fully rounded people that you actually care about. That’s not to say that there isn’t a lot to admire here. There’s a thriller-like quality to its pacing, mounting tension and general ‘hookiness’. Its threads are also pretty cleverly woven together, in a way that both contributes to its compelling nature as a read and adds to its force as a commentary on the interconnectedness of the many issues we’re facing as a society. It’s also, for a book that crams in so much in terms of ‘issues’, remarkably light in tone (at least until its increasingly dark revelations start to kick in later on) and a breezier read than one might expect.

At times I got a sense that the elaborate character list and endless compounding of issues was a bit of a red herring. Is O’Hagan really inviting us to give equal attention to all of these characters and issue? By the end it felt more like they all existed as representatives of the weight crashing down on its undoubted ‘hero’, Campbell Flynn. The novel is less interested (or at least less successful in dealing with) the state of the nation than it is with the state of one man’s mental health. Of course, Flynn represents more than just himself, he’s clearly emblematic (first) of a certain class of London liberal intellectuals, and more generally of white men of a certain age. Perhaps more broadly, he’s at the eye of the storm when it comes to factions of society that feel that their lifestyle (and perhaps livelihoods and even lives) are under existential threat from the myriad changes massing around them in society. The title also seems deliberately localised. I’m less inclined to believe that O’Hagan sees Caledonian Road as a genuine ‘melting pot’ of all aspects of society, and more that he’s using it for the specifics of what it can represent: an intersection of extremes of society - with Flynn’s ‘Islington elites’ on one side and the shiny, corporate fantasy-lands of Coal Drops Yard and its gigantic tech-bro campuses on the other, both rubbing up against modern-day slum-level housing for migrants, and neglected estates housing second and third generation immigrants. That these are extremes of society rather than ‘representative’ of what everyday Brits experience is something that feels quite crucial to the novel’s interests.

Campbell’s downfall is undoubtedly the most successful part of the book, and therefore (since I rather enjoyed the majority of it) I prefer to look at the other characters more in terms of their impact on him than in their own rights. The ‘gang violence’ side of the story, in particular, made me feel a little uncomfortable in places, reading like slightly cliched observations rather than stories built on or informed by lived experience. But if we’re ultimately viewing these threads in light of their appearance to Campbell’s increasingly fractured mind, then that makes a degree more sense. (Perhaps I’m being overly generous in my reading, but hey, it works for me!) One of the most entertaining threads of the book is Campbell’s foray into self-help fiction, under the ostensibly almost comic title Why Men Weep in Cars, a publication he refuses to put out under his own name and instead sends out into the world in the care of a popular and attractive young actor, with spectacularly disastrous consequences. Its title, initially seeming like a semi-ironic money grab from the seemingly confident and successful academic, comes more and more to seem like a genuine cry for help from someone genuinely wrestling with a crisis in masculinity / status.

It’s a book with a lot to say - it’s full of quotable moments and darkly humorous observations - but it’s not perhaps as outward-facing in scope as it first appears. It doesn’t offer or really look for answers to the grand societal issues it documents, but it does offer a remarkable window on a particularly brief period of time for one man, who sees all around him crumbling and leads himself into despair as a result. Campbell as a character spends much of the novel staring inwardly and into voids: attempting to conjure the fantasy life of a long-dead painter with virtually zero evidence to work from; hiding his own (true?) thoughts behind an actor and a constructed layer of irony; and latterly journeying into the darker realms of the internet. His closest family seem not to know him, and he feels that he hasn’t known the truth of many of his closest associates. If the novel is advocating for anything, it’s perhaps for greater communication, openness and conversation - both between seemingly disparate elements of society and with ourselves.

I’m guessing we’ll be hearing a fair bit about this one in 2024. If nothing else, it’s a highly topical and broad-ranging read from an established and respected author. It’s also, though, a book that I think will provoke a lot of lively conversation and debate, dealing as it does with so many weighty issues with such a light and readable touch. It’s not a perfect book by any stretch, but given its extremely grand ambitions it delivers remarkably well on lots of levels.

(9/10)

'Oh, the progress of guilt and vanity in the average white liberal of today.'

If there was a book that was the physical embodiment of mid-life crisis, Caledonian Road would be it.

There is a lot of social commentary thrown in for good measure; the migrant crisis, covid, Russians, the Royal Family, racism, sexism, nepotism, you name it it's probably in here.

It is an epic tale of great proportion, however, it does feel like there are too many characters with too many POVs for you to really care about any one in particular (although I was shaken by the container scene!). It will definitely win a few awards, especially being the novel that's following Mayflies.

A few of my favourite quotes which may change upon publication:

'Money: an English mystery seldom unravelled.'

'Campbell knew why he'd written it [Why Men Weep in Their Cars]: because he knew he was a thinker in danger of becoming thoughtless.'

'"Society ought to be taken by four corners like a tablecloth and tossed in the air."'

'"You should avoid certain things," the boy said. "Say no to algorithmically generated playlists."'

'Obsessing over failings of speech is a cynical distraction from looking at the system of injustice that really controls our lives. Or: Virtual selfhood is the freedom you never found.'

'"Instead of enveloping ourselves in theory we could tackle actual problems, inequalities. Like the pandemic. It exposed unfairness and it dramatised how unfairness works in this country."'

'"Being toxic and everything, men are always seeking consolation and whatnot. What fools. Men are the same as men have always been, delightful and infuriating."'

'All art is, in a manner of speaking, fake.'

'"Bishop, you know that is bunk. There is more spirit in a thirteenth century book by Thomas Aquinas, fifteen by ten inches, held at Salisbury Cathedral, than in the whole population of Essex today."'

'"For my parents, it was the Holocaust. For my generation, it was nuclear war and AIDS. We only come together as human beings when we realise how eradicable we are."'

'"I don't go in for all that shite. The world's had quite enough of it. Smell is not gendered, and neither is skin. All that 'Skin care for men' bullshit - it's nothing but marketing. 'Cigarettes for women'. 'Novels for black people'. I'm against it. I'm interested in the steps we should take to equalise people."'

'"Maybe that's what postmodernism was in the end: the naming of emotions, as opposed to having it."'

'"Ah, male pride. The poor dears. It's the cause of everything wrong with the world."'

'Never trust a man with tassels on his shoes, that's my motto.'

'"You are a middle-aged white man," they said. "And that's that."
"Strange, isn't it," he replied, "that so many of you, who are multiple, insist that the rest of us be only one thing."'

'He puffed the joint; something would have to give, he knew, emptying his lungs into the trees and feeling a huge sense of loss - the spirit of his life, the self knowledge - yet enjoying the brief resurgence that can come with the illusions of freedom.'

A complex, clever novel about rot at the heart of British society. This is a blisteringly angry expose of corruption at every level. Bleak, cynical and fierce, this has a thread of hope running through it, but it's perilously fragile. It reminded me of Mick Herron's Slough House series but without the humour to leaven it. Brilliant, compelling stuff.

The publisher’s blurb calls Caledonian Road a “state-of-the-nation novel”, and that is precisely what it is. Opening in May of 2021 and covering nearly a year — from the loosening of pandemic restrictions to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — big events play out in the background as a wide range of characters experience life in the heart of London in ways that precisely capture the mood of our times: this is one of those rare novels that I can imagine people reading long into the future to see how we lived and thought in this moment. Author Andrew O’Hagan explores issues of class and race and justice along Caledonian Road’s mile and a half length — a North London thoroughfare famous for its high ethnic diversity and staggering disparity of wealth — and through conversations held between a variety of characters, a large breadth of ideas are offered and challenged. This is epic in scope and succeeds completely. This will, no doubt, be huge for O’Hagan upon release in 2024 and I am grateful for the early access.