For thirty years Jacobson has stuck to his roots, mining his own life for material … until now for, with this book, he has switched to making things up. The result is a triumph. Set in the future and revolving round a tender love story, Jacobson has created a strange society. Hanging over everything is an event, or series of events, that happened some time in the 2010/20s, referred to as What Happened, if it Happened. Gradually we learn more. The lovers are innocent which gives an emotional intensity to the whole thing as we flit back through family histories. This is a rich and important book, utterly brilliant.
An award-winning writer and broadcaster, Howard Jacobson was born in Manchester, brought up in Prestwich and was educated at Stand Grammar School in Whitefield, and Downing College, Cambridge, where he studied under F. R. Leavis. He lectured for three years at the University of Sydney before returning to teach at Selwyn College, Cambridge. His novels include The Mighty Walzer (winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize), Kalooki Nights (longlisted for the Man Booker Prize), the highly acclaimed The Act of Love, the 2010 Man Booker Prize-winning, The Finkler Question and, most recently, Zoo Time. Howard Jacobson lives in Soho, London.
