An urgent and timely historical review charting the years between the election of New Labour and the aftermath of the pandemic. In his latest novel, Cowley explores the evolution of ‘Englishness’ through a series of highly politicised stories that readers will recognise from the news, though perhaps never have considered as having a lasting impact on their idea of English nationality and culture.

From the Chinese cockle-pickers who drowned in Morecombe Bay and the Bethnal Green girls who fled to Islamic State, to Gareth Southgate’s transformative influence on British football and the Lancashire woman who publicly challenged Gordon Brown on his supposedly people-centric policies. Cowley powerfully demonstrates how these vivid, half-forgotten stories contributed to a fragmented England, and offers a vision for how we can embrace the lessons learnt as a means of building a bright new future.