Cover of Left of the Bang

Left of the Bang

Daringly, radically honest and very, very funny, this is the best novel yet about the 'lost generation' of young Londoners today.

Read more

Left of the bang: a military term for the build-up to an explosion.

For failing concert pianist Tamsin Jarvis, the pressure is mounting. She thought she was happy with her adoring schoolteacher boyfriend Callum, but when Chris comes into their lives, that starts to change. In a few months Chris will be gone, leaving for his first tour of Afghanistan. Nothing seems to be working out the way Tamsin wants it to - in fact, she's not even sure what it is she wants.

Claire Lowdon is a thrilling, highly accomplished new voice in fiction, and with LEFT OF THE BANG she has written a VANITY FAIR for her times. With sharp, satirical humour,

unparalleled social observation and great empathy, LEFT OF THE BANG is an unflinching insider's view of the foibles, hopes and difficulties of a generation of young Londoners today - who are often having much less fun that it seems.

Audience
adult

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Left of the Bang? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Left of the Bang. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Crater XV Shares fiction
  2. Jihadi: A Love Story Shares literary fiction, fiction
  3. Ramshackle Shares literary fiction, fiction
  4. One Night with the Sheikh Shares fiction

“People who read Left of the Bang tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Haunt, Volume 2
  2. Batman: Murder at Wayne Manor: An Interactive Mystery
  3. Emma Frost Ultimate Collection
  4. Grayson #1

“If you want more of the same (literary fiction), start with these.”

  1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: #1-4 & Do-It-Yourself Book
  2. Flash and Dazzle
  3. The Weight Loss Club
  4. Tyce

“Readers describe these the same way.”

  1. Journeyman
  2. Idaho Winter
  3. The Defections
  4. The Last Days: The Apocryphon Of Joe Panther

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. The Universe Verse
  2. The Ant and the Ferrari
  3. Captain America: Two Americas
  4. Yellow Mini