In a richly imagined novel about grassroots politics, soccer, and the far right in a multicultural town, Anthony Cartwright audaciously enters the heartland of post-9/11 Britain
It’s spring of 2002 in the Black Country, and the changes underfoot might prove to be more than the locals can withstand. With local elections looming, a mosque is being built on the site where Cinderheath's iconic steelworks once centered the town. "The Tipton Three," from just down the road, are imprisoned in Guantanamo, and the British National Party the "BNP" expect to win new seats on the council. Despite it all, the town is getting geared up for the World Cup to begin with England to play Argentina. But first, a controversial Sunday-league game must take place, billed by the press as "a match to spark a race war." In the middle of the mess is Rob, a former professional soccer player like his famous father. He’s now a teaching assistant, sympathetic to the children of families he knows too well. On the soccer field, as the BNP prowl the touchlines, he finds himself facing Zubair, the brother of his missing best friend, and both men are bound together by the mystery of the disappearance.
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"A great book about football . . . captures just what it's like to be engaged in the complex plot of a game, whether as fan or a player. If you read a better complement to the game this year you’ll be lucky." When Saturday Comes
"An impressive novel, glimpsed through the prism of a pair of football matches." Guardian
"A writer with a wonderful ear for dialect and an unblinking sense of Britain as it is today. Anthony Cartwright’s patient, attentive storytelling shines a glowing light on areas of our common experience." Jonathan Coe, author, The Rotters' Club
"This slice-of-life novel is ambitiously structured. A welcome and timely take on England now, from a talented and thoughtful writer." Independent
"The real strength of this novel lies in the vivid Black Country vernacular and the framework carefully constructed to fit the football match in Sapporo." Daily Mail
"Movingly traverses the territory of the human heart." Independent on Sunday
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