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An acutely observed account of adolescence in 1980s Britain.

I’ve read most of Mitchell’s books now, so was keen to read his latest. In many ways, it’s quite a departure from his usual style. For a start, it’s only told from the perspective of one of the characters — 13 year old Jason Taylor — rather than a whole host of different characters with different voices. It’s also only set in one time period (the early 1980s). Despite this, the book still displays David Mitchell’s amazing facility with capturing small details and the exact tone of voice of his characters.

The book is about a year in the life of Jason Taylor, who lives in a rural Worcestershire village called Black Swan Green (though the local joke is that the Green has no swans on it at all, not even white ones). Jason has a stammer, which causes him exquisite embarrassment while trying to fit in with the cool kids at school. His parents are also on the point of splitting up, and his big sister is going to University, so lots of things are changing in his life.

It brilliantly captures the torture of adolescence, with all its elaborate etiquette and almost feudal hierarchical system. He worries about everything: his stammer means that he often has to substitute words to avoid words that he will stumble over, but if he substitutes in an elaborate, scholarly word when talking to his school-mates, he’ll be mercilessly teased. Often he chooses to look stupid and not say anything in class rather than either stammer or use a long word. He particularly doesn’t want his friends to know that he writes poetry, as that would be the worse kind of social suicide. I didn’t stammer as a child, but I remember vividly that feeling of picking your way through a minefield of responses that could make you look dorky or too clever to your peers. I’m so glad I’m not 13 anymore.

Jason is a very appealing character, and a realistic mix of childish naivety and world-weary clear-sightedness, but there are some other good characters too. I liked that way that Jason comes to see his parents and sister as real people with their own problems and failings, rather than just as his family. I was also delighted when it dawned on me that Madame Crommelynck — a rather mysterious grand old woman who Jason visits to learn about poetry — was no other than Eve Crommelynck, the haughty and wilful daughter of the composer Vyvyan Ayrs who featured in ‘Cloud Atlas’. I’d wondered what would have happened to her, so reading about her in this book was like bumping into an old friend.