The Echo Chamber

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

What a thing of wonder a mobile phone is. Six ounces of metal, glass and plastic, fashioned into a sleek, shiny, precious object. At once, a gateway to other worlds - and a treacherous weapon in the hands of the unwary, the unwitting, the inept.

The Cleverley family live a gilded life, little realising how precarious their privilege is, just one tweet away from disaster. George, the patriarch, is a stalwart of television interviewing, a 'national treasure' (his words), his wife Beverley, a celebrated novelist (although not as celebrated as she would like), and their children, Nelson, Elizabeth, Achilles, various degrees of catastrophe waiting to happen.

Together they will go on a journey of discovery through the Hogarthian jungle of the modern living where past presumptions count for nothing and carefully curated reputations can be destroyed in an instant. Along the way they will learn how volatile, how outraged, how unforgiving the world can be when you step from the proscribed path.

Powered by John Boyne's characteristic humour and razor-sharp observation, The Echo Chamber is a satiric helter skelter, a dizzying downward spiral of action and consequence, poised somewhere between farce, absurdity and oblivion. To err is maybe to be human but to really foul things up you only need a phone.

© John Boyne 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Critics Review

  • The funniest book I’ve read in ages. Savage but compelling

    Ian Rankin
  • An uproariously funny novel… John Boyne skilfully skewers the cruelties of social media and the absurdities of wokeness … a brave and timely foray into the contemporary culture wars.

    Financial Times
  • A fearless romp with big laughs along the way

    Graham Norton
  • A comedy of manners and lack of manners … good fun and cheeky as hell

    Ryan Tubridy
  • His relish is infectious

    The Times

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