Now We Are Forgiven

by Tim Lott

A brilliantly observed story of crises and reconciliations within families and stepfamilies and the conflict between Millennials and their Baby Boomer parents. Funny, dark, yet limned with hope , Tim Lott returns to a family saga – and social commentary – that began with the award-winning White City Blue , continuing with When We Were Rich . It is a story for everyone trying to make sense of a sharply polarised world where the political has become personal and the personal has become a minefield. Brighton, December 2019: a teenage girl is on an early morning run along the seafront. In her mind she is running away from something she hates, towards something she fears. China’s home is with her mother Veronica, her pompous stepfather Silas and his dysfunctional son Mason. Her father, Frankie, is in London, but they have little contact, his entrenched views a provocation to her socially conscious ideals, his Brexit-supporting girlfriend a jealous rival. Exhausted by family tensions, when China leaves Brighton, her godfather Nodge, Frankie’s best friend, and his husband Owen are her first port of call. But they, too, are beset by domestic conflict. Which leaves only her father to takes her in. They argue, they spar, the fault lines between them grow wider – and then coronavirus strikes. Praise for When We Were Rich ‘A sharp and very funny portrait of a brash era which is also a surprisingly tender take on flawed masculinity’ ― Sarah Hughes, i paper‘What a terrific novel – wickedly sharp, wildly entertaining – I was gripped from start to finish. With its twisty plots and interwoven characters it paints a vivid portrait of a crucial decade. It's laugh-out-loud funny, too. And with property porn thrown in, what's not to like’ ― Deborah Moggach‘Wickedly funny and deeply humane. I loved this book’ ― Sadie Jones‘Tim Lott revisits the years between millennium fever and the financial crisis, and brings this already long-lost era back to life in a novel every bit as evocative and compelling as we would expect from this prodigiously gifted author’ ― Jonathan Coe‘Lott delivers many hilarious and sad scenes of life in a long-term relationship. He also explores the poignancy and fragility of male friendships, in a manner reminiscent of Graham Swift’s Last Orders . . . [He is,] crucially, careful to linger over moral difficulty and vulnerability rather than evading it’ ― TLS‘Lott’s carefully observed period piece captures the mood of an era that now seems like a lost world’ ― Daily Mail

368 pages, Paperback

Published September 20, 2023

About the author

Tim Lott is the author of seven novels and a memoir, The Scent of Dried Roses, which won the PEN/J.R. Ackerley Prize. White City Blue won the Whitbread First Novel Award and his young adult book Fearless was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Book Award. Tim lives with his family in north-west London.

Reviews

[Tina Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really clever, funny and touching family observation as a modern family faces up to lock down. The realisation that each person has emerged stronger gives hope for the future.

[Tony Lawrence]

(not the Kindle Edition)

This is the 3rd book about Frankie ‘the fib’ Blue and his friends and family, but I don’t know if Lott planned this as a trilogy or a series at all … mostly because of the significance of Covid and the lockdowns on the characters and plot. I didn’t re-read the previous books, but there is enough clues as to past events to make this almost stand-alone, or at least understandable. However, I like the idea that we are catching up with familiar friends Frankie and his now ex-wife Veronica ‘Vronka’, her knew melded family (in Brighton), his new girlfriend (still in West London), and their spiky & spunky daughter China.

The main plot is the clash, and reconciliation, between China and her Dad through the Covid period, but in Lott’s inimitable style it is the side stories and links with contemporary life and social attitudes that add a depth and wider relevance to a seemingly-simple novel. 19-year-old China may be woke and outwardly confident, but she needs the love of her parents, is angry and confused about her feelings and her place in the world … so both 2019/2020 and timeless issues. Veronica’s partner and his son and Frankie’s best friend ‘Nodge’ and his partner have challenges involving same-self parents & adoption, mental health, and homelessness. All the adults (excluding China) struggle with the value and purpose of careers and other life choices, maybe heightened by the strangeness of the pandemic, enforced idleness and the fear of sudden - or at least expedited - death. As with White City Blue and When We Were Rich the writing is brilliant, keenly observed characters, clever structure of flawed and relatable individuals caught in the larger streams of life.

I don’t know if there will be a 4th instalment, but I’d like to catch up with these friends in another 20 years … I hope China doesn’t get into too much trouble at uni and stays in touch with her Dad, Nodge and Owen get their family, and Vronky kicks out Silas!

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this contemporary novel, Lott examines several aspects of modern family life and the effect of Covid and lockdown on it. Frankie, Roxie, Veronica, China, Silas and Marshall make up a blended family full of cracks, and Lott includes JJ, Owen and Nodge as friends of the family. The novel tackles several themes here. China is a typical late-teenage daughter and though there are aspects of the characterisation of her and her father, Frankie that swerve perilously towards cliche, nonetheless the narrative is amusing. Not giving away any spoilers, but one of the major characters contracts Covid, and as one who has been victim to it myself, I felt that the description was incredibly apt and a real example of how that juxtaposition between the dark and light in this novel were expertly placed - and it is a light novel. It's humorous and compelling. It aims itself at us, the readers because it contains elements that most people could probably identify with. I wanted to continue reading to see how it all turned out in the end, and about the ending, yes, it worked well. No spoilers, but suffice to say, Lott gives you the impression that it *could* be a bit of a situation where all the loose ends are tied up nicely. Instead, the ending is highly satisfying. Entertaining and recommended. My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

[MisterHobgoblin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now We Are Forgiven is a return to Frankie Blue, star of two previous novels. Frankie is an estate agent from the White City area of London (hence the title of previous novel, White City Blue). This makes him a capitalist who does not have particularly sophisticated political thoughts and even less sophisticated friends. Frankie is not 'people like us'.

Yet middle aged Frankie has mellowed. He hankers after a partnership at the estate agency, but knows he will never be rich. He has remained friends with Nodge, his childhood friend who came out as gay. He tries to maintain a relationship with China, his difficult teenage daughter who lives in Brighton with Frankie's ex and her puritanical new man.

The story unfolds with China at the centre of family feuds exacerbated by Covid lockdowns and Frankie's new partner Roxie (Frankie and Roxie deserve each other). It is laddish, but more Bottom than The Young Ones.

Tim Lott's strength is capturing particular moments in our history and viewing them through the lens of a family situation. Now We Are Forgiven gets Covid as well as any other novel at the present time, and it provides the amusement of watching little Englanders being beauty to one another. I'm a big fan of Tim Lott and will happily read anything he puts our way - but I never expect like his characters.

Highly recommended.

[Fiona Brichaut · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is solid contemporary fiction, a snapshot of 'typical' untypical family life. Add in a pandemic, and you've got some quite gripping social realism.

There's quite a lot going on - a large cast of characters, different homes, people being stuck at home, in lockdown, with people they wouldn't normall choose to live with. The strains of people trying to put up with each other are well described.

The Pandemic. What a time to have lived through (and nobody knows if it's essentially past history now, or not). Most of us experienced that strange shock of being wrapped up in the joys and trials of our day-to-day life and suddenly dealing with all that AND having to simultaneously deal with the world going completely dystopian-movie-weird.

It's set in middle-class London, and the characters are very much of the time and place, but they also are ordinary people in extraordinary times. Just having lived through that time too gives you common ground with them.

So yeah, it's a lot. And that sense of 'it's a lot' really comes through in Now We Are Forgiven. People come together, people fall apart. They find love and support in unexpected places, and betrayal too. There's drama, and crushing boredom, but the book is never boring.

It makes for a rich and satisfying novel.

[Saffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a few of the author's novels as well as his beautifully written memoir The Scent of Dried Roses and Now We Are Forgiven is as well observed and compellingly written as I'd expect.
It's set in London and Brighton and begins in December 2019, the day after the shocking general election result and moves forward to Covid and the first lockdown of 2020. 19 year old China lives with her mother Veronica, stepfather Silas and step brother Mason in Brighton. She has a difficult relationship with her dad Frankie but when she decides to move in with him temporarily in London neither of them realise that they will soon be locked down together during a global pandemic.
I loved this novel, Lott writes a brilliant and insightful commentary on the state of Britain and the relationships between the generations. I loved the portrayal of the family relationships particularly between China and Frankie which felt frustratingly realistic.
A funny, well observed and ultimately hopeful read that I'd highly recommend.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.
4.5 stars

[Thekirkiepirate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose this book having enjoyed 'When we were Rich' a while ago, and I was certainly not disappointed.

I think that this is the first novel I have read that deals with the Covid lockdown - albeit just the first one. However, I feel that this scenario will become an increasingly rich seam of narrative for other authors.

The first half of the novel decribes a number of connected households where relationships are coming under strain in early 2020. However, none of these situations are resolved before the lockdown, so the second half of the book deals with how they cope during lockdown. On the perpihery is a homeless woman and it was hard to see how she would connect to the other relationships. However, she becomes pivotal to the conclusion of the book.

I will certainly read more from Tim Lott.

[Ipswichblade · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third instalment of the Blue family story stands well with the other two, I hope there is a further chapter in the story

[Mark Berney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story about fractured families and relationships, and reconciliations, though somewhat forced due to covid. 1st time.with this author. Really enjoyed this.

[Deirdre Clancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good novel that looks at the ins and outs of an extended family system during lockdown. The characters are believable, if not all likeable. Would I wish to read about them again? Probably not. I'm happy to let them go about their lives and develop themselves beyond lockdown without me as an audience. That said, the novel's observations about family dynamics are definitely fairly astute, including how official family narratives can so easily scapegoat one individual at the expense of another, even at the expense of the truth.

I'd recommend this as decent social observation and an interesting family saga. It's well written and observed, as well as committed to realistic depictions of modern humans, including the moral compromises, the highly conditional forms of love, and the broken relationships that result from the latter.

[Dawn lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book once second time audiobook . I thought listening to it will make my rating change however it was quite testing to listen from one character to the other. .