Sounds of the Seventies

One of the difficult tasks when writing fiction about the recent past is to let the reader know the approximate year in which the action is taking place without giving the impression of scene-setting. A mediocre novelist will cram the early dialogue with clunky references to Ted Heath’s chances at the next election or the BSE crisis, before allowing the political talk to disappear once the desired effect has been achieved. Philip Hensher, at the beginning of this novel, provides his setting with great economy, not through dialogue at all but through a single object: a cocktail stick pinioning a combination of diced cheddar, pineapple and sausage. Once that unholy trinity of sweet-savoury kitsch has appeared, this can only be middle England in the 1970s.

The snack is served at the Glovers’ Sheffield house during a party thrown for the neighbours. The Glovers are comfortably off and unsophisticated. Malcolm works at a building society and takes part in battle re-enactments; until recently Katherine stayed at home, looking after Malcolm and their children, handsome, uncomplicated Daniel, adolescent novelist-manqué Jane and the youngest, Tim, a strange child who recently bought a pet snake which he hides in his room.