AT THE start of John Lanchester’s new novel, we find ourselves on a wall amid freezing temperatures. This barrier has been built to repel a terrifying foe.
For many, the first thing this will bring to mind is the Night’s Watch, the guards who patrol the great ice wall in HBO’s fantasy series Game of Thrones.
In fact, we are in a future Britain, at a time when it is ringed by 10,000 kilometres of concrete. This structure marks the country’s new coastline,…
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