‘A Week in December’ (2010), Sebastian Faulks

Georg, Heinz, Sandra and Andrew discuss this richly entertaining and highly rewarding novel.

London, the week before Christmas, 2007. Seven wintry days to track the lives of seven characters: a ruthless hedge-fund manager trying to bring off the biggest trade of his career; a professional footballer recently arrived from Poland; a young lawyer with little work and too much time to speculate and philosophize; a student who has been led astray by Islamist theory; a hypocritical hack book-reviewer; a schoolboy hooked on skunk and reality TV; and a female Tube driver whose Circle Line train joins these and countless other lives together in a daily loop.

We discuss the background to the novel, compare and contrast the characters, and analyze the theme of reality vs. virtuality. We read extracts from the novel and play music by The Kinks (‘Waterloo Sunset’), The Beatles (‘Money’), Simply Red (‘Money’s too tight to mention’), and The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park (‘I can’t get no satisfaction’).