On a winter's night, George , a truck driver, is threatened by a gun in the port of Belfast, where he awaits the time of the crossing to England . Unintentionally, he finds himself involved in the kidnapping of a customs official by a group of Irish terrorists. For George it is like going back to the past, it is fate knocking on the door again for him, the son of Northern Irish. His life suddenly becomes complicated, even if it has never been simple. A former London taxi driver, George is a bitter, angry yet upright man, "a straight-backed Brit", naturally conservative, naturally pro Brexit . And yet, he has a bond with Allegra , the most different woman who can exist. Allegra, who after the right schools has become an arrembante journalist for the "Sunday Times" and writes about Brexit both by running in the wake of politicians in favor, and by immersing herself among the people, in the countries of the hard province. Their relationship unites their angers, their roughness, their reciprocal loads of unresolved knots. It is a relationship that feeds on secrecy in the suspended months of the pandemic and that takes place in a nest, a refuge out of everything in which they can be themselves for a few hours, a few nights. But how long can it last? When will the London of our twenties - deserted and complicated, launched towards tomorrow, but unable to close with the past - show the bill?
Dry and merciless portrait of a city, of a world and of the time we are experiencing "London in the Twenties" (Bompiani, 2022, pp. 228, also e-book) tells us the poignant story of two people who to believe in the future must face the radical change in their country.
We ask the author of the novel, Marco Varvello, journalist and correspondent from London of Tg1, to introduce his book in a few words:
“I tell a love story, unlikely, indeed almost impossible in normal times. But these twenties of ours, the ones we are all experiencing now, are not normal times. All the more overseas where in addition to Covid and the war, Brexit, the country's exit from the European Union after almost half a century, had also occurred well before. A real earthquake. Anyone who lives in these parts, as well as many Italians (including a large number of Sardinians!), Breathes and experiences it every day. Thus the love story between Allegra and George, the two protagonists, like all human and personal events, does not unfold in a void made only of romance and poetry but deals with what is happening around them. In the small story of a troubled couple I try to tell the story and the epochal changes of this beginning of the decade. We have all studied the events of the 1920s a century ago: effervescent, creative, turbulent between the two world wars. But even our contemporaries in the 1920s are not joking! ”.
How would you define the United Kingdom in these 1920s?
“A country more closed in on itself, which has severed many ties with the Continent: just think of the exchange of students through European programs such as Erasmus, from which London has withdrawn. The United Kingdom has thus become a little more 'island', a term that you Sardinians probably know well ”.
In the book, a very divided Great Britain emerges, even lost and looking for certainties. Brexit seems to have increased this internal confusion, is there a risk that British society will implode?
“Great Britain is divided and bewildered, despite Premier Johnson seeming the commander-in-chief, always optimistic and bold. The choice to leave the European Union has separated families and broken friendships. The result of the referendum in 2016 marked a rift not only between Europeanists and anti-Europeanists, but also between young and old, between countryside and cities, between North (poor) and South (rich), between Scotland and England and so on. They are wounds that can be seen, even in the love story between Allegra and George. In any case, in moments of crisis such as the pandemic first and the war in Ukraine then the national sense prevails. The Covid disasters masked those of Brexit and solidarity with Ukraine now prevails over everything. After all, Johnson is a lucky man: he was able to unload so many tensions and imbalances in British society to the outside world ”.
Is there a hope of sharing - of their life, but also linked to belonging to the same homeland - for Allegra and George?
“The pandemic has reminded everyone how fragile our life is, how precious it is. Allegra and George throw themselves into each other's arms for this too. They love each other despite being so different. They come from distant worlds but they find themselves passionate and oblivious to the judgment of others. Like any strong feeling, they manage to love each other when they do not allow themselves to be influenced by others, family members or alleged friends. Only by being surprised by unexpected love, not suffocating it with conventions and stereotypes, can they continue to share life. Will they make it? You have to get to the end of my novel to know ”.
Is it my impression or does his greatest sympathy go to George, as a human being and not so much as a political militant?
“In his rugged simplicity George remains true to himself. Like many, he voted for Brexit, truly believing in it and hoping for a splendid future. He is disappointed but has fought what he thought was the right fight. Allegra, on the other hand, embraced the anti-European cause out of opportunism. To make a career. Like so many. Only in the end will he rediscover his personal dignity. But maybe it will be late, who knows. Is that why George is more sympathetic? It is up to the reader to say ".