Jerusalem

Jerusalem
By Patrick Neate
Fig Tree £16.99, 416 pages
FT Bookshop price: £13.59

Jerusalem is the final part of Patrick Neate’s “Musungu Jim” trilogy, a collection of novels exploring issues of race and identity across Britain and Africa.

Neate opens the book at the start of the 20th century, following a Boer war veteran’s trip to the west country to document English customs. He then fast-forwards to present-day London, where we meet Preston Pinner, a man who identifies and markets “cool” things. Meanwhile, Preston’s father, a junior government minister, goes to the African state of Zambawi to rescue a British businessman accused of plotting a coup.

Jerusalem seems so fragmentary one fears it will shatter. But slowly we see how the stories connect. What emerges is a very funny take on Englishness, colonialism and the search for authenticity.

For all his wit, what really sets Neate apart is a gentle humanity, the acceptance that life is messier and richer than the glossy “product” promoted by Preston.