The spectacular new novel from the bestselling author of CLOUD ATLAS and
THE BONE CLOCKS, 'one of the most brilliantly inventive writers of this, or
any country' (Independent).Utopia Avenue are the strangest British band
you've never heard of. Emerging from London's psychedelic scene in 1967 and
fronted by folksinger Elf Holloway, guitar demigod Jasper de Zoet and blues
bassist Dean Moss, Utopia Avenue released only two LPs during its brief and
blazing journey from the clubs of Soho and draughty ballrooms to Top of the
Pops and the cusp of chart success, to glory in Amsterdam, prison in Rome
and a fateful American fortnight in the autumn of 1968. David Mitchell's
new novel tells the unexpurgated story of Utopia Avenue; of riots in the
streets and revolutions in the head; of drugs, thugs, madness, love, sex,
death, art; of the families we choose and the ones we don't; of fame's
Faustian pact and stardom's wobbly ladder. Can we change the world in
turbulent times, or does the world change us? Utopia means 'nowhere' but
could a shinier world be within grasp, if only we had a map?