The Queue

'Joyful, heartwarming and utterly charming' JUDY MURRAY 'Charming, poignant and as comforting as a tin of royal shortbread. Delightful' VERONICA HENRY Three strangers. Ten miles. One life-changing day... Suzie is 69 and has been keeping a secret for most of her life. She'd do anything to have her beloved Colin with her today, of all days, but she's hoping that the long walk ahead will be a first chapter in a new life without him. Tim is 42 and is joining the queue out of a sense of duty. It's for his mum, who adored the Queen, but she can't be there. He's lived his whole life by the book, putting facts before feelings, trying to fit in but always sticking out. Perhaps he can change that today, by becoming part of history? Abbie is 19, desperately hungover and isn't sure how she ended up in the queue at all. Her 'big move' to London hasn't exactly gone to plan - surrounded by millions of people, she's never felt more lonely, and her dreams feel further away than ever. Yet today, she feels closer to her queue family than she does her real one. As the unlikely trio wind along the Thames, edging ever closer to Westminster and the Queen, it becomes clear that when they finally leave the queue their worlds will never be the same again... More praise for The Queue 'A love letter to London!' GEORGINA MOORE 'A sharp, joyous, soulful book. Alan Bennett but sexy and modern and female' EMMA JANE UNSWORTH 'A gorgeous story' FABULOUS magazine

'Joyful, heartwarming and utterly charming' JUDY MURRAY 'Charming, poignant and as comforting as a tin of royal shortbread. Delightful' VERONICA HENRY Three strangers. Ten miles. One life-changing day... Suzie is 69 and has been keeping a secret for most of her life. She'd do anything to have her beloved Colin with her today, of all days, but she's hoping that the long walk ahead will be a first chapter in a new life without him. Tim is 42 and is joining the queue out of a sense of duty. It's for his mum, who adored the Queen, but she can't be there. He's lived his whole life by the book, putting facts before feelings, trying to fit in but always sticking out. Perhaps he can change that today, by becoming part of history? Abbie is 19, desperately hungover and isn't sure how she ended up in the queue at all. Her 'big move' to London hasn't exactly gone to plan - surrounded by millions of people, she's never felt more lonely, and her dreams feel further away than ever. Yet today, she feels closer to her queue family than she does her real one. As the unlikely trio wind along the Thames, edging ever closer to Westminster and the Queen, it becomes clear that when they finally leave the queue their worlds will never be the same again... More praise for The Queue 'A love letter to London!' GEORGINA MOORE 'A sharp, joyous, soulful book. Alan Bennett but sexy and modern and female' EMMA JANE UNSWORTH 'A gorgeous story' FABULOUS magazine

Vladimir Sorokin's first published novel, The Queue , is a sly comedy about the late Soviet "years of stagnation." Thousands of citizens are in line for . . . nobody knows quite what, but the rumors are flying. Leather or suede? Jackets, jeans? Turkish, Swedish, maybe even American? It doesn't matter-if anything is on sale, you better line up to buy it. Sorokin's tour de force of ventriloquism and formal daring tells the whole story in snatches of unattributed dialogue, adding up to nothing less than the real voice of the people, overheard on the street as they joke and curse, fall in and out of love, slurp down ice cream or vodka, fill out crossword puzzles, even go to sleep and line up again in the morning as the queue drags on.