The PoliticosPaperback, 1 May 2019

'Ken Champion used to craft elegant narrative verse before turning his considerable talent to the prose form, effortlessly turning out the kind of clever, drily comic literary novels that tend to invite praise. Times change, however, and for his latest novel Champion has changed gear to accommodate the conspicuously angry mood of the moment. Further sharpening an increasingly political style, THE POLITICOS is his most engaged piece of writing yet; using a twin-track narrative to confront the major issues of the age, taking in class, ideology, immigration, identity and alienation. And as befits a seasoned portraitist of a changing London, he neatly captures the shifting landscape and language of the city he so clearly loves, embracing the personal as well as the political in an epic novel that makes us think, laugh, shout out loud and cry. Expect to be tantalised, teased, challenged; even shocked as Champion turns his withering gaze on troubled times.