The Dice Was Loaded from the Start

Tremendous. An actually funny comic novel as propulsive as any thriller. With savage wit, integrity and tenderness, Annand exposes the complacent nostalgia of a sandwich generation, offering both an elegy and, most impressively, a hope for change. The Dice Was Loaded from the Start is the most fun I’ve had all year – MATT GREENE, author of The DefinitionsDavid Annand’s brilliant comedy of manners is a Howards End for contemporary London … Funny, truthful and bracing – NEIL STEWART, author of Test KitchenThe Dice Was Loaded from the Start is a sharp, witty and seductive read. Its grudges, passions, and aspirations simmer away, much like the tense inter-generational battleground at its centre. Young and old should read it and remind themselves that life is far too short to fall out, or flirt, with the neighbours – JUSTIN MYERS, author of The Glorious DeadAn absorbing drama … The Dice Was Loaded is narrower in focus than [Annand’s] impressive debut Peterdown, but like that novel explores the tensions that liberal economic policies have exacerbated … The five-word pitch: for fans of Jonathan Coe. Another fine writer of novels driven by social themes is very welcome – Nicholas Clee * Bookbrunch *Lovely turns of phrase and a zippy plot line keep the narrative moving along at a good pace, with the underlying social themes never weighing down the text. If you like sharp social commentary bathed in wit and character, you’ll find this a delicious read – Sarah Birch * East End Review *[A] sharply-written, stylish tale is about boomers, Gen X-ers and millennials… the lifestyle detalls are spot on and the whole scene brilliantly observed – Wendy Holden * Daily Mail *The Dice Was Loaded from the Start offers a tender, thoughtful contemplation of generational divides, the housing crisis, and the fickle nature of art, ultimately succeeding through its granular inspection of the human spirit * Irish Times *Enjoyable and largely well-observed tale of intergenerational conflict … Annand nicely delineates the different generations: the boomers with their tales of Homsey art school in ‘68, and bookcases full of the National Geographic, and the millennials with their meaningless tattoos and intentionally bad haircuts. Max himself is a poignant reminder of that lost period of 1990s optimism – Christopher Shrimpton * TLS *This is my favorite kind of novel, where “nothing happens” but everything does … What’s so impressive […] is the way that it intimately and non-judgementally manages to render all three generations on the page, showing where there are through lines that everyone embedded within the conflict can’t see (and that all of us online struggle with), perfectly capturing the crossed wires * Cambridge Independent *

David Annand has worked as an editor at Conde Nast Traveller and GQ. He has written for the FT, TLS, Telegraph, Literary Review, the New Statesman and Time Out. His first novel, Peterdown, won the McKitterick Prize in 2022. He currently lives in Spain.

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