Q: I’d like advice on a book to give my dad for a present. He’s a Daily Mail reader in his 50s and very stubborn. I’d like to give him something that will help him question what he thinks about the world?
Fiona, 23, London
A: Author Sadie Jones, whose latest novel, The Snakes, is just out in paperback (Vintage £8.99), writes:
This is a tricky one: you want to crack the safe, rather than blow it open. There can be nothing more soothing to the defensive reader than the badge of success; try Jonathan Coe’s deservedly bestselling and Costa prize-winning Middle England. Your father will be both comforted by the fact that it is written by a man and attracted by its colourful cover on a rural theme. It’s an overtly political novel without being remotely a polemic, and its central character is among the least offensive in literature.
Your father might see you coming, so maybe fox him by offering him an acknowledged classic. Try the steadying open-heartedness of Dickens, who has fooled many a reactionary into insight with, say, the wretched plight of the homeless in Little Dorrit, or A Christmas Carol: “If they would rather die they’d better do it, and decrease the surplus population” could come straight from the pages of your father’s favoured daily read.
If you’re feeling bolder, you could stray from his favoured demographic, staying bestselling, so he doesn’t panic. Adored by millions and adapted for television, Armistead Maupin’s charming series Tales of the City is deceptively challenging; your father might well find that in his fondness for Michael Tolliver, he catches himself cheering for him to stop worrying and enjoy an encounter with a stranger.
If you think gay sex won’t suit, you could offer Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s wonderful book about Nigerian emigrants to the US, which explores a topic that will be familiar – whether they would be happier had they “stayed in their own country” – with a perspective and experience that definitely won’t be. I defy anyone, whatever their views, not to recognise the genius of Adichie’s writing.
Lastly, a giant: the establishment’s favourite anti-establishment writer, John Le Carré. He may not be George Orwell, but with Agent Running in the Field, for your purposes, he is a mole right at the top of the Brexit circus.
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