{"product_id":"9781472155870-the-dice-was-loaded-from-the-start","title":"The Dice Was Loaded from the Start","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003eFor decades Pemberton Place in North London has been a Boomer stronghold. But one summer's day eight Millennials move into an empty house with political mischief in mind. Trapped on this new\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003efrontline of the housing crisis, the street's sole Gen Xer must pick a side.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'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. \u003ci\u003eThe Dice Was Loaded from the Start\u003c\/i\u003e is the most fun I've had all year' \u003c\/b\u003eMATT GREENE, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Definitions\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'David Annand's brilliant comedy of manners is a \u003ci\u003eHowards End\u003c\/i\u003e for contemporary London . Funny, truthful and bracing'\u003c\/b\u003e NEIL STEWART, author of \u003ci\u003eTest Kitchen\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'\u003ci\u003eThe Dice Was Loaded from the Start\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e 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'\u003c\/b\u003e JUSTIN MYERS, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Glorious Dead\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's the summer of 2018. Max Anderson, in his early forties, has been living in Berlin for the past decade failing to become the filmmaker he was once tipped to be. But his wife's career is taking off, and with a generous relocation package on offer they've moved with their kids back to London. Not to the Hackney flat share that he left ten years ago but, somewhat bemusedly, into a rented home on a handsome tree-lined street in north London. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Pemberton Place is populated by couples who have lived there since the seventies, who bought their houses for a song, raised their families, and now sit on a relative fortune. The Boomers, as Max thinks of them, are cultured and urbane, full of shared stories and storied pasts, and immediately take Max under their wing. Both flattered and amused, Max joins most evenings as they gather to drink wine and reminisce on glories past. Max is both insider and outsider, participant and observer: a position in which he feels disconcertingly comfortable.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen eight politically mischievous Millennials move in to an empty house on the street and upend this cosy equilibrium. With the Boomers in their crosshairs they make Pemberton Place a \u003ci\u003ecause celebre\u003c\/i\u003e, the front line in the generational battle of the haves and have nots. As the Millennials steadily up the ante and the Boomers try to assert their authority, Max - the street's sole Gen Xer - realises that everyone, eventually, has to pick a side.     \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e With wit and a propulsive pace, David Annand spins the battleground of the housing crisis into a brilliantly crafted study in intergenerational difference. \u003ci\u003eThe Dice Was Loaded from the Start\u003c\/i\u003e asks: what does the good life look like? And how might we make meaning in an exhausted world?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57396565967222,"sku":"9781472155870","price":19.46,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_40308765_9fe1b6e1-50f8-4a3b-9bb1-58b8199fdac5.jpg?v=1773366914","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781472155870-the-dice-was-loaded-from-the-start","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}