Julian Barnes — England, England

Picador 1999 Paperback, 272pp. As every schoolboy knows, you can fit the whole of England on the Isle of Wight. In Julian Barnes's new novel, the grotesque, visionary tycoon Sir Jack Pitman takes the saying literally and does exactly that. He constructs on the island 'The Project', a vast heritage centre containing everything 'English', from Buck House to Stonehenge, from Manchester United to the White Cliffs of Dover. The project is monstrous, risky and vastly successful. Indeed it gradually begins to rival 'Old' England and threatens to supersede it. ''Both ambitious and serious -- real if you like. Dive at those dump-bins.'' Andrew Marr, Observer ''A brilliant, Swiftian fantasy.'' Economist ''There is no more intelligent writer on the literary scene. In this novel he is also moving. He has written nothing more poignant and enticing.'' John Carey, Sunday Times ''The novel has memorable characters and sentences, but its main impact will be through its penetrating ideas.'' John Lanchester, Daily Telegraph. Tanning. (ISBN: 9780330373449). Good.