Capital (novel)

Capital () is a novel by John Lanchester, published by Faber and Faber in 2012. The novel is set in London prior to and during the 2008 financial crisis. The title refers both to London as the capital city of the United Kingdom, and to financial capital. All of the main characters have a connection to Pepys Road, a street in the south London suburb of Clapham.

The book deals with multiple contemporary issues in British life including the financial crisis of 2007–08, immigration, radical Islam, celebrity, and property prices. In 2015 a three-part TV adaptation by Peter Bowker, and starring Lesley Sharp and Toby Jones, was filmed. The first episode was broadcast on BBC One on 24 November 2015.

Capital was well received by critics.

Reviewing the book in The Observer, Claire Tomalin began by noting, "Dickens was a reporter before he became a novelist, and his reporter's instincts remained strong, especially in his 'condition of England' novels, from Bleak House to Our Mutual Friend. John Lanchester also has a reputation as a reporter and as a novelist, and with this 'big, fat London novel' he is writing a report on London in 2008, peopling it with fictional but precisely observed Londoners – a touch of Mayhew as well as Dickens. His documentation is sharp and vivid as he follows their adventures". She found that, "A few strands of the narrative don't quite work, but the best ones make you turn the pages faster to find out where they are going. There is a moral fable about money, so neatly done that its resolution comes as a shock". Overall, Tomalin concluded, "He tells a good story. He gives you a lot to think about. This is an intelligent and entertaining account of our grubby, uncertain, fragmented London society that has almost replaced religion with shopping. Read it."

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