Three Stories of England in the Eighties

Mike Robbins’ “Three Seasons” is a collection of three novellas whose main connection is the place and time in which they are set: England in the 1980’s, a decade of particular flux and instability. Ushered in with the election of conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (in 1979) the 80’s in England were a time of enormous social and political change. Think race riots, the death of punk and rise of New Wave, massive strikes and union struggles, and high unemployment.

“Three Seasons,” however, is not about politics nor is it directly about social upheaval. It contains the stories of three men whose only connection is that they are living in England at the same time. Each short novel offers a snapshot into their lives and each does something that many longer novels attempt but do not achieve:  tell the stories of individuals while capturing the ethos of a particular…