SOURCE: Barnes, Hugh. “Scenes from British Life.” London Review of Books 8, no. 2 (6 February 1986): 7.

In the following excerpt, Barnes offers a mixed review of Redhill Rococo.

Redhill Rococo experiments in a little-known genre: the ‘Condition of Surrey’ novel. The main feature of the style is the barrage of acronyms and initials facing the reader: DHSS, YTS, HMP, C of E, WPC, SDP; even UCCA plays a part and among vegetarians B₁₂ gets an honourable mention. At PTA meetings mothers abbreviate each other blithely, into Mrs H-J or Mrs S; and trendy Christians daub their surroundings—a Ricky Nelson poster comes in for special punishment, a macabre touch—with the graffito ‘GOD RULES OK.’ You get from the novel what you don't expect: Pearl Slattery (Mrs S) strikes a radical blow against the State. Towards the end she turns up for work at Snashfold's Sweet Factory to find locked gates...