Utopia Avenue contains references to characters from other works by Mitchell, following precedents set in his earlier novels.

Levon Frankland, the band's manager, from Toronto via New York.Īllusions/references to other works.Peter 'Griff' Griffin, jazz drummer from Yorkshire.The illegitimate child of a married Dutch father and an unmarried English mother. Previously in a folk group with her ex, Bruce. Elf Holloway, keyboardist and lead singer.Mitchell noted in an interview with the Los Angeles Review of Books that he wanted to escape the archetypal plot of the rock'n'roll novel, commenting that his band is more 'harmonious than dysfunctional' and that 'ost of the characters' estrangements from 'normal life' and family occurred before the band's ascent, not during.' Main characters It features cameos from David Bowie, Jerry Garcia, Leonard Cohen, Syd Barrett, Jackson Browne, John Lennon, Allen Ginsberg, Francis Bacon, Joni Mitchell, Steve Winwood, Keith Moon, Frank Zappa, Rick Wakeman, Cass Elliot, Sandy Denny and Marc Bolan, as well as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan, Jim Morrison, and Brian Jones the latter five, coincidentally, all members of the 27 Club. Each chapter name is the title of a song and focuses on one of the members of the band. They were assembled by their Canadian manager Levon Frankland as a 'psychedelic-folk-rock' supergroup. The novel follows the fictional rock band Utopia Avenue, formed in Soho, London, in 1967. The novel tells the story of the fictional 1960s British psychedelic rock band Utopia Avenue. It was published by Sceptre on 14 July 2020. It is his eighth published novel, and his first since Slade House (2015).

Utopia Avenue is a 2020 novel by David Mitchell.

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