'Music is like a time machine.' David Mitchell on his swinging novel Utopia Avenue

 A story about the rise and fall of a fledgling rock band - it is not a revolutionary new idea. But although Utopia Avenue is a more 'ordinary' novel than, say, his bestseller Cloud Atlas (2004), in the hands of David Mitchell (51) even an ordinary story never becomes ordinary.

Those who have read anything by the Brit before, for instance, will recognise some characters or situations from his other novels. And Mitchell's swinging style, his infectious narrative pleasure and vivid...