The Mess We’re In by Annie MacManus: A messy youth and new discoveries in noughties London

Annie MacManus evokes the changing mood of London at the turn of the millennium and asks searching questions about what it means to be ‘home’

Annie MacManus, author of The Mess We're In. Photo by Stephanie Sian Smith

Meadhbh McGrath

For her second novel, the DJ and broadcaster Annie MacManus drew inspiration from what she describes as a “formative time” in her own life: the period when she first moved to London in her early 20s.