The Brexit popular vote and the ensuing inability to cobble together an approved exit plan from the European Union reflects the United Kingdom’s lack of identity and its desperate search for one. In my novel, Turn On, Tune Out, the British composer, Angelica Morgan, recognizes the disconnection between her beloved nation and its opinion of itself.

"How does Britain see itself as a country? What’s its identity,” asks Angelica’s American boyfriend.

“It’s a good question for which I have no answer. Britain has no answer. It clings, barely, to the past for an identity. The Battle of Agincourt against the French, the British Empire, the Second World War. Our view of ourselves, clouded with the past, forces us to locate our present elsewhere and leave our future up for grabs."

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