I will leave it to the Belle and Sebastian obsessives, of whom there are many around the world, to figure out which details in this debut novel by the band’s lead singer and main songwriter are made up. As far as I’ve been able to work out, just a few names have been changed, of people and cafes. Apart from that, Nobody’s Empire could as well have been published as a recovery memoir. So let’s agree to call it autofiction, and take the book on its merits – which are considerable.
If you’re familiar with Stuart Murdoch’s early life, you’ll know the plot. He’s talked about it in interviews. Belle and Sebastian were, he says, “a pop band that sprang out of infirmity” – that infirmity being ME or chronic fatigue syndrome. Although this was something Murdoch kept quiet about for years, partly due to the energy wasted in explaining, it reveals a huge amount about the band’s aesthetic and appeal – both of which come delightfully through into this version of that same life story.
