The Man in the Red Coat is Samuel Jean Pozzi, gynaecological surgeon, womaniser and friend of everyone in Belle Epoque Paris. Beginning with a visit to London in 1885 by Pozzi, Julian Barnes constantly circles round him and his circle, taking in subjects as disparate as Dandyism, Oscar Wilde, Dreyfus, Sarah Bernhardt, political assassination, Degas, Maupassant, gynaecology, anaesthesia, Proust, Flaubert, Daudet, homosexuality, and Wagner ... Written as a commentary to Britain's departure from the EU.