SOLVED Dystopian sci-fi set in near-future England [s]

[Ian]

The Vale of Aylesbury is flooded into one enormous lake, so Tring Reservoir is now many miles long and supplies water for the whole of London. There is a population crisis, and The Samaritans are an organisation who, if you phone them in suicidal despair, arrive to make sure you go through with it.

The book was very funny and I loved it, perhaps mostly because I grew up in Tring and sometimes wondered if they ever really would flood half the county, including my home town... I don't remember the rest of the plot or the other books by this author, but would love to get back in touch with them.

Thanks

[Kris]

A guess - The Book of Dave: A Revelation of the Recent Past and the Distant Future by Will Self? This dystopian apparently features the village of Brill and a flood has devastated London and surrounding areas.

[Ian]

Thanks for the guess, Kris, but it's more SciFi than Mr Self's novels. In this novel, the "Aylesbury Basin" (the natural valley between the Chilterns and the Ridgeway) is flooded on purpose to create a new reservoir.

[Ian]

Again, I remembered this book for myself... It's Clone by Richard Cowper.

[Andria]

Clone for the link. Glad you figured it out, thanks for coming back to let us know!