The financial crisis of 2008 brought in its wake a number of novels attempting to diagnose the state of the nation. The most praised of these was probably John Lanchester’s Capital, now dramatised in three parts for BBC television (from 24 November).Capital is not subtle in its construction. It takes place in a single street in south-west London, not far from Clapham Common, and focuses on a group of households as symbolic as those in a pack of Happy Families cards. There is a wealthy City banker and his spendthrift wife; there are three Muslim brothers of varying devoutness, one of whom runs a corner shop; there is an old lady who has lived in the street since the days when ordinary people could afford it; there is an African woman, living in a hostel and working illegally as a tra