The story of Joe from the end of "A Son Of War", aged 16 (1955), through to the end of his first year at Oxford (1959), crossing the lines between childhood and adulthood as well as crossing from working class small town Wigton to cosmpolitan, rarified Oxford and all that promises for the future. The main thread is his relationship with Rachel, the 15-yr-old schoolgirl he starts going out with in secret for fear of her father's fury and ends up engaged to while at Oxford until she breaks it off, knowing that they are on different paths in life and she belongs in the old, Wigton one. The dramas are the stuff of ordinary, family life, but Joe's rites of passage through adolescence will resonate with many, as will the example he sets of the new, post-war generation - the first 'teenagers', rock and roll and Teddy Boys.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Bragg's massive trilogy of his hometown in Cumbria, northern England, steers to a close as the torch is passed from WWII hero Sam Richardson to his son Joe. In 1955, Wigton is a quiet town, animated by hard work, gossip and changes of weather. Joe spends his days in school, nights working in his parents' pub and most of his free time thinking about his neighbor Lizzie. When Lizzie is sexually assaulted by some local roughnecks, the men are brutally beaten, and Lizzie is shipped off to be cared for by Liverpool relatives. As Joe grows older, his choices become starker; as he grows serious with a schoolmate named Rachel, opportunity knocks in the form of Oxford. Bragg has returned to the subject of Wigton many times over his long career as a novelist and BBC commentator, and his deep affection and knowledge of the place give strength to this coming-of-age story. As in The Soldier's Return and A Son of War, Bragg's prose is straightforward and unadorned, allowing only the occasional literary flourish, with a tendency toward understatement that is as precise as it is convincing. Devoted Anglophiles in particular will find much to appreciate in this unhurried examination of postwar English life. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Enthralling, a joy to read ... The range of characters... is evidence of the richness of Melvyn Bragg's imagination. He brings to life all sorts of people, and so deepens and extends our understanding ... It's a conventional story, and you may think you have read it often. So indeed you probably have. Yet Melvyn Bragg makes it new. He makes it new and he makes it matter. He has a rare gift for exploring the inability of people to express their feelings, while allowing the reader to understand just how intense and deep those feelings are ... There is humour in the novel. There is much pleasure to be had from its recapture of times, moods, attitudea which have now slipped away. But what I admire most is Bragg's ability to give dignity to all his characters, to treat the inarticulate, and those whose experience of life is narrow, with the same respect he gives to his young hero. And he does this without sliding into sentimentality ... [it] is immensely satisfying, written with honesty and imagination ... it's a book you can trust, written with the utmost integrity. Bragg's material has been a long time maturing, and is all the better for that. The result is a novel to live in. By that I mean of course that it's one that enriches the reader's life.' -- Allan Massie, Scotsman 'Enthralling, a joy to read ... immensely satisfying ... [it] is a novel to live in. By that I mean of course that it's one that enriches the reader's life.' -- Allan Massie, Scotsman THE SOLDIER'S RETURN 'His masterpiece' Peter Kemp, Sunday Times' Books of the Year -- Peter Kemp, Sunday Times' Books of the Year 'Unsentimental, truthful and wonderful' -- Beryl Bainbridge, Independent's Books of the Year 'An outstandingly good novel ! One of the best English novels of the last ten years ! utterly credible, utterly compelling and very enjoyable' -- Allan Massie, Scotsman A SON OF WAR 'A novel of remarkable power and grace ! his authenticity is astounding' -- Roy Hattersley, The Times 'Shot through with blazing integrity and authenticity' -- Val Hennessy, Daily Mail 'He has laid the foundations for one of the finest literary sagas of post-war Britain.' David Robson, Sunday Telegraph -- David Robson, Sunday Telegraph 'Crossing the Lines is both richly detailed and extraordinarily poignant' -- The Sunday Telegraph 20030601 'a remarkable portrait of post-war Britain...combining evocative and convincing period details with effortless and engrossing story-telling, it is a considerable achievement - and a wonderfully readable book.' -- SAGA 20030601
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