The book consists of six narratives spanning
five decades of life in a struggling Teesside community. It is struggling with poverty, poor housing,
declining industry, unemployment, crime and anti-social behaviour. At least
that is the external face; within the community are some decent folk making the
best they can day to day with vibrancy and undue optimism.
In addition to location other threads link
the narratives: common characters (at various stages of their lives), legendary
events (seen from multiple perspectives), even a mythical creature that haunts
the subterranean waterways and misty banks of the Tees (and the imagination of
the locals). The threads weave into a
beguiling tapestry that may, or may not, reveal hidden truths.
Though the nature of truths and facts is a
theme too; whose truth, whose facts? The
unreliability of memory and the existence of an ever-evolving local folklore
underlie each engrossing tale, each told with a different, convincing yet
articulate, voice that makes for effortless reading.
The only problem is the compulsion to keep
reading and the conflicting desire to never reach the end.
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