The Secret Baby Room by DD Johnston

D.D. Johnston wrote to my colleague at the University of Salford to ask if he could come and talk to our students.  We had a Masters creative writing workshop that seemed to fit well. I was running it that evening. He had a Power Point presentation – but didn’t trust our technology so he showed it as a series of A4 flash cards. It worked. There were also lots of questions from the students. It made for an inspiring class.  

I bought the book. None of the students did. It is published by a small press so is a little expensive. 

It took me over a year to get round to reading it but when I did I could hardly put it down.  It’s unusual for me not to figure out what is happening long before the end.  This time I did not know until the very last page how everything was going to turn out. Yet the story progression and the resolution remained convincing.

Part of the appeal must be because it is set in Greater Manchester. As there is a tower block and a river involved, I saw in my mind’s eyes an area very near to the university – in fact just a few yards away from where I held the class. However, it isn’t there because there is a golf course, an old people’s home and a St Michael’s Church involved as well. 

This novel has an excellent narrative balance. The characters are totally convincing. They are ordinary folk, too, not white upper middle class. The story moves forward at a pace and we are kept guessing. We are totally gunning for protagonist Claire Wilson. 

I suppose Johnston approached us partly because the story is set in Greater Manchester. The story is based on something that happened to him.  Oh, and he used to work at a Manchester coach station – just like Dan, Claire’s husband. 

Do give it a go.       

Survivor by Tom Hoyle

I bought this book for the course I teach at Salford University: Intro to Children’s Literature. I always like to source some of the latest publications and I actually go to the Urmston bookshop to do this. It has a special sort of clientele. People who shop here are serious about books.        

Survivor did not disappoint. I’d label teen / young adult.  The cover says “For Fans of Cherub and Gone”.  Yes, that seems right too. It’s a thriller / whodunit. It keeps us guessing right until the end and even then you can’t be 100% sure. It’s really up to the reader to decide. That makes it absolutely spot on for young adults.  

Some really nasty things happen as protagonist George Fleet takes part in the Ultimate Bushcraft adventure holiday. He gives his account. After each part of this another voice speaks, often leading us to believe the perpetuator of the crime is someone we’ve met in the previous account. There will then be a text that looks like an official statement.  

George’s statements are somewhat longer than the others and read like a normal first person narrative. Nevertheless, they remain reasonably short and that with the shortness of the other texts makes this book very readable. You’re often tempted to read a little bit more as you can see that the next section is so short.

I read it very quickly.

I look forward to reading more from Tom Hoyle.    

 

The Life and Loves of Cherry Bakewell by Rai Jayne Hearse

Okay, I’ll come clean. I have to like this one. Rai Jayne Hearse is a former student of mine from the University of Salford and I first met Cherry Bakewell in a dusty old room in our beautiful red brick Peel building.
 Rai Jayne worked on this novel on my Writing Novels for Young People course. When she tweeted that she had graduated, I replied that I knew- I’d been at the ceremony. She then replied that her novel was being published. I looked up the publisher - saw that it was kosher if a little unusual - and out of curiosity submitted something myself that has now also been published. Usually it’s the other way round: the lecturers introduce the students to publishers.
 I read a lot of young adult literature and indeed just before I read The Life and Loves of Cherry Bakewell I read a similar length novel by an established young adult writer who writes what I describe as chicklet-lit. I’d put Hearse’s book in the same category – except I’d say she does it better. The established writer irritated me a little. Hearse’s writing is fresher and pacier.
Her characters are believable and likeable – even the villains. Cherry changes satisfyingly by the end of the book. There is progression. Short diary entries maintain the pace. Hearse writes with a strong awareness of the young adult reader. She has precisely the right voice for the text.
It seems I am proved right. Every year at the beginning of my module I tell my students they are ideally placed to write for this reader. They have the writing skills, they are precisely the type of people young adults want to become and they are young enough to remember that time clearly. Here’s to many more.