The Call of the Huntsman
By
Nina Whitehouse

Frances Wiseman’s first six years were filled with fear and sleepless nights. Halten, the mining village where she lived, housed not just a working coalmine, but also an armaments factory within its boundaries. The Wiseman family’s greatest worries, however, were about their father who was a rear gunner in a Wellington bomber. Most evenings, sirens would sound at around seven o’clock when the Luftwaffe came looking for their prey. The family gathered together and fled into the hastily built air raid shelter located in the garden next door. Frances’ mam tried to keep everyone calm by telling stories about her childhood—when her father was the local squire and hunt leader and she had her own lady’s maid. Her mam never mentioned gypsies in her stories. If the neighbours had any idea that this former mine manager’s family had gypsy blood in their veins, their lives would have become a living hell.

None of the miner’s wives believed any of Sarah Wiseman’s stories, but Frances quietly promised her mam that she would find the girlhood home when she grew up and they could all live there together in peace and happiness as a family. The story opens in 1999 with a grown-up and successful Frances Wiseman looking for Lambecote Grange and its land. The story then flashes back to 1889 and the landowning gentry and life seen through the eyes of Rosina, the grandmother of Frances.

We share a century of heartbreaking events with Rosina and her daughter, Sarah. Sarah’s only solace as a child is in speaking secretly to her dead father, George Bingham (The Huntsman), through his silver hunting horn which she had rescued from the family home, Lambecote Grange, after his untimely death. In much the same way that an impressionist artist portrays reality, this book paints an impression of the 20th century. Each decade is chronicled, and leaves a haunting impression on the reader before it moves on to the next. The author takes the reader on a trip through time, carefully brushing in the intricate details of the Wiseman family’s heritage. As we travel though the triumphs and tragedies of this family we experience wealth, poverty, Romany gypsies, and life in a Yorkshire Coal Mining Village—at a time when the production of coal was reckoned more precious than gold.

website: www.callofthehuntsman.com

 

 

The Gilman File
Mallory Park Jubilee Novel
By
Bruce Malcolm

The Gilman File is released as part of the 2006 Jubilee Celebrations marking fifty years at Mallory Park, the Friendly Circuit in Leicestershire. The story tells of high-flying business life and the general expectations of the early 1960s, some leading to commercial insurance fraud—and even murder.

Hidden agendas and the inner depths of people’s natures are entwined with a story of ambition and subterfuge set in the East Midlands and North of England, in an environment of motor sport and road transport, against the backdrop of a changing order in society, from which the Insurance Loss Adjuster eventually provides the Police with the breakthrough they have so long been seeking.

 

What's For Ye,
Won't Go By Ye
By
Avril Dalziel Saunders

Between the generations there is a story…

The story follows the life of two generations of the MacGregor family through the eyes of Linda, Douglas MacGregor’s daughter. Beginning in the Possilpark area of Glasgow in 1950 when Linda is two years old, the novel traces the family’s struggles though the first part of 20th Century—from the hardships of the 1930’s and love story between her parents, Douglas and Margie, through the terrifying war years of the 1940's.

World War II seriously affected many soldiers and their families. Men sacrificed up to 6 years of their lives defending the UK from Nazi oppression. Some were killed in action, others spent the rest of their lives hospitalised, and the “lucky ones” were left with their nightmare memories. Douglas MacGregor was one of the “lucky ones.” He never spoke of his horrific war experiences. Instead, he turned to drinking to erase the pain and took his torment out on the ones he loved most—his family.

What's For Ye, Won't Go By Ye tells how families at home survived in spite of the constant fear of German air bombing raids. It covers the peaceful post-war 1950's. It reflects on the on-going Glasgow conflicts between Protestants and Catholics, Rangers and Celtic. It ventures into the magical 1960’s. The Glasgow sense of humour shines through in this story, along with the emotion of the times.

What's For Ye, Won't Go By Ye is not just a novel, but a trip into the hearts and minds of our parents and grandparents—into their personal demons, courage, and triumphs.

Excellent reading! Happy and emotional! It makes you realise just what ordinary people went through during World War II. There is some really funny parts when it gets to the 1960's. I couldn't put this book down until I had finished it! I felt like I was living through it all. Thoroughly recommended!
— Georgia Gordon, London

My father put me on to this book, being from Glasgow himself. I found it a wonderful read and an amazing insight into growing up in Glasgow in the 50's & 60's, as well as what Glasgow was like in the war years.
— Michael Sweeney

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