People and places from 'A Suitable Young Man'

I thought it would be a good idea if I incorporated some of the locations used in ‘A Suitable Young Man’ into my blog, together with quotes from the book relating to those locations. Firstly, we have Coffin Alley, so called because of the irregular shape of the alleyway in Horwich, Lancashire, the real town I used for the setting of my novel.

Coffin Alley, Horwich

Ahead, lit by a solitary gas lamp, was Coffin Alley, the gap between two blocks of houses and, as she stepped into the alley’s shadows, she saw, too late, two figures. One of them grabbed her arms from behind then, as she screamed, the other clamped a hand over her mouth. ‘Shut up, you stupid cow!’ a rough voice whispered. She kicked out but whoever held her from behind laughed and dodged his body out of the way. In the dimness of the gaslight, a face leered close to hers and the hand was taken away from her mouth. Before she could scream again, whoever it was fastened his lips on hers in a mockery of a kiss. The stink of cigarettes on his breath sickened her. She wrenched her mouth away from his and, in the sickly light, saw that it was Jud Simcox. She’d never liked him, had always found him creepy.

From somewhere close by came a commanding voice. ‘That’s enough, you two. Leave her alone.’

‘Who says?’ jeered the one who held her, not loosening his hold.

‘Nick Roberts.’ Kathy’s heart leapt in the relief of recognition as a tall young man stepped into the meagre pool of light.

Next, we have the Crown, a largish pub that stands at the apex of two roads that make up the centre of Horwich.

Round the back of the Crown, he caught sight of three or four youngish lads clustered round what seemed to

The Crown, Horwich

be a bundle of rags on the ground. They were laughing and pushing at the bundle with the toes of their brothel creepers. ‘Now then, lads, what’s up?’ he asked as he drew near.

‘Just some drunk,’ returned one of them, a cocky young lad. ‘Nowt to worry about.’

‘That’s for me to decide.’ He was up to them now and saw that the bundle was a man, much the worse for drink. ‘Let me see’. He bent and touched the man’s neck. Possibly the cold of his fingers roused the man for he stirred and mumbled.

Behind him, he heard the lads muttering among themselves. ‘Who’s that?’

‘Nick Roberts.’

‘Who’s he when he’s at home?’

‘Heard of the Black Cat Gang?’

‘Who hasn’t?’

‘That’s Nick Roberts.’

To Nick’s amusement, there was an element of awe in the young lad’s voice. Putting on a stern face, he looked up and said, ‘You got a problem with that?’ The lad in question backed away, shaking his head. ‘Then you can all bugger off.’

The cocky one pushed forward. ‘What about him?’ he asked, indicating the man on the ground.

‘It’s all right; I’ll look after him. I know who he is anyway.’ The man was a Scot, a regular in the pub he frequented, a pleasant enough bloke but quiet. ‘Mac? Can you hear me?’

Mac is to play a large part in Nick’s life so this is an important scene.

Next is Rivington Hall Barn, a popular dance venue and located in the local beauty spot known as Rivington. Kathy has gone there with her friend, Carole, who has just been partnered onto the dance floor.

Rivington Hall Barn

… Kathy heard a deep dark voice at her elbow. ‘All alone, Kathy?’

She knew from the way her stomach fluttered who it was and, drawing a deep breath, turned to face him. ‘Hello, Nick. I wouldn’t have thought the Barn was your sort of place.’

He gave a nonchalant shrug. ‘Makes a change, I suppose. Come to that, I haven’t seen you here before. Decided to slum it, have you?’

She flicked her eyes away from his face. His dark, heavy-lidded eyes were playing havoc with her insides. ‘Something like that.’

‘In that case, care to lower your sights a bit more and dance with a Teddy boy?’ he asked.

She indicated the half full glass in his hand. ‘What about your drink?’

‘No problem.’ With a couple of gulps, the beer had gone and he put the empty glass on a table behind him. The dance floor was, by this time, crowded but Nick led her straight to the middle where couples, taking advantage of the close quarters, were smooching. Nick put both his arms round her and bent his head to whisper, ‘You don’t mind, do you?’

His high-handed attitude and her own physical reaction to him annoyed her. Did he expect her to fall at his feet in gratitude? ‘What if I said I did mind?’ she asked.

He gave her a calculating grin. ‘You don’t, though, do you?’

And here’s another pub. Officially called The Original Bay Horse, it’s popularly known as The Long Pull and it’s the favourite pub of Nick and his mates.

Nick’s mood lightened a little when they were able to get last orders in The Long Pull. ‘That’s better.’ He licked the foam that had accumulated around his mouth from the good head on his pint of bitter.

The Long Pull, Horwich

‘After the route march we’ve just endured, it tastes bloody marvellous,’ said Bragger, downing his pint in one.

‘It’ll be good practice for when you do your National Service,’ retorted Nick, with a grin.

Bragger laughed. ‘Busy in here tonight,’ he said, as he offered Nick a cigarette.

‘Reckon they’ve all come in tonight instead of last night.’ Nick gulped another swig of his beer and lit their cigarettes.

Bragger nodded to a large and noisy group of boys and girls seated by the window. ‘Sally Simcox’s in. You could always improve matters by taking her home.’

Nick followed his glance. ‘Not while her bloody brother’s with her.’

I hope the pictures and the quotes have given you a glimpse into the book. Enough to buy it perhaps?

Bag a bargain!

 





Just a quick update to say that my novel 'A Suitable Young Man' a nostalgic tale set in 1950s Lancashire is available at a special promotional price of 99p in the UK see http://tinyurl.com/qy9yth7 or 99c in the US see http://tinyurl.com/mbalje5

Sorry promo prices only apply to the UK and the US.

Songs for the Memories

Front cover and one of the three discs

My lovely hubby recently bought me a 3-CD set called ‘Number 1 hits from the ‘50s.’ It’s great value at only £3 especially as they’re all the original artistes. And, oh, what memories those songs have brought back! There’s a wide range of songs covering everything from the ballads and instrumentals of the early 1950s, through to rock and roll and ending the era with Cliff Richard. Here are some of my memories stirred by the songs.

In 1954/55, Johnnie Ray and Frankie Laine were big stars. I was about fifteen or sixteen then and some older friends took me to see Johnnie Ray on stage, though I can’t remember the venue. He was famous for hugging the microphone and actually crying during his rendition of ‘Crying in the Rain.’ These same friends also took me to see Frankie Laine at Belle Vue in Manchester. He had such a powerful voice singing songs such as ‘Woman in Love’ that it filled the arena. Although she’s not mentioned on the CD, about the same time, I went to see Ella Fitzgerald at the Manchester Free Trade Hall. I will never forget her rendition of ‘Every Time We Say Goodbye,’ which she sang unaccompanied.

Just listening to The Platters singing ‘Smoke Gets In Your Eyes’ and The Dreamweavers singing ‘It’s Almost Tomorrow’ now brings back vivid memories of smooching with a boy I fancied at a somewhat seedy dance club in Horwich called the Fling. Here’s an excerpt from ‘A Suitable Young Man’ in which my heroine, Kathy, gives her impressions of the Fling.

Intimate would have been a kind description of the Fling. The dim lighting softened the dinginess and shabbiness and chairs were scattered around its perimeter, interspersed here and there with a dilapidated sofa. She’d been able to make out several couples necking there. The music, though, was something else. The pulsating repetitive sound of ‘Rock Around the Clock’ and others by Bill Haley and the Comets, some she’d never heard before, sent her senses racing and her feet itching to bop. When the music had slowed right down and the record, ‘Earth Angel’ sung by the Crew Cuts, came on, the lights dimmed to almost blackness. Bodies welded together, arms twined round each other, cheek bonding to cheek, becoming mere silhouettes, only the occasional iridescence of moth-like pale colours illuminating the scene. The atmosphere was faintly decadent, almost dangerous, and she was stirred in a way she couldn’t put a name too.

And Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around The Clock’ never fails to get my feet tapping. Memories of bopping to that and others such as ‘Razzle Dazzle’ ‘Shake Rattle and Roll’ are vivid even if I no longer have the energy or the breath to bop!

Which brings me neatly to the advent of rock and roll. Unless you lived through those times, you have no idea of the impact that rock and roll had on the youth of the 1950s. After all the ballads and big band sounds of the 1940s and early 1940s that our parents loved, it’s no wonder that we appropriated the rock and roll sound for our own and that there were riots at cinemas showing the movie ‘Rock Around The Clock.’

Nor should anyone underestimate the effect that the introduction of Elvis Presley caused. With his smouldering good looks, quirky smile, gyrating hips and provocative movements, especially in such numbers as ‘All Shook Up.’ Not listed on the CD but equally memorable was his first big hit ‘Heartbreak Hotel.’ Here’s another excerpt from ‘A Suitable Young Man’ that sums up the moment.

Suddenly Nick hit a clear signal and a moody voice rang out in the cosy room, a voice that seemed to jerk from phrase to phrase. The dark bluesy voice sang of finding a new place to dwell in Heartbreak Hotel with a sob on the last two words.

Joyce sat up higher, intrigued. She’d never heard anything like this before, not even when Johnny Ray had toured Britain the previous year. ‘What’s that, Nick?’ she asked as her brother’s hand poised over the dials, not daring to touch them now in case he moved it off station.

‘I don’t know,’ he admitted. ‘It could be Radio Luxembourg or that American Air Base you get some times.’

‘Sounds like cats on the lavvy roof to me,’ harrumphed Mary.

‘Mam!’ exclaimed Joyce, still trying to listen to the fascinating sound coming, for once, clearly from their old wireless.

Nick, too, was silent, listening as the sobbing voice dipped and crescendoed. When the song finished, brother and sister sat in stunned silence apart from Joyce’s whispered, ‘Wow!’ Then the announcer, an American, came on to say ‘And that, folks, was the rockabilly singer Elvis Presley’s new record, ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, now storming up the Hit Parade.’

‘Who did he say it was?’ asked Joyce, still bemused.

‘Some bloke, American by the sound of it, Elvis Presley.’

‘He’d have to be American with a name like that,’ Mary commented.

A similar effect came with Tommy Steele’s ‘Singing the Blues.’ Guy Mitchell had released a version of the same song but it was version by the tow-haired young Tommy Steele with his marked South London accent that became a hit in the UK.

The 1950s ended with Cliff Richard singing ‘Living Doll.’ With his own swarthy good looks, he was seen as the UK’s answer to Elvis Presley.

Many more tracks evoked a whole host of memories, such as Eddie Calvert’s rendition of ‘Oh Mein Papa’ which was one of the first records my Dad ever bought for our new radiogram but I stuck with the memories special to me.