Books&Poetry
HAVING A BALL One local lad reflects on his not-so-average existence in a new book detailing his life – with plenty of twists and turns along the way.
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drian Lincoln lives and works in Flint, having spent most of his life in Manchester, Stockport and Macclesfield. The odd events of his tough childhood were to shape his later view of the world and led to a long career in industrial production. But a hard decision and fate allowed travel to become a big part of Adrian’s life. Adrian’s politics have been shaped by his experiences, as has his ability to look closer at strange events with an open mind. Now in his 60s, Adrian has taken the time to put pen to paper and record his unusual life in an autobiographical
account entitled Life And Times Of An story that shows Average Oddball, which is out now. how sometimes “If your taste in autobiography is poor health is overcome or only for the rich and famous, then sidestepped, this is the wrong book for you,” says Adrian. “However, if you’re curious with an addition about someone who had a strange of a little start in life, followed – maybe as a result humour where I – by a hell of a teenage life, you are find it, and how politics shaped by my life and work experiences.” looking in the right place.” As well as following the You may not agree with “It’s a events of his life, the book Adrian on everything, but his memoir is always offers a glimpse into the carousel interesting and thoughtauthor’s own thoughts, feelings, of a life provoking, and may help influences and impressions. Both his early life in north-west you to look at some story” things in a new way. England and his travels played a big part in creating not only the book, but the person he is today. Life And Times Of An Average In the book Adrian writes frankly Oddball is available in paperback or e-book from Austin Macauley, about the people and events that have Amazon and other booksellers influenced him. “It’s a carousel of a life
LOC A L B OOKS Reaching For The Light by Jan Mitchell Rogers This is the debut novel from Jan Mitchell Rogers, a writer living in Llanfyllin. After retiring, Jan joined a creative writing group in Llanfyllin which gave her the confidence to write a novel, and the Covid lockdown meant she could concentrate on finishing it. Reaching For The Light is part ghost story, part family tragedy, and deals with a suicide that still overshadows the lives of those left behind, 25 years later. Most of the book’s action takes place in the Tanat Valley in Powys.
The Lightbringers/ Arctica Puffin by Y Lanternwyr by Karin Rachel Bloor Celestine The first of Rachel Bloor is from Karin Celestine’s fourMarket Drayton and part Tales of the Turning has written, illustrated Year series has now and published three been translated into children’s books, Welsh. The story focuses available on Amazon. Arctica Puffin,, inspired by a trip to on people coming Skomer Island, is about a young puffling together with hope and positivity, and promises that a way out of (baby puffin) who doesn’t want to leave his burrow. The PE Fairies is the darkness is always possible. based on Rachel’s time as a primary school teacher, and The Spider Knitter was Calling local authors… influenced by her family, If you’re an author living in the Shire area or which includes some very have written about a local person or place, talented knitters – though we would love to feature you on these pages. she confesses to being a Please email editorial@shiremagazine.co.uk. very poor knitter herself!
REVIEWS
Our friends from Linghams Bookshop on the Wirral recommend two very different historical novels set at the same time – in an era of witches and wars… The Manningtree Witches by AK Blakemore Fear and destruction take root in a community of women when the Witchfinder General comes to town, in this dark and thrilling debut set in England in 1643. The war between the Roundheads and the Cavaliers rages, and Puritanical fervour has gripped the nation. The Manningtree Witches plunges its readers into the fever and menace of the English witch trials, when suspicion, mistrust and betrayal ran amok.
Tidelands by Philippa Gregory Midsummer’s Eve 1648, and England is in the grip of civil war between a renegade King and a rebellious Parliament. The struggle reaches every corner of the kingdom, even to the remote Tidelands – the marshy landscape of the south coast. Here Alinor, crushed by poverty and superstition, meets James, a young man on the run, and shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marsh, not knowing that she is leading disaster into her life. This is the time of witch-mania and Alinor, a suddenly enriched woman without a husband, is suspected of possessing dark secrets – arousing envy and fear among the villagers, who are ready to take action into their own hands. A gripping story told with subtlety and a wonderful sense of time and place.
116 SHIRE MAGAZINE | July/August 2021
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