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Salter is very much a writer of men. I was somewhat horrified by his treatment of women in All There Is (although there’s always a detachment to his writing that means it’s never entirely clear who his sympathies lie with). I find his earlier work rather tighter.

Sandra, interesting you say that about unconscious influence from books you read years ago. I’m generally reluctant to specify my influences because I’m certain that I don’t know who all of them are. On more than one occasion I’ve reread something I read in my youth but had only the haziest memory of. And, to my horror, encountered somethi…[Read more]

Fantastic blog Richard, as ever. A difficult one for me to read, as I’ve always found reading about this incident, its sheer violence and the scale of the death toll, deeply troubling. That the sport I love, and a race I love, and a driver I have always been a fan of (Hawthorn) could have been (in whatever way) responsible for such slaughter is d…[Read more]

Thanks Richard

Kindle out now, paperback in a couple of weeks

Thoroughly enjoyed this, Richard. Another wonderful bit of writing that is bound to lead to a substantial musical rabbit-hole

Burn

The day the power went off for the last time, Dad started on about the country again.

“When did this country change?” he growled. “Things never used to be like this. This is Britain, how did it get so the electric doesn’t work?”

Gemma didn’t understood when he talked like this. It was like he felt the whole island was somehow the same. G…[Read more]

I was just reading up on Gresford following this and noticed one striking coincidence. The name of an MP who castigated the mine’s management during a debate in parliament following the inquiry’s mealy-mouthed conclusions:

David Grenfell…