Today I’m sharing with you an extract of John Uttley’s No Precedent. An intriguing book with interesting opinions. It’s based around the family live’s of Bob and Richard. Read on for more, plus the chance to win a copy!
Book Description
There wasn’t a lightning strike at the church in Evesham where the funeral took place, which Bob regards as sufficient evidence that his theology is sound.’ The northern grammar school pals Bob Swarbrick and Richard Shackleton are back, now facing the era of Brexit, Momentum and Donald Trump.
The trials and renewals of Where’s Sailor Jack? behind them, they find themselves in a world whose faith and politics have moved beyond their sphere of influence and feel increasingly cut off from their roots.
Bob, now settled with Wendy, must reconcile old memories and new children while Richard must save his family from themselves. Along the way, they are adopted by the lascivious Lucy Fishwick and her predatory daughter Maddie, whose lives are as mad and chaotic as the radio play Lucy is trying to write and, indeed, the world itself.
But despite the coming plague, it doesn’t look like Armageddon. There is to be an apocalypse, but one of personal dimensions. We don’t all go together when we go!
No Precedent gives some clue as to why Brexit happened and why the red wall fell, not that either protagonist wanted the former, nor would have wanted the latter if Harold Wilson were still prime minister. John Uttley knows the towns of the north, the county boroughs as he still calls them, and writes with nostalgia and reflexion on times gone by and times yet to come.
Extract
CHAPTER ONE
March 2015
I’d better introduce myself, in case anybody ever gets to read this. You never know, maybe I’ll die before I’ve decided it’s best thrown away. It’s going to be as near factual as I can manage, as I’m losing my taste for fiction. Truth’s meant to be stranger than that. I’ve always wanted to write, and something’s happened today which might just end up as interesting. To me that is, probably not to you. I’ve often wondered if telling a real story can reveal a hidden meaning. Maybe this is a chance to see. I’m Bob Swarbrick, born and bred in the Lancashire village of St Chad’s. It’s at the west end of the Fylde, only a few miles outside Blackpool. I don’t live there now, having moved away for the second time a few years ago. My daughter does though, in my old house. I’m often back with my new partner, Wendy. The other folk I visit when I’m home, my mother, father and four grandparents, are all resident in the one place, just a few plots from each other, pushing up daisies in the cemetery at the edge of the village. I’ve a fair number of other relations and a few too many friends in there too. Decades ago, after my divorce and before Wendy and I got it together, I booked a plot for myself, near enough to the gate for me to look for an escape if I’m sent to the wrong place. Behind the funeral chapel, which serves both the quick and the dead, is a lavatory, only for the first category as far as I can tell. I sometimes have to be very quick in getting there nowadays. I’m past my three score and ten, and not too long ago I had a big heart attack, so it may not be long before I’m six feet under.
Author Website – JohnUttleyAuthor.com
You can buy No Precedent here on Amazon
Giveaway
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Win a copy of No Precedent by John UttleyCOMPETITION T&C’S
The giveaway ends 23:59 26th July 2020
The prize is non-transferable and no cash alternative will be offered. The winner will be selected at random via gleam from all valid entries and be notified by email within 7 days. The winner will have 28 days to respond with a name and delivery address before a new winner is selected. Open to all UK entrants aged 18 or over only. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are in no way associated with the giveaways. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry’s is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties. Please allow at least 28 days for delivery of the prize as a minimum due to current conditions.
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Sounds like a book I’d enjoy
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Fingers crossed
This sounds like a great read. Thanks for the competition.
will read this book -if i win it or not
Looks a really interesting read! Very intriguing!
I enjoyed the excerpt a lot. Thanks
This book sounds interesting and different from what I usually read.
Hello, thank you for the chance to win, it looks like an interesting book.
I love the sound of this novel, I have been making a point of reading books that I wouldn’t naturally choose and for the most part have thoroughly enjoyed them.
Wow, looks interesting and atmospheric, just the kind of book for an evening read!!
This sounds like a really interesting book, I’d love to read it
I’m stuck in my ways with the books I read, would love to try something different maybe this is it
This looks fab from the first chapter!
That first paragraph got me really wanting to read on, I already like the character and want to know more about him.
I would love to give this a read!
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I would love to read this intriguing book