by David Storey
First published 2023
Colin Saville grows up as a miner's son in 1930s England. His father pushes him toward education as an escape from their working-class life. Colin succeeds, advancing through grammar school and on to college. His academic achievements bring pride to his family, especially his father who saw education as Colin's path to a better future. But success comes with unexpected costs. Colin finds himself caught between two worlds, no longer belonging to his original class yet unable to fully join his new one. He becomes spiritually isolated, bitter about his circumstances, and trapped in the very place that shaped him. The ten-year span of Colin's development reveals how social mobility can create as many problems as it solves. His journey from childhood through young adulthood exposes the tensions within a working-class family during the social changes of the 1940s and 1950s. Colin's story captures the emotional price of leaving one's roots behind while struggling to find a new identity.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, coming-of-age, class, family-drama, academic
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, social-mobility
Setting: England
Period: 1930s, 1940s, 1950s
481 pages · Paperback · Valancourt Books