Whatever Happened to Billy Shears?
An ironic comedy novel with dark undertones, set in the 1960s and the present day . . .
It was love at first sight.
Fifty years on, disclosure means disaster.
It was love at first sight.
Fifty years on, disclosure means disaster.
In stock
ISBN-13
9781910674420-grouped
From £10.99
Steve Goddard is a public relations consultant, working mainly on exhibitions and films. He has been a sub-editor on the sports pages of the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo and is currently co-editor of www.shipoffools.com, an irreverent Christian web magazine with a vibrant online community. His first novel, Rattles and Rosettes, was a work of social history charting the lives and loves of two young football fans in 1914 and 2010.
The plot on its own is engaging . . . but woven into the fabric of the story are hidden Beatles references like Easter eggs waiting to be discovered by the reader.
Witty, tragic and emotional. If there’s a better-observed comic novel about the 1960s, I’ll eat my kaftan.
Goddard’s knowledge of popular culture is extraordinary, and the way he weaves it into a believable range of characters makes this book utterly compelling. A splendid read is guaranteed for all.
[Of RATTLES AND ROSETTES, author's first novel published in 2014]
There are football biographies by the bucket load, but a football-themed novel that is as utterly compelling as Rattles and Rosettes doesn't come along very often. And a rare gem it is, too. Superbly written in a way that captivates from the first sentence of the first page, this novel grabs hold of you, pulls you in and won't let go . . . [it] unfolds in an increasingly entertaining and intriguing way and the climax is not only unexpected but really tugs at the heart-strings. Highly recommended!
It will come as no spoiler to hear that eventually, somehow, Goddard cunningly ties the two stories together in a manner which is as surprising as it is masterful, with a mesmerising, twisting and turning crescendo that builds over the final chapters before spilling over onto a genuinely emotional epilogue . . . a book of immense substance.
About
One handstand.
That's all it took.
And Lucy Pitcher spun William Shearwater's world upside down.
Fifty years on, 'Shears' is a squeaky-clean Anglican chaplain, nursing memories of a lost and secret love. He has never met English teacher Sophie Daggert, recently bereaved and on a quest to trace her natural parents. But through a mesmerizing series of twists and turns, Sophie and Shears are brought together in a shocking journey of self-discovery - with 1967's Summer of Love at the heart of it all.
'Witty, tragic and emotional. If there's a better-observed comic novel about the 1960s, I'll eat my kaftan.'
Cindy Kent MBE, (ex-The Settlers)
'Goddard's knowledge of popular culture is extraordinary, and the way he weaves it into a believable range of characters makes this book utterly compelling. A splendid read is guaranteed for all.'
Don Maclean, former presenter of BBC TV's Crackerjack!
That's all it took.
And Lucy Pitcher spun William Shearwater's world upside down.
Fifty years on, 'Shears' is a squeaky-clean Anglican chaplain, nursing memories of a lost and secret love. He has never met English teacher Sophie Daggert, recently bereaved and on a quest to trace her natural parents. But through a mesmerizing series of twists and turns, Sophie and Shears are brought together in a shocking journey of self-discovery - with 1967's Summer of Love at the heart of it all.
'Witty, tragic and emotional. If there's a better-observed comic novel about the 1960s, I'll eat my kaftan.'
Cindy Kent MBE, (ex-The Settlers)
'Goddard's knowledge of popular culture is extraordinary, and the way he weaves it into a believable range of characters makes this book utterly compelling. A splendid read is guaranteed for all.'
Don Maclean, former presenter of BBC TV's Crackerjack!
Author
Steve Goddard is a public relations consultant, working mainly on exhibitions and films. He has been a sub-editor on the sports pages of the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo and is currently co-editor of www.shipoffools.com, an irreverent Christian web magazine with a vibrant online community. His first novel, Rattles and Rosettes, was a work of social history charting the lives and loves of two young football fans in 1914 and 2010.
Reviews
The plot on its own is engaging . . . but woven into the fabric of the story are hidden Beatles references like Easter eggs waiting to be discovered by the reader.
Witty, tragic and emotional. If there’s a better-observed comic novel about the 1960s, I’ll eat my kaftan.
Goddard’s knowledge of popular culture is extraordinary, and the way he weaves it into a believable range of characters makes this book utterly compelling. A splendid read is guaranteed for all.
[Of RATTLES AND ROSETTES, author's first novel published in 2014]
There are football biographies by the bucket load, but a football-themed novel that is as utterly compelling as Rattles and Rosettes doesn't come along very often. And a rare gem it is, too. Superbly written in a way that captivates from the first sentence of the first page, this novel grabs hold of you, pulls you in and won't let go . . . [it] unfolds in an increasingly entertaining and intriguing way and the climax is not only unexpected but really tugs at the heart-strings. Highly recommended!
It will come as no spoiler to hear that eventually, somehow, Goddard cunningly ties the two stories together in a manner which is as surprising as it is masterful, with a mesmerising, twisting and turning crescendo that builds over the final chapters before spilling over onto a genuinely emotional epilogue . . . a book of immense substance.
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That's all it took.
And Lucy Pitcher spun William Shearwater's world upside down.
Fifty years on, 'Shears' is a squeaky-clean Anglican chaplain, nursing memories of a lost and secret love. He has never met English teacher Sophie Daggert, recently bereaved and on a quest to trace her natural parents. But through a mesmerizing series of twists and turns, Sophie and Shears are brought together in a shocking journey of self-discovery - with 1967's Summer of Love at the heart of it all.
'Witty, tragic and emotional. If there's a better-observed comic novel about the 1960s, I'll eat my kaftan.'
Cindy Kent MBE, (ex-The Settlers)
'Goddard's knowledge of popular culture is extraordinary, and the way he weaves it into a believable range of characters makes this book utterly compelling. A splendid read is guaranteed for all.'
Don Maclean, former presenter of BBC TV's Crackerjack!