Sherlock Holmes, Butch Cassidy, Margaret Thatcher’s bloomers and a racehorse strongly resembling Shergar feature in SO LAST CENTURY, the new collection of whimsically witty stories from award-
winning journalist and writer Charles Nevin. SO LAST CENTURY begins with Edward VII on a tricky country house visit and ends with one of the first national lottery winners struggling with fame,
fortune and romance. On the way you will also meet two music hall comedians in the First World War and two remarkable double agents in the Second, get raided in a 1920s London night club, take part in some lively Coronation celebrations and discover what really might have happened when the World Cup was stolen in 1966.
SO LAST CENTURY follows the format of Nevin’s last book, the widely praised SOMETIMES IN BATH, providing an afterword for each story which separates fiction from fact and provides fascinating background to those breakneck, tumultuous times. And be warned: after
this, you will never view the Twentieth Century in quite the same way ever again.
Purchase
CHARLES NEVIN has written for The Guardian, The Independent on Sunday, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Sunday Times,The New York Times and many others. So Last Century follows his
acclaimed Sometimes In Bath, featuring stories happy and sad throughout the city’s history. He has also published three non-fiction books, including the highly popular tribute to the overlooked romance of his native county, Lancashire, Where Women Die of Love.
Website Twitter
My thoughts: this was such a fun book, beginning with Edward VII in a spot of bother, with Holmes (yes, that one) hiding in the bushes, and ending in 1995, a story a decade for the whole 20th Century is pretty impressive. They’re also very funny, there are real people, fictional people and characters who bear a strong resemblance to real people, throughout.
I was highly entertained by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on a trip to Blackpool, Ted Heath and his longing for Mrs Thatcher (urgh) and a few other familiar, and not so, having the strangest times. The World War One story was full of pathos and inspired by some remarkable real people, as was the almost too ridiculous to be true World War Two one.
King Canute makes an appearance to celebrate the crowning of the late Queen, and there are all manner of horses, donkeys and dogs in the stories. Something for everyone really.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 