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Barking at Winston: Bk. 1 (The Winston Tails)

Barking at Winston: Bk. 1 (The Winston Tails)

by Barry Stone (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 2010

    $3.44
Synopsis

It's the boiling summer of 1976 and one year old collie-cross Brucie expects to be offed by the vet at the kennels where the RSPCA placed him after he was removed from his first human. Except that at the eleventh hour a red-haired fifty five year old artist called Ginger comes to the rescue, and even before he is released from his cage by the gay-spirited Kennel Lad, Brucie has tumbled into love with her and her two sets of quirky boy-girl teenage twins. The family's worn but comfy seaside house looks onto a recently unveiled statue of Winston Churchill that Ginger claims to dislike because it blocks her view of the sea; a half-truth which stirs the detective within Brucie as he sets out to understand the grief which fuels the increasingly wild antics of his new humans. To which end - and despite a fever that's making him so hot he could grow the coat of a red setter - he uses his powerful second sight to access the memories of fifteen year olds Rachel and Craig, and sixteen year olds Vanessa and Jack: thereby taking us on a series of connected journeys that see a ladybird lost up Vanessa's nose, a rebuke of a bodging dentist who wears a wig that's called 'the rug', and Jack's coming of age as he defends his well and truly battered mum against further domestic violence. Having returned to 1976, Brucie is left puzzled as to why car-loving Craig is the one most affected by the recent suicide of their war-traumatised father, Raymond. A line of enquiry that leads back to the 1940s when twenty-five year old Raymond's ship was torpedoed by the Germans and he left a crewmate with a big similarity to his youngest son Craig - as yet unborn of course - to die in the burning sea. Having gained an understanding of the complex relationship between Raymond and Craig an exhausted Brucie is now dangerously hot. Will he die? Or will he live and help save his beloved 'kid' from the self-hate that Raymond's bullying of him has caused? Even more so, will he be able to nudge young Craig into returning the beautiful love which the Kennel Lad has to give?

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More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 230
 Publisher: Zircon Press
Published: 01 Nov 2010
ISBN 10: 0956693202
ISBN 13: 9780956693204

Media Reviews
Barking At Winston has received the following endorsements - 'BARRY STONE ACHIEVES THE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE: HE WRITES FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF A DOG AND MAKES ME CARE ABOUT THE CANINE AND THE PEOPLE HE COMES INTO CONTACT WITH. MY TAIL'S WAGGING!' Ian McMillan, Yorkshire poet,broadcaster & comedian. Presenter The Verb, BBC Radio 3. 'CHATTERING...FULL OF THE SOUNDS OF FAMILY LIFE...TRUTHFULNESS,THAT'S WHAT MADE IT WORK FOR ME.' Pauline Hadaway, Director, Belfast Exposed gallery. These endorsements have been included with the following Advance Comments, which are to the front of the book - 'You see the family from a unique perspective. The more you journey with them, the more you become involved.' Adrian 27. Teacher. 'I like books that draw pictures in my mind. Barking is full of pictures big and small. I felt as if I was in the National Gallery. It was great.' Tim 47. Florist. 'Funny and disturbing, this novel draws you inexorably into the darkest, craziest heart of family life.' Wendy 51. English Teacher. 'Sad and funny. I couldn't put it down. Even took it to work.' Mishy 47. Arts Assistant/Nursery Nurse. 'A highly original view of a dysfunctional, close knit and brilliantly likeable family.' David 37. Entrepreneur. 'I really enjoyed this book. I read it in a night and wanted to know what was going to happen next.' Gill 31. Drug Misuse Worker. 'I read it in a sitting and cried and laughed in turn, all the while wanting to know more about this family whose emotional territory is fantastically explored through the narrative of colour and smell by a dog. Brilliant.' Sharon 45. Development Manager. 'The dog's a wonderful character with a gentle perspective. He blends with the family and brings out the truth. They need him and it's beautiful.' Mike 45. Graphic Designer. 'Unusual in its refusal to simplify: family dynamics are explored in all their complexity and ambiguity. A celebration of our humanity.' Gill 57. Consultant Clinical Psychologist. 'I loved the humour. Especially about the parrot and the mop. Also I enjoyed the way things went back and forth between the loving dog and the family.' Mishy 47. Arts Assistant/Nursery Nurse. 'The characters are complex and interesting. It perked up my work journeys no end.' Anne 52. Communications Manager. 'I didn't expect this to be my kind of book. But I'm glad I read it. I thoroughly enjoyed it.' Frances 81. Retired. 'Chapter by chapter, I was captivated.' Paul 52. Social Inclusion Officer. 'A real page turner - memorable, funny, yet dark characters.' 'I left the book feeling a part of the family. I loved it.' Adrian 27. Teacher.
Author Bio
Barry Stone has been a freelance writer for over two decades. He has had a play on Radio 4; he proposed and scripted a documentary for BBC television, and was the writer co-producer of Blyth Valley Council's much-loved millenium play, Moses Brown Is Waiting. Barry's widely anticpated stage play Star Qaulity was commissioned by Northumberland Theatre Company in 2009, and will be widely toured by NTC in 2011. For many years Barry devised and co-ordinated the ambitious community arts projects which comprised Newcastle University's Wider Access Programme, with his other successes including the North East Region's Car Crazy Project(praised for engaging many people from all kinds of backgrounds in the arts via cars). A lifelong dog lover, Barry partly attributes his good physical health to the thousands of miles which he has clocked up whilst exercising the adored - and none too well behaved! - mutts that have been a major part of his life. 'I just love the fact that I've created a chatterbox rescue dog. And yes to the critic who asked, I do believe that canines see colour!'. Barry has a young black Labrador who's called Bonzo when behaving, and Asbo when misbehaving.