Starlight is a short novel (38, 000 words) from established and popular canal author Geoffrey Lewis (pen-name of S G Miles), set through the long hot summer of 1955. It tells the story of the growing friendship between Harry Turner, well-to-do townie boy newly arrived in the village of Burdon Leigh from the dreaming spires of Oxford, and Jake Woodrow, the penniless son of the local lock-keeper. Both outcast in school for different reasons, their friendship becomes a bond of deep and true loyalty as Harry discovers the world of the working canal; a bond which will be tested in dramatic fashion before the summer is over. The mood ranges from humour to poignancy as the boys cope with bullying in school and the tensions created by their widely differing backgrounds as well as the attitudes of those around them. The summer of 1955 saw the southern part of the Oxford Canal threatened with closure, as the commercial traffic declined to vanishing point; a concerted and ultimately successful campaign was waged to save it, led among others by the poet John Betjeman. Throughout, the background to this story is draw from historical fact, both real events and real characters appearing at appropriate points to lend a feeling of truth and authenticity to the world conjured up by the author. Although the village and Burdon Lock are figments of the author’s imagination, many other locations described are real, lending an added appeal for readers who know or have visited the area and its waterway. Starlight has been described as ‘a beautiful tale, beautifully told’ by Roger Wickham of Amherst Publishing, and likened to the well-known ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’ (Michelle Magorian) by other readers.
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