What did it mean to be a man in post-war Briton? That is the question the journalist Len Doherty ponders in his punchy novel set in 1950s Sheffield where the mighty steel and coal industries still reign supreme. The main protagonist, Walt, regards colliers, hard as the anthracite they hew from the seam, as the Praetorian Guard of the working class; he leaves his family in the south to try to make it as a miner. Walt works hard and plays hard; you can almost taste the tobacco and beer of the pub, smell the sweat of the boxing gym and feel the claustrophobia of the deep, dark coal mine where rock-falls are an occupational hazard. First published in 1958, this coming-of-age novel is a memorable depiction of working class masculinity; highly recommended. http://www.1889books.co.uk
rjefoster 