A hugely charismatic football player who would have been a star in the 70s if it were not for the fact that he is black, makes a dreadful mistake and is imprisoned. Seen through the eyes of his son we are given an extraordinary story which is basically about accepting the past. Sensitive, beautifully written and unusual in its subject matter, this is a perfect gem and recent winner of a Commonwealth Writers' Best First Book Award. A lovely book.
At nineteen, Geoffhurst is getting along just fine -- he's got his own flat away from his family, his eight jars to divide his dole cheque (one for each day; one for saving), his standing order at Madame Wong's Chinese Restaurant. Then a reporter from the local newspaper offers to pay him to tell his story -- the story of what happened eight years ago, when something happened that even with his lazy eye he couldn't help but stare right in the face. In the long, hot, legendary summer of '76, Geoffhurst's life was full of superheroes. His father was one of the first black professional footballers, his six-foot mother was the most glamorous woman in the neighbourhood and his aunt was a witch. His alter-ego was the Hulk, and his gang was the Four Aces. If he could get through the heat, he could get through anything. But sometimes even superheroes meet their match, and that year the storms that cracked the skies spelt more than just the end of summer; they spelt the end of Geoffhurst's childhood.
Donna Daley-Clarke was born in London to parents from Montserrat. She graduated in creative writing from UEA in 2001, and is the recipient of an Arts and Humanities Board Award (2000), a Jerwood Young Writer's apprenticeship award (2001), and Arts Council Award (2004), and the Hawthornden Castle fellowship (2005). She lives in Surrey.
