"For anyone with an interest in the time and of reading real life experiences, this is a very good book."
The Cotswold Boy is a non-fiction book filled with tales about the author's time growing up in the Stour Valley in the nineteen fifties and sixties. They talk about the village they lived in and the people they knew. The personal perspective helps us to get to know the people so that we feel like we knew them a little too.
The honest, moving, sometimes sad, sometimes amusing recounting of his childhood creates an image of time gone by. It was a simpler time, when people relied more on community and there was much less convenience and more of making the most of what you had locally. In reading it, I could imagine myself back there, through vivid descriptions of people and places, and emotions, the author working his way through his school years, friends and family.
From his descriptions, people of a similar age may find themselves transported back to their childhood and for those who didn't experience the time, can learn a lot. In the third chapter he goes into more detail about his parents and entertainment of the time, talking of the experience of moving from radio to getting a first television.
For anyone with an interest in the time and of reading real life experiences, this is a very good book.
Julie Lindsell, A LoveReading Ambassador
This tells the story of the author's first 11 years of life mainly at Rodborough in the Stroud Valleys, but later in the City of Gloucester, in the 1950s and early '60s. It describes the area as it then was, the way people lived in that still post-War era, touches on the culture and entertainment that they experienced, highlights particular characters and their earthy way of speaking in the Stroud dialect, and gives an account of contemporary education both in the country and the county town.
| Primary Genre | Indie Author Books |
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This collection of reminiscences endorse that, by and large, the author had a happy upbringing, and it would be churlish not to comment that it was one which was devoid of mobile phones and social media. This is a book to read, enjoy and reflect upon.
This enchanting collection of childhood memories from Martin White describes growing up in the 1950's and early 60's in an eighteenth-century stone cottage situated on Rodborough Hill, overlooking Stroud. His family relocation to Gloucester in 1963 is also described. We are treated to a detailed description of No. 4 Rock Cottage, White’s initial family home near the top of Rodborough Hill, and the surrounding cottages and their inhabitants (both human and pets). Close family members are also carefully described, and we learn how the author saw much of his extended family, as they frequently met up to celebrate occasions. The arrival of his younger sister, Rosalind, is captured, and the extent of the initial disappointment he experienced when the baby was brought home from hospital as the author realised that he would not be able to play with her immediately as he had been promised.... Read Full Review
This tells the story of the author's first 11 years of life mainly at Rodborough in the Stroud Valleys, but later in the City of Gloucester, in the 1950s and early '60s. It describes the area as it then was, the way people lived in that still post-War era, touches on the culture and entertainment that they experienced, highlights particular characters and their earthy way of speaking in the Stroud dialect, and gives an account of contemporary education both in the country and the county town.
The Cotswold Boy features in the following genres: Indie Author Books, Indie Books We Love, Biographies & Autobiographies
Paperback. Not Available.
The Cotswold Boy was written by Martin White and published by APS Publications
