Prospect of Wivenhoe

This charmingly-written and quirky book about the author's bohemian riverside hometown, takes us on a journey through not just Wivenhoe and north-Essex, but by default, England itself. Chapters about deceased local residents: the actress Joan Hickson (TV's Miss Marple) and Wivenhoe's much-missed eccentric old GP, William Dean, sit comfortably alongside ones about the 1984 Miners Strike and the town's strange annual May Fair, known as 'Wivstock.' Part biography, part-travelogue A Prospect of Wivenhoe comes across as Akenfield if it had been written by Julie Burchill or P.J.O'Rourke.

We learn about how the Angry Brigade briefly took up residence there. We hear about how some leather queens waiting for a train, get mistaken by an old lady for ticket inspectors. We watch a local fireman prevent a bloody fight outside a Colchester pub.

We cycle with the author to a young man's funeral in Halstead. We idle outside the town's Station Hotel on a calm afternoon just before the Great War. Finally, in The Last Bus to Birdland we take a country bus to Thorrington Tidemill, returning on foot beside the river Colne.

Aceasta carte fermecatoare scrisa si ciudata despre orasul natal boem al autorului ne duce intr-o calatorie nu doar prin Wivenhoe si nordul Essex, ci, implicit, chiar prin Anglia. Capitole despre rezidentii locali decedati: actrita Joan Hickson (Miss Marple de la televiziune) si mult-dorul vechi excentric Wivenhoe, William Dean, stau confortabil alaturi de cei despre Minerile din 1984 si ciudatul targ anual de mai al orasului, cunoscut sub numele de „Wivstock”. Biografie partiala, partial istoric de calatorie A Prospect of Wivenhoe apare ca Akenfield daca ar fi fost scrisa de Julie Burchill sau PJO'Rourke.