Independent Publishers Group Logo

Sign up today...
for featured titles, special offers, bestsellers, and more, in your inbox!

Subscribe to receive special offers, monthly books suggestions, seasonal selections, and more!

Close
Cobbled Streets and Penny Sweets
Cobbled Streets and Penny Sweets

Cobbled Streets and Penny Sweets

Happy Times and Hardship in Post-War Britian

BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY

288 Pages, 5 x 7.75

Formats: Trade Paper

Trade Paper, $14.95 (US $14.95) (CA $19.95)

Publication Date: June 2019

ISBN 9781789460124

Rights: US & CA

Bonnier Books UK (Jun 2019)
John Blake

Sorry, this item is temporarily out of stock
 

Overview

Born in the early 1950s, Yvonne Young grew up in the West End of Newcastle. With her grandfather working as a ship painter, her Uncle Tom helping to build them, and her neighbours working for the local armament factory, she saw the city's heart, its manufacturing, all around her. Growing up so soon after the Second World War, it was also a time of great hardship and she grew up surrounded by grinding poverty and neglect.And yet, people made the best of what little they had, as housewives proudly competed to scrub their doorsteps clean and children turned derelict houses into playgrounds. Yvonne delighted in hearing about the characters that made up the area, seeing the chimney sweep and the coal man make the rounds, and seeing folks singing and dancing in their neighbours' homes after closing time. It was a time when community was everything, before the city's industry began to be dismantled and took this old way of life with it.Cobbled Streets and Penny Sweets is an affectionate, at times hard-hitting, and beautifully evocative portrait of life in a city that has changed beyond recognition. Above all, it is a story of family, friendship, and getting through the hard times with a healthy dose of Geordie humour.

Author Biography

Yvonne Young is a local historian and writer and has written two books about the city and its people, and also works with local cultural organizations to promote the city's history.