Release Date: 07/07/11
SYNOPSIS:
She was wearing red shoes! With silver heels!
Elisabeth Devine causes quite a stir on her arrival in the village. No one can understand why the head of a big inner city school would want to come to sleepy little Barton-in-the-Dale, to a primary with more problems than school dinners.
And that's not even counting the challenges the mysterious Elisabeth herself will face: a bitter former head teacher, a grumpy caretaker and a duplicitous chair of governors, to name but a few.
Then there's the gossip. After all, a woman who would wear red shoes to an interview is obviously capable of anything . . .
Warm, funny and poignant, Gervase Phinn's first novel for adults creates a fictional world that's as real as can be. It will delight all his fans, and win him many more.
REVIEW:
As a fan of Gervase’s autobiographies I always like to see if an author can tackle a different genre, not because I don’t think that they can but because I feel that with the experience that he’s had that he would do well to work with the readers emotional side throughout a new medium.
What he manages with this title is a book that plays right across the emotional spectrum for the reader reducing them at times to tears of sadness and at others to tears of joy. It’s wonderfully written and whilst the characters did feel a little bit too clichéd at times they worked wonderfully well for the story presented within. All in, for me, this is a cracking story and one that relies on not only plot but on emotion and an author who can get that is one to watch out for. Great stuff.
Release Date: 11/11/10
BOOK BLURB:
Following on from the terrific success of A Wayne in a Manger , Gervase Phinn has collected together from his bestselling Dales books his favourite stories about children, and included some poems from his popular Puffin poetry books. In this humorously illustrated book, the stories have one thing in common - the wonderfully funny (and usually innocent) things that children say. Whether they are stories about children who cannot read very well but know the names of many breeds of sheep or children who are more privileged (coming to school in a Wolls-Woyce), they are simply delightful. This heart-warming book will not only enchant you, it will make you look at life through a child's eyes - and that's quite a special thing.
REVIEW:
Well known for his autobiographical titles as well as his public speaking this title brings perhaps some of Gervase’s best anecdotes to the fore in this compact stocking filler title that the reader will enjoy as children go to prove that misunderstanding alongside their own thinking processes can produce comedy gold.
Add to the mix something for everyone to enjoy, an author that’s more than willing to poke fun at himself as well as be honest with the reader about his own past and it’s a title that will endear itself to a great many.
Release Date: 14/10/10
BOOK BLURB:
For Gervase Phinn growing old is not about a leisurely walk to the pub for a game of dominoes or snoozing in his favourite armchair. As this sparkling collection of his very best humorous writing shows, he may be 'out of the woods' but he is certainly not 'over the hill'.Looking back over more than sixty years of family life, teaching, inspecting schools, writing and public speaking, Gervase never fails to unearth humour, character, warmth and wisdom from the most diverse of experiences, whether they be growing up in Rotherham with the most un-Yorkshirelike of names or describing why loud mobile phone users get his goat.Brimming with nostalgia, gently mocking life's absurdities, never shy of an opinion, this is Gervase Phinn at his wittiest, twinkly-eyed best.
REVIEW:
If you want witty observation that looks back from the everyman’s point of view, then you really have to read Gervase Phinn’s books. Told from an Ex-Teacher, School Inspector and public speakers memories, the general observations really do hit the mark with you so much so that you’ll find yourself chuckling along on his journey.
It’s definitely something unique and whilst we’re not talking comedian humour here we are talking about a title that will make you laugh. There is definitely something for everyone within this title with excerpts that everyone of a certain age will identify as well as appreciate. All in a fun novel and one that the odd wedding speech may borrow from with ease.
Finally, if you get the chance to meet Gervase at a signing or a talk, take the opportunity, it’s a wonderful night out, you’ll laugh and a great night out will have been had. If you’re worried, take a friend, they’ll find it as funny as you and soon be a fan of the author. A man who can truly talk the birds from the trees.
BOOK BLURB:
For eleven-year old James Joseph Johnson (or Jimmy for short) life is not always straightforward. In fact, things can be quite complicated, and don’t always turn out as he’d planned . . . Born in 1946, Jimmy lives with his Mum and Dad in a shiny red brick terraced house in South Yorkshire near the steel works. Sometimes the air is thick and metallic tasting, with bits of soot floating around like little black snowflakes. Despite all this, Jimmy wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. His very best friend, Ignatius Plunkett, is a scrawny boy with a sharp beak of a nose, ears like jug handles and a mop of jet black hair. Micky is his rather ‘posh’ friend from the big houses down the road. The boys get into a few scrapes in the year leading up to the eleven-plus exams, but will they come out on top in the end? Will Jimmy survive a week looking after Butch, the temperamental, barrel-bodied bull terrier? Will the truth about the trip to buy Dad’s tripe ever come out? What really happens to Jimmy’s Mum’s coffee and walnut cake, and will the mystery of the missing locket ever get solved?
REVIEW:
If there is one thing that you know about Gervase its that his writing is always entertaining. Regardless of what he’s talking about, be it education or growing up, he engages the reader with his observations as well as his personable manner and it really comes to the fore with a lovable rogue in this, his first fictional tale. Beautifully written with the author’s renowned witty banter and thoughts it’s a tale that will not only entertain but keep the reader chuckling away to themselves throughout. A great addition to Gervase’s portfolio and one that will definitely win him more fans.
Release Date: 07/07/11
