The New Number One
by Geoffrey Lewis
Paperback £7.99; ISBN 978-0-9545624-8-9; March 2009; SGM Publishing
Digital
A Boy Off The Bank>A Girl At The Tiller>The New Number One>Cattle, Sheep and Boats
“Once I’d begun upon the sequel to A Boy Off The Bank, I soon found that the story and the characters weren’t going to let me stop at one book. Which is why I’ve ended up with a trilogy – I only hope the readers won’t get too bored!” So author Geoffrey Lewis describes the process which has led to the appearance of this, his eighth novel; and now we are delighted to publish this third part of the ‘Michael Baker’ trilogy.
The two previous volumes followed the fortunes of Michael, the ‘boy off the bank’, from 1940 through the years of the Second World War and on until late 1948; now, The New Number One picks up his story from there. It’s 1948, and the reality of life on Britain’s nationalised waterways is becoming apparent to the families who work the narrowboats on the Grand Union Canal. More change threatens as a post-war world raises new demands for faster, cheaper transport, and old ways become out-moded as business and industry look to new methods and new fuels.
Against this shifting backdrop, Michael and Harriet, Ginny, Carrie and Alby Baker together with the other characters so familiar from the last two volumes of this story carry on their lives, coping with ever more difficult conditions as the demand for their services slowly declines. But all is not gloom – new traffics are won as old ones are lost, and new carriers appear to fill the void left by others’ departure!
As in the previous books, The New Number One is very much the human story of the characters who have become so familiar to Mr Lewis’ readers. And as before, the joys of an outdoor life on the waterways are balanced by the harsh labour of the carrying trade and the uncertain future for the families who carry it on in those years of its final decline. The story encompasses both the hopes and aspirations of the post-war years, exemplified by the appearance of new, small independent carriers on the canals, and the loss of confidence which resulted in the gradual drift of men and women away from the boats to easier, better-paid jobs ‘on the bank’. Once again, the background to his tale shows Mr Lewis’ dedication to authenticity, from the traffics which are being handled to the many locations which will be so familiar to the leisure boaters of today.
The New Number One spans a further nine years of Michael’s life on Britain’s waterways, concluding in 1957 – and a brief epilogue suggests an outline of his next thirty years. With this book, his story is told – or is it? Published in 2012, a fourth book, Cattle And Sheep And Boats, now carries the story of Mr. Lewis’ well-loved characters forward through that thirty-year gap!. And he has other ideas for different tales based on the working waterways… Watch this space!
A Boy Off The Bank>A Girl At The Tiller>The New Number One>Cattle, Sheep and Boats