Street of Tall People ¦ Ganging Up

These two novels share the theme of friendships tested to breaking point by the stress of conflicting loyalties. In the first, an unlikely alliance develops between Benny, a young Jewish boxer in the East End of the 1930s, and Jimmy, the 'goy' whom he's just beaten in a fight. While Benny's family are steeling themselves against the threat of Mosley's blackshirts, Jimmy discovers that his widowed mum's new boyfriend is one of the fascist leaders. The steadily escalating tension of the book culminates in the Battle of Cable Street, where the temporarily estranged comrades find themselves side by side on the barricades.

Ganging Up is set in a modern, bleak Merseyside estate. A longstanding friendship between football fanatics, John and Gerry, starts to go wrong when Gerry, in an attempt to escape the domestic disintegration caused by his father's job-loss, joins a gang of local hooligans in their civil war against a rival mob. John, a peace-loving child from a happier family, tries to avoid the conflict, but is eventually pulled in.

Alan Gibbons' adventure stories deal with harsh realities in ways which are sensitive and honest. Both books are very highly recommended for upper juniors and beyond - and not just boys.