Fallout

Choosing once again, as with her earlier Where the River Takes Us, to set her story in the recent past, which it personally pains me to call ‘ historical’, Lesley Parr has perfectly evoked life in a small Welsh community in the 1980’s. I distinctly remember the atmosphere  of anxiety, with the news full of Margaret Thatcher, The Cold War, Nuclear Disarmament protests and with the backdrop of angry songs of protest from The Jam. It is only the latter that has impinged upon the consciousness of our hero and wannabe guitarist Marcus, at the start of this remarkable novel, but he has a lot to learn. The author has taken on the task of looking at a proverbial ‘bad boy’ and asking what made him like that and whether he really is bad underneath the swagger and bravado? Marcus is from a notorious criminal family, who expect him to follow in their footsteps meanwhile treating him with brutal neglect. If people expect the worst, why bother to try? Certainly, he has been written off by the village and his school. There has even been a falling out with his lifelong friend Jezza and the brother who supported him against the family is currently in a detention centre.  Nevertheless, we quickly recognise that Marcus yearns for something more and the catalyst for change is finding two people who want to see the good in him rather than assume the worst. First an elderly neighbour who asks for his help and then freethinking newcomer Emma, who is shocked by the prejudiced way Marcus is treated. The gradual development of these tentative relationships and the difference that they make to Marcus’ self-perception and subsequent behaviour, is both subtle, nuanced and moving.  This makes the tragic events of the Carnival parade even more upsetting, when fingers are pointed, blame assumed and, agonisingly for readers now fully on his side, there seems no way out for him.  The richly drawn, utterly believable characters make this redemption story about the power of friendship, family dynamics, prejudice and loyalty, wholly gripping and memorable.