Come Home Charlie, And Face Them

by R.F. Delderfield

Dated 1969. Simon and Schuster. Delderfield book for your collection.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Ronald Frederick Delderfield was a popular English novelist and dramatist, many of whose works have been adapted for television and are still widely read.

Several of Delderfield's historical novels and series involve young men who return from war and lead lives in England that allow the author to portray the sweep of English history and delve deeply into social history from the Edwardian era to the early 1960s.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of a shy young bank employee who harbors several grudges against his establishment and his co-workers. He is easily coerced by a shapely young vixen into robbing the bank. The most interesting part of the tale to me is its' setting: Wales in 1930. This is too slow moving to be truly exciting, although the actual robbery picks up the pace. My book listed the title as "Charlie, Come Home". Recommended only to those who like cerebral robbery stories.

[Ant Koplowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story from RF Delderfield about fictional bank robber Charlie Pritchard. Set in 1930, we witness his slow descent into criminality. It's not a spoiler to say he gets away with it, as Pritchard is the novel's narrator and he establishes this fact on page 1. What follows is a lengthy and detailed account of Charlie's motivation to do-over the bank he works for.

In typical Delderfield style he peels pack the layers of characterisation and motivation in a laconic and dense narrative. None of your 'modern' dialogue-driven plot exposition here - instead he takes his time, so that the inevitable coincidences in this type of story, become believable. Truth is though, Charlie is a fairly uninspiring character who adopts the 'victim' role to justify his subsequent actions. Although an engaging read, I kept asking myself why he bothered to go through all that rigmarole, as opposed to just moving away!

[Ian Coutts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delderfield was a workhorse of British middlebrow/middle class fiction (with a PBS twist). Not that that's a bad thing. He was a guy who could turn it out, had a command of his craft, and knew how to keep a story going. This highly enjoyable book is a true hybrid -- imagine a Raymond Chandler or James M, Cain piece of California noir transplanted to a rainy Welsh holiday town of the 1920s. A bored narrator, a caper and, of course, a dame -- one from California no less. Good luck finding a copy, though -- mine came from one of those free libraries on someone's front lawn -- but if you like that hard-boiled style or a British cozy, this book is a great little entertainment.

[Margareth8537 · Rating 4 out of 5]

As enjoyable as his long series.
Charlie is so easily led it is delightful.

[Jan Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. Charlie Pritchard is a bank clerk in a North Wales coastal town, lodging with the bank manager and chronically bored with his mundane life and his lack of prospects - both romantically and otherwise. The middle management at the bank is a closed shop and resorts to bullying, and although the bank managers plucky daughter provides an interesting distraction, Charlie’s real desire is for Delphine: the alluring and seemingly unattainable young woman in the coffee shop. Charlie even talks himself into behaving like the smooth-talker and risk-taker he so clearly isn’t, simply in order to woo the mysterious American-Italian beauty. But Delphine has an agenda of her own and soon lures Charlie in to a plan to rob the bank.
I really enjoyed this. Heavily character-driven with plenty of twists in the tale. The description of the fictitious Welsh resort Penmadoc and its close proximity to Llandudno sounded familiar, and I wonder if Delderfield had Penmaenmawr in mind when he developed the location. All in all, Delderfield captures the mood and era beautifully.

[Jean Waddup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Familar places and never quite sure how it would turn out till last few pages.

[Nancy Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is quite a bit different from the other Delderfield books I've read. Rather than a family type of saga, this deals specifically with the story of Charlie Pritchard and his participation in a bank robbery in Wales in 1929. There is no lack, though, of Delderfield's brilliant character development. It's a fascinating story of Charlie's transformation from a discouraged and dispirited bank clerk to a self-assured, almost conceited bank robber. I love Delderfield's style and writing and have never been able to understand why he is not more acclaimed and famous. He was definitely one of the best authors of the 20th century.

[Jyv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't be put off by the rather ponderous title. The story had me interested throughout. It's the first book I've read by Delderfield and it's encouraged me to read more. Recommended.

[Fi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully captured the era & the mood of a small Welsh town

[Deane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always enjoyed Delderfield's novels which I read many years ago....but recently I have been able to pick up several older copies that I hadn't read at a thrift store.

This story is probably a little longer than it needs to be but in the end, one does realize we needed to know all the details and why Charlie was forced to help 2 Italians rob the bank where Charlie worked.

The robbery takes place with Charlie getting help from Ida, the bank manager's daughter.

The story is written in first person ...by Charlie telling the whole story from the beginning of his life at the bank in Penmadoc, Wales

[J V Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this novel.

I am a great fan of Delderfield whose books never disappoint. This was a really good yarn. All the characters come alive and I read it in two days. Was only 99p so I can forgive the typo errors. There were me instead of my and me instead of the but I found that I instinctively corrected this as I read. I wonder if Kindle books are dictated to a machine like subtitles on the TV. Hence the errors and sometimes bad punctuation.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a fan of Delderfield so it was easy to like. Not a breezy read but worth plodding through. Charlie hates his dead end job at the bank so he plots with two others to rob it and humiliate the management. Lots of plot twists follow.

[Aliza · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read, albeit slow at times. I most enjoyed being transported to another time, both in terms of the book's setting (Wales, 1929-30) but also in terms of the writing style from 50 years ago.

[CindySR · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stupid people doing stupid things. They actually made a mini series out of this dumb story.
It was well written but it dragged and all characters were unlikable. Not explicit but clean readers will not like it.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

A complicated bank robbery and mystery. Didn't enjoy it as much as I usually do with Delderfield, but it was his usual well-written tale, and it did hold my interest, in spite of myself.

[Emily-Jane Orford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlie could be any one of us. He is stuck in a dead-end job in a dead-end town with office harrassment at its most dour. Of course, this was the 1920s, long before office harrassment could be considered a crime. But it was. And Charlie devised a way to get even; and, in the process, to entertain himself and make him believe that he is that macho, smooth-talking, swift action someone that he really isn't. He devises a plan to rob the very bank in which he works; to woo the girl that everyone else in town really wants; and to get away with it all, including the satisfaction of knowing that he had given his fellow workers, superiors all the way to head office, the shock of a lifetime. He does it, too, only to come slightly to his senses when the get-away goes awry. Ah! What is life without a few glitches along the way. He did get the girl in the end, not the one that everyone in town lusted over. He did get the cash - $20,000! Only to bury it with his colleagues in crime and any other evidence that could point a finger at him. He did get to observe the result of his mischievous actions. Was it worth it for Charlie? It took thirty-eight years for Charlie to be able to go back and face his deed head on. In the end, sadly, Charlie was very much alone with nothing to show for his life, except a story that only he could tell. And that's what he did! He wrote his story.

This is a classic. It's realism at its best! Sad at times, but true. Well done! Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford, award-winning author of "The Whistling Bishop".

[Janet Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book