As the Hopkins family return home from Africa, more than a few changes are in store...
Anything Goes is an evocative tale of life in the 1960s for one Manchester family. Perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries and Dilly Court.
It's December 1963 when Billy Hopkins and his wife Laura arrive home in Manchester after five years in Africa. The world has changed beyond it's the swinging sixties, with headlines full of the Beatles and the pill, LSD and miniskirts. Billy's youngest son still believes in Santa Claus and while his daughter's reading Jackie, she's not even a teenager yet, so Billy's not too worried about the impact of modern society on his family. He's more concerned about the welfare of his increasingly forgetful father and about the daily challenges he faces as a college lecturer. When the four junior Hopkins start to choose their own, unexpected paths in life, though, Billy finds it harder than usual to see the funny side of things...
What readers are saying about Anything Goes :
'Billy Hopkins' good humour and personal philosophy of life shine through from first to last '
'Billy Hopkins succeeds in reeling off a veritable kaleidoscope of personalities, items and artefacts that make the reader feel positively homesick for those vanished days of yesteryear'
'The style of the books is like life itself, sometimes sad, sometimes funny , but seen through Billy Hopkins's wry humour and perceptive observations it is a delightful good-feel read '
A thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish. I really felt like I became part of the family after 50 pages or so, I loved the humorous antics of the kids and was intrigued at how one man's life and family could be so interesting and yet so normal and familiar at the same time. I'll definitely be reading more of Billy's books in the future.
The author has a very simple style and at first he appears to have strung together a list of cliche's about the 60's and the items and culture available in the UK at that time period. The choices of the children of the main character echo the cliche's but all in all it is a benign read, quite vanilla. Though one respects the author for his abilities in writing and in telling his semi-autobiography