Evelyn

by John Wheatley

John Wheatley`s second Middleton novel takes us back to the second world war and its impact on two Middleton families. Evelyn and Maureen, sisters-in-law, are drawn together when their husbands go away to serve. For Evelyn, the idyllic pre-war early years of her marriage are replaced the darkness and loneliness of separation. Both young women face conflicts and temptations, and in the aftermath of the war, both have hard decisions to make as they try to rebuild their lives.

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 2013

About the author

Born in Middleton near Manchester and educated in the north-west. Worked as a teacher and a plumber.

I've got 25 titles out there, novels and novellas. My books usually have a regional and historical settings - Anglesey, Middleton, West Yorkshire.

Reviews

[Anne O'Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is interesting how Coronation Street became a national icon, and yet so few 20thC novels are set in the grit and grime of Northern towns. It has been a pleasure to travel into Middleton's recent past with John Wheatley's second Middleton novel. It was like a journey into my family's past and was very credible. The identifying characteristic of these novels is their ordinariness and that is a rare, and brave, decision for an author. No great improbable events, just the capturing of a family's struggles during the period of war-time in a very recognisable setting. It had the same feel as 'Family at War' in its realism. It is an honest portrayal of how something that has gone into the history books actually impacted on people living through it.