Crossing The Lines

The Soldier's Return #3

by Melvyn Bragg

Set in Britain during the 1950s, this moving and evocative novel follows the intertwined fates of people crossing boundaries in their lives - from growing older to growing up, from first love to leaving home. Vividly conveying the spirit of the mid-century and the profound social changes taking place at the time, this is an enthralling successor to the award-winning 'The Soldier's Return' and 'A Son of War.'

The much-praised third part of 'a monumental series' (Sunday Times)

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literature

496 pages, Paperback

First published June 9, 2003

About the author

Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, FRSL, FRTS (born 6 October 1939) is an English author, broadcaster and media personality who, aside from his many literary endeavours, is perhaps most recognised for his work on The South Bank Show.

Bragg is a prolific novelist and writer of non-fiction, and has written a number of television and film screenplays. Some of his early television work was in collaboration with Ken Russell, for whom he wrote the biographical dramas The Debussy Film (1965) and Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World (1967), as well as Russell's film about Tchaikovsky, The Music Lovers (1970). He is president of the National Academy of Writing. His 2008 novel, Remember Me is a largely autobiographical story.

He is also a Vice President of the Friends of the British Library, a charity set up to provide funding support to the British Library.

Reviews

[Sally Wragg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Typically, I managed to read this book, the third of a trilogy, before the first two. Luckily, it can easily be read as a stand alone book though whilst I was reading it, I was always aware of a richness from the past, in the shape of the subject's parents and what must have happened to them before this book starts. This is a coming of age book, about a boy, Joe, growing up and falling in love in the fifties, in the little town of Wigton, in Cumbria. It's a book in which nothing much out of the ordinary happens and yet everything happens because it's teeming with individual life that anyone can relate too. It's beautifully written, absorbing and evocative.

[Dale · Rating 2 out of 5]

J. Thomas 2015 recommendation (for the movie, I am thinking)....; 3rd/last in the series and a major disappointment; I could hardly get thru it (even went back to look at the previous reviews of the other two, which I loved immensely). This one seemed to drag/I did finish it but it wasn’t enjoyable; finished sometime in mid-2017; purchased book via Robie Books, Berea, KY; 490 pgs.

[Siobhan Markwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fan of In our Time who sometimes tuts when Melvyn interrupts too much, I came to Crossing the Lines with a little bit of fear. It turned out to be a gloriously honest and affecting book and all the better for being a barely fictionalised autobiography. It's Joe who crosses the lines in this book and Joe, like Melvyn, is a boy who managed to bridge the huge divide between northern rural mining community and Oxford.

1950s Cumbria is on the brink of losing its rural mining identity. Enriched by the welfare state, the old good old bad old ways are melting away for good or ill: tinkers and their clans and horses, slum Victorian housing and its tribes, steeped in each other's family history but united against adversity; coal faces that stretch under the Irish Sea, providing livelihoods but claiming lives. The Grammar School is the route out. Escapees are scourged by Latin grounded in Dickens, Hardy and but liberated by Huxley, Sillitoe and Kerouac. Bragg sets out the reading list of a generation.

First love introduces Rachel, whose struggles with a traditional and sometimes violent father, shine a light on the gender divide. The new prosperity brings cars and cinema to the equation of adolescent fumbling, though moor and woodland still have a big part to play. Skiffle and rock'n'roll bring new ways to stand out from the crowd and the universe expands for every teenager once they can get to the Saturday dance in Carlisle rather than just Wigton. Joe's post-war generations is one the first to avoid National Service so his schoolmasters recommend time travelling and an extra term at school to round him off before he contends with the Oxford elite. Long distance romance brings challenges that Joe and Rachel struggle loyally to overcome but the first fractures of upward mobility appear.

Joe's family must bear the brunt of these fractures. Kind, decent, loyal, no-nonsense grafters, they are proud of his achievements and willing to make the small sacrifices that will make all the difference to him. One poignant scene sees Joe's mother with him in Carlisle buying a decent suit that will fit the bill in his new life. The emotional tenor is low key, tender and unaffected. This is the story of the best of my generation's schoolteachers and, in some ways, a lament for the socialism we have lost, the socialism embodied so movingly in Tim Price's recent Nye at the National. A socialism that brought the voices from small communities such as Wigton right to the heart of our national debate and institutions. It will speak to Baby Boomers and GenXers who value education, reading, culture and equality.

[Geoff Warden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing the story go the Richardson family, but now with Joe as the central character. Joe is in the Sixth Form at school and aiming for a scholarship to Oxford. His father and mother are as supportive of whims they can, but do not really understand the type of life he is hoping for. Their setters life, running a pub in a small Cumbrian town is all they really need after Sam’s military service during WW2.

Joe comes across as a typical teenager of his era (the 1950s), still clinging to a Christian belief, yet being pulled towards what he sees as sin as his maturing body and mind urging him towards the attractions of girls. His relationship with the beautiful Rachel follows the slow progress towards a fully sexual one as they both explore this new experience.

Empathetically written wide-ranging and a convincing cast of characters the novel was a joy to read, chiming significantly with my own life. I guess Bragg could be accused of being too autobiographical, but it is a novel which comes from the heart. Highly recommended.

[Jean Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is no doubt that Melvyn Bragg is a good writer. I have read the two previous books in this saga of the Richardson family and would have to say that Crossing the Lines less compelling and interesting than the earlier two. While I found it reasonably entertaining and for the most part the story moved along at a fair pace, there were some boring sections that I skimmed through. I found Joe to be a rather ambiguous main character with whom I never really identified or figured out. I had little sympathy for him. I found Rachel the stronger of the two. The book does have its strengths, if character development is not one of them. It paints a colorful picture of a small northern town in England in the 1950's and is needle sharp in capturing the division of social classes.

[Les · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever significantly changed your view of a book between beginning and end? That's what happened to me with this one. In the early stages I was thinking three stars at best. However, as the story went on, I started to relate to Joe's rites of passage (though I never ended up at Oxford.) But it was the final pages that earned the "5th star" as Joe's Father says goodbye to him on his returning to Uni, but with a deeper understanding that their relationship had changed and that he was now dealing with a man, not a boy. As a parent, that also chimed with me, even though my experience of that parting happened decades ago.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite well-written, and entertaining, but not interesting enough to be soooo long.
Part Five: Joe goes to Oxford. It was at this stage I just wanted it to end. But there was still 22% of this book to go!
Finally the expected twist occurs just before the end, with 2.6% left, but it was so abrupt that I felt the author was getting tired of it too.
We could see throughout the book that Joe had 'issues'.
Rachel made the right decision, but she took toooo long to do it.

[Richard Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I would like it better than I did - unfortunately the main character having started with a bang died out in a fizzle. He was too polite in fact all the characters were too polite. There was no sexual tension, no intellectual tension in fact no tension of any kind. Bragg is generally a good writer but in this case his characters were just too good to be true.

[Bryan Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was loaned the book, wasn't sure it was for me. I'd only come up against the author via the Southbank Show, and I didn't take to that. Yet the further I got into the story, the more enjoyable it became, especially the latter part set in Oxford.

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful read, my first by Melvyn Bragg. There will be more.

[John Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe a bit harsh in giving a 4 star and it might have suffered with comparison to first two books which were both 5 star. Definitely enjoyed it though 👍

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a densely-packed book! I enjoyed it. I did enjoy the previous two a little more, can’t quite explain why.

[James Carrigy · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10

Takes a minute to get into, but I continue to find myself engaged with Melvyn Bragg's semi-autobiographical series of Heimat-novels.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Attracted to this because historian Melvyn Bragg is a popular broadcaster and I enjoyed his 'Adventure of English', at first I was disappointed with 'Crossing the Lines'. The setting, characters and plot seemed so banal, so slow and unremarkable, that it all seemed to be going nowhere*. Then, gradually, it all came together as a thoughtful coming-of-age story with deeper-level relevance, even universality.

This is because Joe, the bright, pious and sensitive son of north country working-class publicans, wins a scholarship to Oxford and there faces issues concerning class, gender and politics. The journey that takes this slightly gauche misfit to being affectionately accepted and even sought after by his fellow Oxford students is satisfying and often poignant. 'Crossing the Lines' is about growing up and away and finding one's path. Early on he discovers love and revels in the passion he has for and from Rachel, his small-town teenage sweetheart.

Bragg, for whom this novel is surely at least a little biographical, is skilled at conveying shifts in relationships and making the ordinary special and significant. He writes with great compassion despite the tension of dislocation always felt as Joe navigates his two disparate worlds.

*I discovered late that this is the third story about the Richardson family in post-war England. I wish I'd read prize-winning 'The Soldier's Return' and 'A Son of War' first!

[Steve Chilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third part of a trilogy, telling this time the life story of young Joe Richardson. Somehow this one wandered off a bit and I enjoyed the latter part of the book more than the earlier. Bragg has a relaxed style of writing. The book explores the difficult choices faced by the immediate post-war generation's adjustment to the new order and the challenges they faced.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read and enjoyed the previous books in this trilogy - though a long time ago. This third book particularly interested me because Joe, the boy around whom the story is woven, is an exact contemporary of my husband. Joe too is a working class boy who has the chance of a grammar school education followed by university. The picture of 50's town life, with all its restrictions and post-war gloom, and the characters of Joe and his girlfriend Rachel were well-drawn, as well as some of the more minor characters such as his parents and Rachel's father, among others. A few seemed to have no real place in the narrative, such as Joe's school friend Alistair. The period detail and real feel for this period of post-war Britain, the slow unfolding of the narrative, the respect Bragg shows for each of the characters makes for an absorbing read.

[Kris McCracken · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third in the series, and for mine the weakest. For the main, this is due to the narrative shifting to the adolescent struggles of young Joe, which (understandably) lack the complexity or depth to those of his father's post-war readjustment. However, it does explore the difficult choices faced by the immediate post-war generation's adjustment to a brave new world of opportunities and challenges, which differ markedly from their parents. In this, Crossing the Lines offers a measured examination of post-war English life, but it does have the tendency to feel a little uneven, and perhaps lacks the complexity in characterisation that so marked the first two novels. Recommended, even more so if you have read the first two.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fitting and moving conclusion to the trilogy of books featuring Joe and his parents Sam and Ellie living in the north-western town of Wigton in the period from the end of WW2 to the late 1950s. This last instalment is set in the period 1955-1959 and largely features Joe at school and his aims to achieve more than his parents or town could permit by reaching university. Joe also comes of age in himself and in relationships, particularly with the love of his life, Rachel. Wonderfully evocative writing as throughout the trilogy, a simple tale of family life but all the more moving for its simplicity. 8.5/10.

[Margaret Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blockbuster, 3rd in a trilogy,set in post-war UK and in 3rd person narrative, this is about Joe who grows up, leaves his small hometown of Wigton, Cumbria, and 'crosses the line' from youth to adulthood. Family and friends go through their own life passages. The gripping power of this novel is in the depth of '50's detail and the authenticity of the characters' emotional attachments. Mr. Bragg, the author, has a parallel biographical arc and clearly, in brilliant Oxford-educated style,has drawn deeply on his fondest memories of life in Wigton. An intensely satisfying read.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 'slice of life' story of a young man growing up. Well written and the characters are well drawn.

[Phil Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first novel by Melvyn Bragg that I have read and hopefully it will not be the last. I quite honestly did wonder if my intellect would be up to it, as I sometimes struggle with him when he is on the TV but my fears were groundless. Crossing the Line is an excellent read. For me, it recaptured feelings and emotions I experienced as young man leaving home for the first time as I went off to university. I found myself wondering if my parents felt as Joes parents did, and wishing they were still here to ask. The pain and awkwardness of the metamorphosis from teenager to young adult is captured beautifully and the clumsiness of first love, its excitement and ultimate heartache, are captured so well that I was encouraged to allow my memories of almost forty years ago to come to the fore. This is an evocative, emotional, ultimately heartwarming novel that is well worth investing quality time in.