View From The Bridge

by John Gordon Morrison

Humorous essay about Hebden Bridge, Lancashire.

76 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

John Gordon Morrison (1904-1998). "Australian writer, born in Sunderland, England; he settled in Australia in 1923. He has been a jackeroo, swagman, dock worker, and gardener. He published stories in Meanjin and Overland, about fellow workers, union activities, the people he met on the tram to work, and social conditions. Morrison published two novels, The Creeping City (1947) and Port of Call (1949), and several collections of stories, including Sailors Belong Ships (1947), Black Cargo (1955), Twenty-Three (1962), North Wind (1982), Stories of the Waterfront (1984), and This Freedom (1985). His style and technique can be described as Australian social realism with polished devices derived from European realist story writers. Stories such as ‘The Incense Burner’, in which a sick sailor, unable to work his passage home, burns gum leaves in his lonely room, reflect Australian nostalgia. Others, including ‘North Wind’, a description of fighting a bush fire, display a narrative power which have contributed to his reputation as a master of his craft. He has also published a collection of essays, The Happy Warrior (1990)." (http://www.jrank.org/literature/pages...)

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mor...

Reviews

[Pam Keevil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!

It's a series of short scenes/vignettes about Milltown; a small Penine town, not dissimilar to Hebden Bridge and the assortment of characters who have pitched up there. Set in Spring 1997, the reader is introduced to such characters as Willow Woman ( a new age hippy type), the Smallholder family, Councillor Prattle and Sad Couple amongst others. It combines the small town politics and activities with a tongue in the cheek description of the lives of the newcomers. But my favorite must be descriptions is of one of the pubs, called the Grievous Bodily Arms where 'they think shandy is a cocktail'. Humour apart, there are a number of wonderful descriptions of the swollen river in winter, the Christmas lights and the onset of spring.