Changing of the Guard

Pomp and Poverty #1

by James Farner

“I thought my parents were killed when two runaway packhorses threw off their loads at the Ebonson Carrying Company…I was wrong.”

Queen Victoria ascends the throne in 1837 and heralds in a new era of prosperity for the British Empire. Whilst the great Norlong and Ebonson families fly the flag for the British Empire, Edward Urwin spends his time scratching pieces of art into the cobblestones of Birmingham.

Life is straightforward for Edward until a strange old man approaches him in the street. With the help of Henry Beechworth, Edward learns to read and use his special talents to win a place at St. John’s Boarding School.

But it isn’t all down to good fortune. Edward doesn’t realise he’s under control of forces far more powerful than him. Forces that are determined to shape him in their image. Forces that are determined to bury the mystery of the demise of the Urwin family for good…

Check out the first books of my other series, including Made in Yorkshire and the War Years.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Mystery, Ebooks, Thriller, Amazon

312 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2015

About the author

James Farner is a professional writer and draws upon his love of fiction and his love of stories that span generations. His signature series Made in Yorkshire was born out of a desire to find out ‘what happened next?’

At the end of every good film, book, or TV show the characters disappear and that’s the end of them. James isn’t alone in the desire to find out what happened to the characters afterwards.

This is how Made in Yorkshire appeared. Starting from 1953 and driving on to the modern day, James explores the different eras of Britain through his colourful cast of characters.

Prior to writing fiction, he enjoyed a career as a freelance writer. His writing has appeared online, in magazines, and in a variety of other publications.

When not writing, he can be found sketching, watching sports, and playing the tin whistle.

Reviews

[Elidoyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Get an editor.

First third of the book had my attention. Then it just disintegrated. Grammar, punctuation and spacing went out the window. The storyline fell apart, too. This was supposedly written by a "professional writer". I won't spend any more of my time on this "author".

[JT · Rating 1 out of 5]

The thought of a family saga by this author intrigued me after reading 1914 (the war books series) which I really enjoyed. However, I was disappointed. The beginning of the book started off with a storyline that had potential and looked interesting, but then it started to wander, disintegrating into a fizzle out at the end (not a good sign for the first book of a series). Furthermore, the introduction of characters was haphazard and trying to follow their interaction and purpose was confusing. I can't recommend this book to read.

[Wayne Nealis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, but!!

Enjoyed the plot, but several times you jump from one scene to another without a break. Seems a bit rambling.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be an interesting read. I enjoy historical fiction, specifically Victorian England. The story had some fun twist and turns, but at times difficult to follow. I finished the story but not sure I’ll read any of the follow ones.

[Mick Dubois · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts off as a normal 'from rags to richness' story; It 's 1927 and young Edward is raised by his aunt and very strict uncle who works for a hauling company, but they 're still poor. His parents both died in a terrible accident but from the very start, we learn that there's something fishy about that incident. An older neighbour starts taking an interest in the young child and especially in his drawings. This man starts teaching Edward to read and write and fixes him up with a boxing trainer. One day he just disappears without as much as a word, much to the boy's disappointment. ... From this point on nowhere in the book, the drawing is mentioned again. And that is the main frustation that I have with this book. The writer starts with a topic or storyline and abandons it without a word of explanation. It looks as if he himself had not a clue what direction this story would take. It seems to run left, right and centre with hints and allegations, none of them worked out or explained! Nevertheless, the story in itself was interesting enough (I enjoyed reading it), but poorly edited. I got this book free on bookbub, but don't think I'll buy the other volumes unless they 're free as well.

[Barbara Gore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read James Farner's books in the past so I knew would not be disappointed. This was another good book of his and definitely had a twist to it. Just a very easy to read author. This story had quite a few characters and the way he puts them together is just interesting. I have already started the sequel.

[Crt · Rating 4 out of 5]

It will never win a prize for literature, and the plot is fanciful at times. In spite of this, I actually quite enjoyed it and it beings the historical context, Victorian Britain, to life quite well.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Historical fiction set during the early days of Victoria’s reign in Britain. I found the beginning of the book compelling but lost interest and forced myself to finish it.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A twisty saga about a boy rising above his station despite the odds

Edward is a dirt poor boy living in squalid conditions. He and everyone around him live in abject poverty. There is no avenue to rise above his station. There is no need for school. He like everyone around him will live and die as a laborer.
Until an old man suddenly takes and interest in him. He begins to teach the boy how to read, write and do math. But the old man has his reasons in engaging the boy. As does everyone else who steps in to "help".
This is a story of the Haves and Have Nots. About greed and power. About redemption and revenge.
I initially thought Changing of the Guard was a suspense novel about some begger rising above All. Or maybe a thieving Oliver Twist tale. It is nothing of the sort. It is a complicated story about a boy and people in and outside his circle trying to survive, keep secrets and hold onto their power.
Not my cup of tea. But 3 stars for qua!our writing.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has got to have been written as a joke, surely. The plot was all over the place. I can imagine the author and his friends at the pub one night - "Dare you to write a rags to riches book". Next week, "Easy, he has great art talent". "Dare you to make it something else". "OK, his aunt is rich and saves him". "Try again". "His talents take him to Oxford". "Try again". Argh. The twists and turns make no sense at all. The final twist had me groaning not gasping. It made no sense. The plot was full of hole, like the vest my uncle wears to do the gardening. Speaking of metaphors, and going with my pub analogy, worth a pint for every one he could throw in, the worse the better? And throw in a few historical facts out of context, like what is happening around the rest of the world. The only reason I read it to the end was for the laugh value.

[Lindasp · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a quite complicated plot set in England from 1827 to 1847 involving a young lower class boy who makes good despite a lot of behind the scenes secret actions by others. It was difficult to keep up with all the twists and turns. It didn't help the reader that the book was poorly edited as other reviewers have mentioned. On one page, a character was misidentified as Albert at the top of the page (although there had been no Albert in the story so far) and then partway down the page, he was finally correctly identified as Stuart. There were several other editing misses which were careless and annoying. Apparently this is the first of a series but I'm not sure I'll waste my time reading them.

[Cindy Woods · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rather messy!

I must admit my disappointment with the writing here as well as a lack of proper editing. The combination of both need for editing and an extremely convoluted plot made it very difficult to read this book.

I recently read another series by this author that I enjoyed immensely, though, which is why I chose to begin this series. This is obviously an earlier work by the author and shows in the writing. The poor usage of prose and adjectives makes for clumsy sentences and much of the time it was an effort to understand what was going on.

I don't have a desire to continue this particular series, but do plan to read another one by the author as I know his later work was something I enjoyed very much.

[Carlos Mock · Rating 1 out of 5]

Changing of the Guard (Pomp and Poverty Book 1) by James Farner

What was supposed to be a "rags to riches" story in the Victorian British Era, turns out to be a poorly written novel. The characters: Clarence, Edward, and Gertrude Urwin; Henry Beechworth; Gertrude and Hugo Ebonson are poorly introduced. Even though they are narrated from the third person point of view, they are two dimensional. I never identified with them. They have no purpose and they interact poorly.

The plot is broken and not realistic. The prose has spelling mistakes and is quite flat. I forced myself to finish the book: definitively will not read any of the volumes that are supposed to follow.

I don't recommend the book!

[Fred · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first in a series with the same characters continuing throughout the series. The story takes place in the early 19th century in Birmingham. The book depicts a realistic view of what life was like at that time. The affectations and snobbery of the wealthy and the grinding poverty of the poor. In that background is a tale of intrigue, plotting and nasty characters. There is lots of action to keep the reader interested and this is a novel where the reader is always left wondering what will happen next and what plots are taking place in the background. James Farner is skillful in dropping hints that all is not as it appears and leaving the reader wanting to know more.
I was so engrossed in this book that I immediately bought the second in the series and have started reading it.

[Wendy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book suffers from the lack of good editing. The writing was stilted, the was plot hard to follow and didn't make sense a lot of the time because it made undeveloped or confusing leaps, and the book was just generally a very poor read. The author seems to have few skills in terms of developing a fluent storyline, or putting in enough details to keep the reader interested and making the story make sense. The poorly developed characters were forgettable and the grammar often awkward or confusing (for example, when "he" and "they" were referred to, it often wasn't obvious who the author was talking about.) Not recommended at all.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better readers than me would like this book. It seemed like the author could not get what was in his head into my head. I was not surprised that Edward did not know the real story of his life. Several characters worked together to make sure impoverished Edward got a chance to get an education and leave poverty behind him. The author's misuse of personal pronouns made the book hard to read. I liked the storyline and thought the author wrote an excellent ending.

Thank you, Mr. Farner, for a good read.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book even though there were a lot of characters and it seemed to jump from scene to scene. The main character is Edward Urwin and the setting is the early 1800's in England. Lots of mystery and history. Edward is from an extremely poor family and being raised by a brute of an uncle and his caring aunt. The story continues through his early twenty's and he's always trying to figure out why things and circumstances are always changing.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suspenseful but...

Poorly written. The numerous errors in grammar, punctuation, inconsistent facts, along with clumsy transitions, left something to be desired. All that aside, the storyline was clever and provided twists and turns when least expected. It was riveting, at times, but the errors were distracting and caused me to stop reading several times, unsure if I would continue.

[Charlene A. Lester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man of character

Young boy was "adopted" when a wealthy widow discovered his parents had reportedly been killed in an accident. Prior to his adoption there was an elderly man that started teaching him how to read. The widow made arrangements for him to attend a private boarding school.

Why?? Was all of this planned when his parents died? Were both of his parents killed? You will have to read the book to get the answers to these questions.

Good read

[Jack Getz · Rating 1 out of 5]

This guy writes a lot of books, which is difficult to imagine given this effort. Confusing, trite, cliched, overworked, contrived, labored and did I say confusing? His use (abuse) of metaphors is comical, the best being something like ‘she puckered her mouth as if she had just drunk from a mop bucket.’ They got worse from there.

Just a poor read and an embarrassment to someone who does this for a living...like editors, publishers and author.

[JoAnn Stearns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good story

The plot was somewhat predictable, however, I liked the main character and wanted to see justice win out in the end. I got a little lost at times remembering who some of the characters were as the story concentrated on one character at a time through the different chapters. It got better as I kept reading, however. I enjoyed the ending, it might be interesting to read the next book in this series.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking reality

This story is heartbreaking on how real the authors drag you into the harsh reality or what people have insured growing up or just trying to survive for another day. I was so drawn in by the great writing that I could almost feel the dirt of the shabby living conditions that the subject were forced to endure.
Now it is time for me to buy the second book in the series because I have become invested in the lives of the familys.

[Kathrine Manning · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book needed so much editing. It alternates didactic expositions of 19th Century history with glaring anachronisms; for example, boys in a public school being served "brunch", sleeping in four poster beds and "switching on" a light - in the 1830s! I never managed to ascertain the relevance of the title. Characters come and go, contributing little to the narrative. Sometimes their names change on the same page. I'm ashamed of myself for reading to the end!

[Bette Lentz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Early Years

The street urchin Edward meets a kind man who teaches him to read. Edward is the ward of his uncle who is a rough dock worker in Birmingham, England during the early 1800's. The story follows Edward as he becomes a man. Many twists and surprises await in this historical novel.

[Robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of short stories with little plot

The style of the book is told thru the eyes of a collection of characters. Each has their own story and back story. But the book lacked a cohesive overall plot and in one place the book would state another character was never seen again .. Only to have them reappear a few pages later.

[Tess Ailshire · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I don't feel it necessary to be as brutal and dismissive as some of the reviewers here, I feel comfortable in saying there was nothing in this - Book 1 - that made me want to go further and read the rest of the series. I found the characters flat, Edward's lack of intellectual curiosity deplorable, and the plot unnecessarily convoluted. It was evident that *something* was unusual about Edward's parentage and upbringing, so nothing revealed later came as any surprise.

[Stanley McShane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Changing of the Guard

A fine tale of early 19th century life in England. Poverty and wealth are only a breath away for the well to do’s daughter. Living in that time period was rough for all but almost impossible for a woman. Contrast this with today’s society and the end result is a conflicted excellent story. C E Williams FFBB

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story which is quite a convoluted mystery. I am puzzled why there were a number of grammatical errors. Is this due to the book being a Kindle Book and the conversion was not properly edited? I see this in many of the books I read on my Kindle and find it somewhat disappointing as the errors do, sometimes, impact the flow of the story.

[Dean McIntyre · Rating 1 out of 5]

CHANGING OF THE GUARD by James Farner - Based on a previous good read by this author, this one turned out to be a disappointment. Boring plot, weak characters, poor transitions between sections, confusing time line, wandering plot that didn't make sense. This is just bad writing and poor editing. One star is generous.

[Jo Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

an orphan living in poverty with his aunt and abusive uncle. he gets help along the way in unexpected places and people. but why? The dawn of English empire places the orphan in extraordinary places but why and who is he? Why do people die around him? a fun read, and i'd like to finish the series.