Progress Road

by Geoffrey Beevers

A man dreams that a giant roller moves over the city, crushing everything in its path in the name of Progress.

Behind it unfolds a wide road.

The man knows he must follow this road into the future to try to find his missing children.

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Geoffrey Beevers is a British actor who has appeared in many different stage and screen roles.

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked a copy of this book up at a Doctor Who signing event, Beevers who played The Master in The Keeper of Tarken as had copies of the book on he’s stall.

I really enjoyed this book, written in the 70’s there’s so many great metaphors of the time.
A fascinating read.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Geoffrey Beevers' previous novel, The forgotten fields, so when I found he had written another one I picked this up as soon as I could. I wasn't as excited about the idea of a retelling of the pilgrims' progress, having attempted to read it as a child and given up with boredom. But this was much more interesting allegory. Here consumerism and capitalism were slated for the short sighted path of destruction that they are. Beevers had written this novel in the 70s, but it was surprising how little of the criticism had changed. There were still people making things designed to break, so people would buy the newer ones. It was an endless parade of humiliation to get ahead. Eventually it all broke down, the alternative at the end wasn't as good as News from nowhere. Here everyone had to do a bit of everything and as such there was a lot of unnecessary toil. While things were simplistic as an alternative to over production the value of art, culture and heritage seemed to be missing. Still it was an interesting novella and one I would recommend.

[Gaz Galey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very well written book. I normally don't go for more political stories but Geoffrey Beevers has a way of writing that is very beautiful. It's short, but very emotional.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having met Geoffrey Beevers at a Doctor Who event in 2019, I bought his book 'The Progress Road', which he signed for me. Although written by Beevers, who is well known for portraying the Master in Doctor Who, the book is completely unrelated to the famous sci-fi show. It does, however, have a whimsical sci-fi tone to it.

'The Progress Road' was written in the 1970s and published more recently by Fantom. It follows a man whose house is crushed by a giant roller, leaving him in a state of panic as he realises his children are missing. He is then told to follow the aforementioned Progress Road, going through a series of thought-provoking obstacles to be reunited with his children.

Whilst I did enjoy the book, and would like to read some of Beevers' other books, I did feel that it was a slow narrative. It meandered along, and not much happened in the story. Apart from the main character's quest to be reunited with his children, there didn't seem to be much of a plot, and I don't feel like I ever truly got to know any of the characters. Having said that, I don't think it was meant to be such a typical novel and it was certainly thought-provoking. I could easily picture it being adapted as a feature film and look forward to reading more of Beevers' books in the future.

[April Mccaffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never read anything quite like this before as I picked it up on Geoffrey Beever's stall at a convention along with his other book the Forgotten Field and I have to say, I enjoyed both of them.

Beevers wrote this book back in the 70's as he wrote in his forward but a lot of the points he has made in this book are still highly relevant today; the points he are making about unemployment issues, greed and unnecessary luxuries are extremely valid such as in terms of products like Apple where a lot of people buy iphones only for them to break 6 months later or they buy another one because it's in the trend. Here in the book he described it by using "blip" but both are the same thing.

One quote that did strike out to me in this book, however, was one at the very early beginning of it. "People can afford things that are expensive, but they can't afford the things that are necessary." It is extremely necessary, especially comparing it with First and Third world developments.

I shall look forward to more of Geoffrey Beevers books.