Slow Train to Suburbia — Charles Webb

In the blistering summer of 1911, City stockbroker George Chesshyre moves his family to a new house in south London. George looks forward to a life of domestic bliss but a continuous chain of events conspires against him and his yearned for reverie is repeatedly thwarted and dashed by the arrival of  cantankerous and odd relatives, unexpected animals and a merciless drain on his wallet. Not helped by the unceasing, debilitating heat of one of the hottest summers on record, George battles to and from the City each day on the ‘Slow Train to Suburbia'. As the year progresses and the autumn leaves fall, a procession of colourful characters adds, by turn, hilarity and heartbreak, culminating in a riotous Christmas Day, a fitting climax to an event-filled year.

In ‘Slow Train to Suburbia' the author paints a sympathetic and nostalgic picture of life in the suburbs before the First World War. The world is rapidly changing and old certainties are fading fast. The dying embers of the Edwardian age are captured beautifully in the situations, characters and prose, and will leave a deep and lasting impression in the memories and imaginations of everyone who reads and enjoys this unusual novel.