Based on her grandfather’s life, Pat Backley has written a book based on his life’s experience in the novel Valentine George.
Valentine George has a hard life, and we follow his story through the slums of London during Victorian times, through World War One and World War Two, and then onto the Sixties.
It’s a slightly harrowing story of significant loss, interspersed with times of love and joy. Valentine George really brings home how difficult life was for the ordinary people of the day – often struggle and tragedy seemed to their main birth right. But Pat has infused the story with love and clearly has a deep admiration for her grandfather who passed away when she was seventeen. He emerges as a kind, gentle man, stoic in the face of many troubles.
As a loving tribute, the book cover features a silhouette of him, taken from a photo Pat found from the 1930s.
This a great read for anyone interested in this period of history, and it would be an inspirational novel for anyone contemplating about writing about their own ancestors.
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