Name: Go Going Gone
Brand: Austin Macauley Publishers
SKU: 9781398477735
Price: 12.99 GBP
Availability: InStock
Rating: 5 (6 reviews)
Author: Mike Rooke

This story is about destinations. We’re often going somewhere, towards something new and undiscovered – that’s part of the thrill of being alive, but there are risks involved.

Hinging on big decisions, ‘Go Going Gone’ charts a young Englishman’s rite of passage inextricably linked with the struggles of an Irishman and his eight children trying to cope without a wife and mother.

Advised to ‘Go West’ in the summer of 1967, ex-school friends Simon Cooper and Ian Bradshaw end up in a coastal town. Here they meet pub singer and seaweed factory worker Joe Pierce, whose wife has recently left him for England, leaving her eight children and their ailing grandfather in the family’s small cottage. Despite much fun and entertainment, the violence and squalor in the household become too much for Ian, who hitches back home. Bound up in events beyond his wild imagining, Simon’s bold wish to get their mother back has life-changing consequences.

Featuring priests and nuns, doctors and policemen, lawyers and courtroom drama, along with family turmoil on both sides of the Irish Sea, ‘Go Going Gone’ includes moments of craic and comedy, domestic violence and tragedy. When professional social work in rural Ireland was largely unheard of, the church had other ways of doing things.

Full of culture shock and sudden change, this story bristles with conflict.

Having taught arts and social studies in a further education college, married with two children and living in Manchester, Mike Rooke is now engaged full-time writing fiction. A frequent visitor to Ireland since his first stay there a few decades ago, in Go Going Gone, Mike has been inspired to write a story of cultural change, domestic turmoil and conflict on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Customer Reviews

5.0

6 reviews

JMB

A very interesting story, and beautifully written.
Mrs K V Jackson

This is an expertly crafted and deeply moving story with strong themes of compassion and injustice. I came to care deeply about each of the characters thanks to the author’s thoughtful writing. Highly recommended.
C M Rooke

thrilling read
TingMart

Many of us baby boomers were desperate to escape the stifling conformity and inertia of the post war years. Simon, the reluctant hero of the story is one of these young men and gets himself into deep water whilst trying to navigate the rapids of his own sexual and intellectual growth. He is at the same time ingenuous, compassionate, impulsive and self questioning and if you are of that generation you can't help but admire him, be frustrated by and in some ways, identify with him. This is a heart rending story which left me gasping at the English boy's audacity in confronting injustice in Ireland, whilst representing the nation that perpetrated great injustice on it. I'm a slow reader, but couldn't put this book down.
JoCee

'Go, Going, Gone' is a fly-on-the-wall excursion into the tragedy of human life. Simon, the main protagonist, does what he thinks is right for the greater good, but cannot help likening himself to Judas; the betrayer of a man who is his friend. The novel is a journey into the muddy waters of what’s right and what’s wrong, allowing us to consider the positive and negative aspects of the impetuousness of youth. Your conclusions will depend on your social, religious and ethical perspective – all of which are open for discussion in this book. Is Simon an angel or a demon? A saviour or a catalyst for catastrophic change? Were his actions guided by a will to do what he thought was right, or was he interfering and meddling in things that he had no experience of; things that were none of his business anyway? The reader must decide this for themselves. The chapters alternate between Simon and the other protagonist, Colleen – a young girl on the cusp of puberty. We get to know both characters in depth by their actions and by being privy to their innermost thoughts. Through their eyes we start to understand, and sympathise, with Colleen’s father, Joe, who is portrayed as the main antagonist. Most readers will be left feeling empathy for Joe as he clearly did his best under difficult circumstances. This empathy may make the reader cast doubt on Simon’s actions. All in all, an engaging read that transports you to the west coast of Ireland, where you’ll become familiar with its 1960s customs, culture and contradictions. I think this would be a good book for Readers’ Groups as it would prompt interesting philosophical discussions.
Martin J

Many of us baby boomers were desperate to escape the stifling conformity and inertia of the post war years. Simon, the reluctant hero of the story is one of these young men and gets himself into deep water whilst trying to navigate the rapids of his own sexual and intellectual growth. He is at the same time ingenuous, compassionate, impulsive and self questioning and if you are of that generation you can't help but admire him, be frustrated by and in some ways, identify with him. This is a heart rending story which left me gasping at the English boy's audacity in confronting injustice in Ireland, whilst representing the nation that perpetrated great injustice on it. I'm a slow reader, but couldn't put this book down.