WHAT'S IT ABOUT THIS ENGLAND ALL OVER?
It's the story of a middle class man who breaks from the small 'c' conservatism of his homeland. Clive is a Geography teacher - or rather, was, until the awful daring of a moment's surrender led to an indiscretion and he lost his job. And his wife and daughter. And his home. We find him in early summer living in a horrible flat in Streatham, south London. He's behind on the rent, has a debt collection service coming after him, and still gets phone calls for the previous tenant, who hung himself from a pipe in the kitchen.
Clive has just gone for an interview for a job as a tour guide with Britannia Tours, part of the Wonga Leisure corporation. Barry is an ex-Club 18-to-30 Jack the Lad who interviews him in the pub. He's not bothered about Clive's lack of experience. Their boss is to be Alexander, a Sloane Ranger with no talent for business who plays cricket in his office and is researching his aristocratic origins.
Although Clive gets the job, he finds he can't get enough days work, and spends his time waiting for the phone to ring, or visiting his mother far across the city in Wembley. She has Alzheimer's Disease and is looked after by Clive's only brother, Gordon.
After an incident in the River Thames, Clive wanders through London for three days, his senses and imagination renewed, and his appreciation for London and the English jump-started. He decides that to find his former workmates and form a new tour company that will show people the real England, and allow him to provide his own idiosyncratic commentary. Albion Tours is born, and as they set about winning customers Clive meets a woman like no other, Rose. She is the driver. Rose loves technical things, like old motorcycles and computers, but she also has an entrepreneurial streak and agrees to join Albion Tours. She is not tall, nor shapely, nor well- dressed, but she has a self possession and generosity that make her irresistible to Clive.
England All Over deals with
themes of class, male identity, history, heritage, memory, language and love,
while poking gentle fun at the small ‘c’ conservatism of the English.
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NOW......THIS IS WHAT WAS SENT OUT TO THE BOOKSTORES, TO GET THEM TO BUY IT.
ENGLAND ALL OVER
Joseph Gallivan
Pub Date March 16th 2000 [ISBN etc]
<snip>
The Brilliant Sequel to the Highly Acclaimed Oi, Ref!
It happened over a hot English summer. The story of one man’s fall from grace and his recovery lies at the heart of Joseph Gallivan’s new novel. Bringing the same level of commitment, offbeat humour and idiosyncrasy to his heroes as he brought to his first novel, Oi, Ref!, Joseph Gallivan’s second novel will address wider issues. Love, sex, class, identity, memory, history, and even the threat of the breakup of the Union all feature in this remarkable novel of a tour guide who decides to take people around his version of England. He thought he knew the route, but he loses the plot badly.
PROMOTIONS
[CUT ANY MENTION OF FOOTBALL]
1 Major proof reading copy mailings to literary editors, booksellers and class analyst Tony Parsons.
2 Publication coincides with the run up to Euro 2000, and all the usual England versus the Rest antagonism that brings up.
SELLING POINTS
1 The brilliant follow on to Oi, Ref! ENGLAND ALL OVER intimately explores one man’s attempts to rebuild his life, as well as examining the English condition in general.
2 A fresh and enlivening take on the age-old problem of relationships that is witty and vibrant and will appeal to BOTH sexes.
3 Both literary and commercial, this is just the area of the market where he greatest growth in readership is taking place.
KEY REVIEWS OF OI, REF!
1 “A rough, tough roller-coaster ride which is not for the faint-hearted,” Sunday Mercury
2 “It will be hard to see David Elleray in the same light again,” When Saturday Comes
THE AUTHOR
Joseph Gallivan is the author of a novel about football called Oi, Ref! He was born and bred in Birmingham and now divides his time between New York and London.
BIRTHPLACE: UK
WHEREABOUTS: LONDON, NEW YORK, CYBERSPACE
PREVIOUS BOOKS: Oi, Ref! (0340 708611)
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