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Waiting for the Beatles

By Frank Kenny
Published by Portside Publishing

Reviewed by Sue Hunter

This book is a story about the daily life of an 11-year-old boy growing up in 60s Liverpool. The title, “Waiting for the Beatles” refers to their triumphant return from the US, and tour of the city streets.
Although John, the main character, looks forward to this event all through the book, the story is really about his thoughts and feelings, fears and hopes as he plays and fights with his mates, has narrow escapes in “bombdies”*, runs away in terror from threatening older boys, and listens to his uncle Jim explaining about “solidarity” on the docks.
John’s mother is a devout Catholic and very strict: there are constant arguments between her and her brother, Uncle Jim the atheist and fighter for workers’ rights.These rows are not boring discussions about religion versus class-consciousness, however, but lively debates which John eavesdrops on with great interest and much confusion.
John’s family live in the Dingle, and the book is peppered with familiar street names, although many have now been knocked down. In fact, many streets are being knocked down in the story, causing constant discussion and concern. Friends of John’s sister have been re-housed in Halewood, where they claim everything is “great”, but when John and Mary visit them, they are treated coldly: their old friends have clearly turned into snobs.
Via Uncle Jim, John learns about Liverpool’s history, the slave trade, and struggles for decent working conditions. Uncle Jim is no saint however: he is a lively drunken character, full of jokes and pranks.
Issues of class and race constantly come up in John’s life: fights and friendships with black lads from “Prinny Road”: strict boundaries between gangs: disdain for “posh” kids.
I am assured by someone who grew up in that place and time that all the banter, scrapes and adventures ring true: (being a female from Yorkshire I had to ask).
This story describes a time of greater hardships, but also more innocence: the episodes in John’s life are funny, sad and poignant.
This book has real emotional depth.

Available from News from Nowhere, Borders, O8 Shop Whitechapel and selected book stores.

*derelict old houses

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