A man of his time
By: Alan Sillitoe.
Publisher: Flamingo
Published: 2004
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 378
Subjects: Blacksmiths -- Fiction.; Working class families -- Fiction.; Abused children -- Fiction.; Married people -- Fiction.; Adultery -- Fiction.; Bullies -- Fiction.; England -- Fiction.
Genres: Fiction.
Description: In 1887, 21-year-old Ernest Burton leaves his parents' home in a village near Nottingham for the first time, to take up work as a journeyman blacksmith in the coalfields of South Wales. Ernest takes to the role with ease -- boldly, recklessly, fearlessly standing up to his superiors and seducing young girls. In a bid to settle down, Ernest returns home to marry his childhood sweetheart and become a master smith. A tyrannical father, he rules over his young family with an iron fist, instilling a mixture of fear and hatred in is sons and daughters. A bully, who shows no mercy, he also has effortless charm and magnetic attraction.