One Summer is the third in a series of four novels on the general theme of Northern working class life in the second half of the 20th century, all based on the old saying about being at work: "They should write a book about this place. It would be a best seller."

As in One Winter and One Spring, humour again plays a big part in the lives of the main characters in the Drawing Office of the Wilkinson Engineering Works. But soon their lives, and many of those around them, are to be changed irrevocably by the policies and decisions of a powerful Government.

Set in the fictional town of Ashurst on the old South Lancashire coalfield, between 1979 and the week before the start of the 1984 Miners' Strike, the novel is another vivid and evocative description of what now seems a bygone age, and also before the widescale introduction of the computer that greatly alters the face of British industry.

Geoff has certainly developed his writing skills since we both shared a desk at Knowsley Road School. I thoroughly enjoyed his first two novels, which brought back many memories for me. They were well written, realistic, and included some hilarious dialogue. I am sure he will be making it a hat trick with One Summer - Ray French