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The Holy City?  No, this book is not about Jerusalem!

It is a novel based on the growing-up memories of the author in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, Scotland.  Henderson vividly portrays the cultural worldview of her forebears and family in the way they manage their relationships and daily activities.

She beautifully flavours her whole portrayal of confused, dysfunctional family life with the native brogue of her family and the people of Clydebank.  This is a delight to read.  The family situations are portrayed so honestly that the events provoke anger and sorrow, as well as empathy.

The fictionalized story spins out the tale in the town of Clydebank, to tell the tale of Glaswegians [residents of Glasgow] who were transplanted to Clydebank to make a new start.  But there they were viewed suspiciously and treated as criminal elements from the outside.

Henderson recreates the bombings of Clydebank by the Germans in WW II.  She follows the story of children orphaned and on their own, or exploited by their supposed care-givers.  She gives us insights into the agonies of soldiers returning home to find their home, neighbourhood and families gone.

The shipbuilding industry is always a backdrop of this story, with generations of men working in dangerous and exploitative, as well as low-paying, industry Clydebank was known for.

Another strong thread of culture is the conflict between Catholic and Protestant highland Scots learning to deal with a new life in the mixed lowlands and the changing postwar culture, with new influences from English sophistication and proletarian Marxism that threaten the old ways.

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OBJ

First written 15 December 2006
Finalized and posted on Thoughts and Resources 20 December 2006
Reviewed on Amazon 2 March 2009

Orville Boyd Jenkins, EdD, PhD
Copyright © 2006 Orville Boyd Jenkins
Permission granted for free download and transmission for personal or educational use.  Other rights reserved.

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