Crossing the Lines

August 1, 2005
Bragg's massive trilogy of his hometown in Cumbria, northern England, steers to a close as the torch is passed from WWII hero Sam Richardson to his son Joe. In 1955, Wigton is a quiet town, animated by hard work, gossip and changes of weather. Joe spends his days in school, nights working in his parents' pub and most of his free time thinking about his neighbor Lizzie. When Lizzie is sexually assaulted by some local roughnecks, the men are brutally beaten, and Lizzie is shipped off to be cared for by Liverpool relatives. As Joe grows older, his choices become starker; as he grows serious with a schoolmate named Rachel, opportunity knocks in the form of Oxford. Bragg has returned to the subject of Wigton many times over his long career as a novelist and BBC commentator, and his deep affection and knowledge of the place give strength to this coming-of-age story. As in The Soldier's Return
and A Son of War
, Bragg's prose is straightforward and unadorned, allowing only the occasional literary flourish, with a tendency toward understatement that is as precise as it is convincing. Devoted Anglophiles in particular will find much to appreciate in this unhurried examination of postwar English life.

Starred review from August 15, 2005
The final volume in Bragg's acclaimed trilogy about post -World War II England (after "Soldier's Return" and "Son of War") picks up in the mid-1950s as young Joe Richardson becomes the first in the Northumbrian village of Wigton to attend Oxford. His parents, having weathered the storms of war, are approaching middle age and watch young Joe on the threshold of this great adventure with pride and affection. However, Joe is torn between his love of learning and his love for his teenage sweetheart, Rachel. He relishes his time with his learned tutors and the camaraderie with his fellow undergraduates but rushes back to Wigton and Rachel every chance he gets. Meanwhile, Rachel has left school and is cycling through jobs in a local bank, her life gradually steering away from Joe. Readers of the first two novels will warmly and enthusiastically welcome this finely crafted and engaging conclusion to Bragg's family saga. Highly recommended. -Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA

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