Canal fiction books

Book - Greasy Ocker Ref: 1175
by Derek Pratt.

This book is the story of two young canal boatmen fated to continue the feud that has separated their families for generations. One boatman struggles on trying to make an honest living. The other leaves the boats to take to a life of crime.

Eventually, fate conspires to involve both men in a spectacular robbery that brings the family vendetta to a violent conclusion.

Greasy Ocker is set on the canals of London and the Black Country and also in the sleazy underworld of London and Birmingham.

Soft back. 192 pages. 6" x 9¼" approx.
Price: £8.75

Book - Sleep No More Ref: 1696
by L.T.C. Rolt.

This powerful collection of stories of the supernatural shows how skilled Rolt was in using the background of railways and canals to produce tales of real mystery and imagination. 14 tales of elemental fears and strange and inexplicable happenings.

Soft back. 129 pages. 5" x 7¾" approx.
Price: £7.75

Book - Ramlin' Rose Ref: 465
by Sheila Stewart.

Drawing on recorded interviews with the few boatwomen left who were born and bred on horse-drawn boats, Sheila Stewart has recounted their experiences as seen through the eyes of an illiterate boatwoman, travelling mainly on the Oxford Canal through the Great War, the Depression, the Second World War and the decline of the canals.

It is a poignant account of astonishing courage and resilience, capturing a unique way of life during the first 60 years of this century.

Soft back. 230 pages, 17 black & white photos. 5" x 7¾" approx.
Price: £9.75