John Young Simms

'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times'

Dickens' words perfectly capture the spirit of this fascinating story of growing up amidst horses, trams, cobbles and pig's feet, in the Hammer district of Belfast's legendary Shankill Road at the height of the Great Depression. In a work which is funny, affectionate and appalling by turns, John Young Simms skillfully gathers up the bright threads of childhood, and weaves them into a universal tale.

'Each tale swells in the mind, like grain in water, until the reader finds it necessary to pause, savour its taste, and go back over it again before moving the short distance to the next... not just memories and snippets, but a mother lode, a seam of rich, sad, funny remembering: a lovely story well told'

Sam McAughtry