Updike Willow
By Chris Soul
I was born in a lorry outside A&E of the Royal Surrey County Hospital on June 6th 1980. Apparently my so-called father, having been a lorry driver, had rushed my mother to the hospital but at a very late stage; resulting in my unfortunate birth over the gear stick. I can only imagine the chaos of my entry into the world with nurses raising their hands to the high open lorry door hurrying to catch my head...
Updike Willow has always had a difficult upbringing. With a disappearing father and an alchoholic mother, he has had to find his own way in life. After terrorizing a girl at school with a rat sandwich, Updike is dumped on the doorstep of Aunt Ruth; a formidable iron-lady who means to transform her troubled nephew. But this is the 1980s and the 1990s will promise no better. Can Updike become the man he should be? Can he make sense of his life and unravel the secrets of his mother's past?
From 1980 to the present day, Updike Willow is a funny, poignant, troubling trek through our times...
