Running From the Spills is set in the South Manchester suburbs in the mid 1960s at the time of the Brady/Hindley murder trial, the infamous ‘Moors Murders’. The plot centres around the main character, a 12-year-old boy called Michael who narrates a year of his life – a year when his father leaves, his mother becomes ill and he comes to rely more and more on his older brother’s secondhand stories and his own adventures with his small gang in a rapidly changing landscape.
The outside world influences directly and indirectly on the storyline, not least in the impact that the disappearance of the victims and their eventual discovery buried on the moors has on the community. These events run concurrently with Michael’s narrative, and are interwoven with his own adventures and conflicts. The combination of all this and will come to significantly affect his actions and those of the other main characters.
Running From the Spills by Andrew Barton is partly a memoir, inspired by his childhood in South Manchester. It will appeal to readers aged 14-70, particularly to those who remember less health and safety-conscious times. Andrew is inspired by a number of books, including Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, and a number of authors, including Talbot Baines Reed.
- ISBN10 1780881452
- ISBN13 9781780881454
- Publish Date 30 June 2012
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 26 May 2021
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Troubador Publishing
- Imprint Matador
- Format Paperback
- Pages 336
- Language English