Just finished reading Melvyn Bragg's (MB), 1992 novel "Crystal Rooms" a telling tale of media, parliament, big business and bigger ego's and child abuse in a dysfunctional northern family. redeemed by a fairy tale ending, TV the media in general are all subject areas well known to Melvyn's personal experience and that influence permeates his story. An easy read but the plot unwinds with baleful predictability.
I see that I now have eight of MB'S titles so I must be a bit of a fan. He is famously a "Wigton lad" and I recall that the first time I visited Wigton (selling hosiery to the retail drapery trade in 1971) that I was conscious of the MB association. I have seen him a couple of times at the Keswick based "Words by the Water" literature festival - held annualy in March, and I guess I warm to him because of a shared love of the Lakes I recently picked up a second hand copy of his "Land of the Lakes" in my local Help the Aged charity shop - sorry M no royalties on this one - Another anthology of all the old favourite Lakeland Luminaries, but I'm into all that and it might give me some good photo opportunites for my Flickr group - Literary Britain and Ireland.
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