The long awaited sequel to Richard Heller's highly-regarded cricket novel A Tale of Ten Wickets. Teenage pace bowler Steve is the only child of a disintegrating marriage. He's just left a sink school. He has no social life, no girlfriend and no career prospects. The only thing holding him together is his dream of becoming a fast bowler. But his lonely pursuit of his dream brings him a network of new relationships and a new life. Narrated by its principal characters in vivid dialogue, by turns richly comic and highly sentimental, The Network is a rich tribute to the power of sport.
The Network
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Review
Richard Heller, a man with a CV that is startling in its wide-ranging reach, has produced in print form the full version of a book that was originally designed to be released in chapters on the internet: an updated Charles Dickens, so to speak. At over 500 pages it is a bit of a daunting read, but as the author disarmingly notes in his Preface, he couldn't bear to see his characters lose any of their storylines. Stylistically, it is unusual in that the author has chose to give his main characters their 'voice' in individual fonts. Does it work? Well, this jury's still out on that but it does give the book a genuinely singular look. It's always difficult to gauge a cricket book's appeal and fiction is especially tricky. I would hazard a guess that this book would appeal more to say, a teenage audience than to more senior readers. That's not meant to write it off as 'teenage fiction', rather to feel that the trials, tribulations, angsts and exhilarations within would see people from that age group most likely to identify with the hero (and perhaps others, both male and female). It's difficult to review fiction without giving away the plot(s) so let's say that our talented cricketing hero does not enjoy the happiest of home lives but does find happiness in various ways, not all of them cricket-related. It's a book that will attract both bouquets and brickbats, I suspect, but it certainly does attempt to strike out in a new direction and to breathe life into that most difficult of formats, cricket fiction. --John Symons, Cricket Society
Can't remember relishing any cricket fiction so much --Matthew Norman, Evening Standard
A couple of weeks ago I reviewed A Tale of Ten Wickets by onetime Mail on Sunday writer Richard Heller. This is a sequel of sorts, in that he employs some of the characters from that book, albeit in minor roles. As it appears to be taking part some years after the events in that story (it could even be in real time, given that they were written 16 years apart), most of the main characters from this book are far too young to have featured in both. The story here centres on the friendship between Steve, 16, who is sensitive, intelligent and athletic, the only child of parents seemingly too busy to give him much attention, and Cal, a younger, vulnerable, artistically gifted boy who has suffered from bullying in the past. Both live for their cricket - Steve as a fast bowling all-rounder, Cal as a left-arm spinner who impresses Steve on their first meeting, at the nets, with his variations. Before long Steve is being invited home to meet Cal's mother Alice, a children's lawyer - but it soon becomes apparent that he has had an unhappy childhood himself, and is still grieving for the uncle he worshipped and whose love of reading he has inherited. As Steve's cricket starts to take off and also encompasses coaching, we are re-introduced to many of the characters from A Tale of Ten Wickets such as Tim Morrow, a young boy in the earlier book but now an England batsman (Heller also brings himself, or at least someone with his name, into the plot late on, which seems odd, to say the least). He also acquires a girlfriend and a new school, both of which bring him much happiness. A word here about the style, which takes some getting used to. There is no narrative in the normal sense of the word. Everything is related in the first person, but by several of the main characters - either thought, spoken, or told after the event. Each of them is represented by a different font. It isn't as confusing as it may sound, and it helps the story to move at a fast pace, like Steve's bowling. Not strictly a book about cricket, but one in which cricket plays a large part in helping two damaged youngsters, I did find it a little over-sentimental at times. Some of the young people portrayed here are implausibly sweet-natured, with Steve himself verging on saintliness - some of us who have been parents of teenagers ourselves may have had a somewhat different experience. But the writer does a good job of conveying the insecurities and awkwardness of adolescence, while the cricket scenes are, for the most part, true to life. Certainly worth checking out. --David Taylor, Cricketweb
Can't remember relishing any cricket fiction so much --Matthew Norman, Evening Standard
A couple of weeks ago I reviewed A Tale of Ten Wickets by onetime Mail on Sunday writer Richard Heller. This is a sequel of sorts, in that he employs some of the characters from that book, albeit in minor roles. As it appears to be taking part some years after the events in that story (it could even be in real time, given that they were written 16 years apart), most of the main characters from this book are far too young to have featured in both. The story here centres on the friendship between Steve, 16, who is sensitive, intelligent and athletic, the only child of parents seemingly too busy to give him much attention, and Cal, a younger, vulnerable, artistically gifted boy who has suffered from bullying in the past. Both live for their cricket - Steve as a fast bowling all-rounder, Cal as a left-arm spinner who impresses Steve on their first meeting, at the nets, with his variations. Before long Steve is being invited home to meet Cal's mother Alice, a children's lawyer - but it soon becomes apparent that he has had an unhappy childhood himself, and is still grieving for the uncle he worshipped and whose love of reading he has inherited. As Steve's cricket starts to take off and also encompasses coaching, we are re-introduced to many of the characters from A Tale of Ten Wickets such as Tim Morrow, a young boy in the earlier book but now an England batsman (Heller also brings himself, or at least someone with his name, into the plot late on, which seems odd, to say the least). He also acquires a girlfriend and a new school, both of which bring him much happiness. A word here about the style, which takes some getting used to. There is no narrative in the normal sense of the word. Everything is related in the first person, but by several of the main characters - either thought, spoken, or told after the event. Each of them is represented by a different font. It isn't as confusing as it may sound, and it helps the story to move at a fast pace, like Steve's bowling. Not strictly a book about cricket, but one in which cricket plays a large part in helping two damaged youngsters, I did find it a little over-sentimental at times. Some of the young people portrayed here are implausibly sweet-natured, with Steve himself verging on saintliness - some of us who have been parents of teenagers ourselves may have had a somewhat different experience. But the writer does a good job of conveying the insecurities and awkwardness of adolescence, while the cricket scenes are, for the most part, true to life. Certainly worth checking out. --David Taylor, Cricketweb
About the Author
Richard Heller is an author and journalist. He was a finalist in BBC Television's Mastermind 2008 series, answering questions on WC Fields; Naploleon's family; the Rodgers and Hart songbook. He was joint runner-up in 1996, answering questions on President Harry Truman; British politics between the wars; Sir Garry Sobers. From 1981 to 1983 he was chief of staff to Rt Hon Denis Healey MP, then Deptuy Leader of the Labour Party. He has worked in the movie business, in this country and Hollywood, and contributed additional dialogue to a motion picture called Cycle Sluts Versus The Zombie Ghouls. He has played cricket for many teams since the 1950s, as a medium-pace bowler who moves the ball both ways off the bat.
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Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
From The Cricket Society News Bulletin April 2011
Retired Hurt Pride? Ten Tell-Tale Signs That It's Time To Call "Over" On Your Playing Career by Richard Heller
In the career of every cricketer since David took the new ball against Goliath there are moments of thinking that it might be time to stop playing.
Mine first came at age seven, when I realized that I was always the last kid to be chosen in the playground. They have happened in every season since then, and I have always fought them down. But now, 55 years later, in the sunset of a mediocre career, I have learnt to recognize the ten infallible signs for any player that it is time to retire.
1) You are asked regularly to field at slip - not for catching but for concealment.
2) Your only hope of an ascent up the batting order is to volunteer to open against the opposition's psychotic fast bowler (released for the day on licence, and electronically tagged).
3) Your captain always finds compelling reasons to put on another bowler ahead of you ("Do you mind if I try Walter? I don't think this batsman's ever faced a dead fish before"). When you are finally unleashed to bowl at the opposition's nine-year-old he asks if he can remove his helmet. His mother agrees from the non-striker's end.
4) In net practice, you are invariably assigned to bowl or bat against the team mate who is most out of form.
5) You start rating your team's away matches by the quality of the tea on offer.
6) Your loved one photographs you in your whites and playfully invites you to breathe in - when you are already breathing in (see also 5).
7) Your team suddenly starts praising your expertise and authority as an umpire or your brilliance as a photographer or in some other non-playing skill.
8) You need a new bat. Every model on offer is called something like Thunderbolt and Lightning, Very Very Frightening. You are too embarrassed to use such an instrument. Eventually you find a more aptly-named model (The Nudger or the Squirter, with Genuine Willow Edges). Even at a far more modest price, you calculate that this bat will probably cost you over £2 a run for your remaining career.
9) No one else in your team can remember the Great Player who influenced you and whom you once dismissed in a charity game.
10) As in previous years you announce to your team your intention to stop playing. This time there are no protests, but you receive get-well-soon cards from several of your regular opponents.
Richard Heller is a slow-medium bowler who moves the ball both ways off the bat. The secret of his 55-year career was to found his own team, the London Erratics, to guarantee selection. He is the author of two novels about cricketers, A Tale Of Ten Wickets and its recently published sequel The Network
Ed. Mr Heller has also written the preceding mini-biography, thus cunningly ensuring that the Editor will have to review his book.
Review by John Symons, Editor
Richard Heller, a man with a CV that is startling in its wide-ranging reach, has produced in print form the full version of a book that was originally designed to be released in chapters on the internet: an updated Charles Dickens, so to speak.
At over 500 pages it is a bit of a daunting read, but as the author disarmingly notes in his Preface, he couldn't bear to see his characters lose any of their lines. Stylistically, it is unusual in that the author has chose to give his main characters their "voice" in individual fonts. Does it work? Well, this jury's still out on that but it does give the book a genuinely singular look.
It's always difficult to gauge a cricket book's appeal and fiction is especially tricky. I would hazard a guess that this book would appeal more to say, a teenage audience than to more senior readers. That's not meant to write it off as "teenage fiction," rather to feel that the trials, tribulations, angsts and exhilarations within would see people from that age group most likely to identify with the hero (and perhaps others, both male and female). It's difficult to review fiction without giving away the plot(s) so let's say that our talented cricketing hero does not enjoy the happiest of home lives but does find happiness in various ways, not all of them cricket-related.
It's a book that will attract both bouquets and brickbats, I suspect, but it certainly does attempt to strike out in a new direction and to breathe life into that most difficult of formats, cricket fiction.
Retired Hurt Pride? Ten Tell-Tale Signs That It's Time To Call "Over" On Your Playing Career by Richard Heller
In the career of every cricketer since David took the new ball against Goliath there are moments of thinking that it might be time to stop playing.
Mine first came at age seven, when I realized that I was always the last kid to be chosen in the playground. They have happened in every season since then, and I have always fought them down. But now, 55 years later, in the sunset of a mediocre career, I have learnt to recognize the ten infallible signs for any player that it is time to retire.
1) You are asked regularly to field at slip - not for catching but for concealment.
2) Your only hope of an ascent up the batting order is to volunteer to open against the opposition's psychotic fast bowler (released for the day on licence, and electronically tagged).
3) Your captain always finds compelling reasons to put on another bowler ahead of you ("Do you mind if I try Walter? I don't think this batsman's ever faced a dead fish before"). When you are finally unleashed to bowl at the opposition's nine-year-old he asks if he can remove his helmet. His mother agrees from the non-striker's end.
4) In net practice, you are invariably assigned to bowl or bat against the team mate who is most out of form.
5) You start rating your team's away matches by the quality of the tea on offer.
6) Your loved one photographs you in your whites and playfully invites you to breathe in - when you are already breathing in (see also 5).
7) Your team suddenly starts praising your expertise and authority as an umpire or your brilliance as a photographer or in some other non-playing skill.
8) You need a new bat. Every model on offer is called something like Thunderbolt and Lightning, Very Very Frightening. You are too embarrassed to use such an instrument. Eventually you find a more aptly-named model (The Nudger or the Squirter, with Genuine Willow Edges). Even at a far more modest price, you calculate that this bat will probably cost you over £2 a run for your remaining career.
9) No one else in your team can remember the Great Player who influenced you and whom you once dismissed in a charity game.
10) As in previous years you announce to your team your intention to stop playing. This time there are no protests, but you receive get-well-soon cards from several of your regular opponents.
Richard Heller is a slow-medium bowler who moves the ball both ways off the bat. The secret of his 55-year career was to found his own team, the London Erratics, to guarantee selection. He is the author of two novels about cricketers, A Tale Of Ten Wickets and its recently published sequel The Network
Ed. Mr Heller has also written the preceding mini-biography, thus cunningly ensuring that the Editor will have to review his book.
Review by John Symons, Editor
Richard Heller, a man with a CV that is startling in its wide-ranging reach, has produced in print form the full version of a book that was originally designed to be released in chapters on the internet: an updated Charles Dickens, so to speak.
At over 500 pages it is a bit of a daunting read, but as the author disarmingly notes in his Preface, he couldn't bear to see his characters lose any of their lines. Stylistically, it is unusual in that the author has chose to give his main characters their "voice" in individual fonts. Does it work? Well, this jury's still out on that but it does give the book a genuinely singular look.
It's always difficult to gauge a cricket book's appeal and fiction is especially tricky. I would hazard a guess that this book would appeal more to say, a teenage audience than to more senior readers. That's not meant to write it off as "teenage fiction," rather to feel that the trials, tribulations, angsts and exhilarations within would see people from that age group most likely to identify with the hero (and perhaps others, both male and female). It's difficult to review fiction without giving away the plot(s) so let's say that our talented cricketing hero does not enjoy the happiest of home lives but does find happiness in various ways, not all of them cricket-related.
It's a book that will attract both bouquets and brickbats, I suspect, but it certainly does attempt to strike out in a new direction and to breathe life into that most difficult of formats, cricket fiction.
By Felix
Format:Paperback
Richard Heller is a very mediocre cricketer. He describes himself as a slow-medium swing bowler who moves the ball both ways off the bat. However, he is a very good cricket novelist. He wrote A Tale Of Ten Wickets, a well-reviewed novel about a social cricket team called the Frenetics, which reveals the secret, surprising history of each of their players.
It took him fifteen years to write its sequel, and you can understand why. The Network is a Dickensian novel, crammed with incident and characters (some of them Real People) and multiple narratives. The Frenetics all reappear, older though not necessarily wiser, but there are five new characters who act as the narrators. Every single page is told to the reader by one or other of them (helpfully, each has his or her own typeface) - a technique which allows Richard Heller to convey their feelings directly and vividly, and to change fluently between their different voices.
The main character and principal narrator, Steve, is a teenager who is up against it. He is the only child of feuding parents. Ruefully, he notes "my family's a battleground and I'm just a small hill which each side occupies to fire on the other." He is lonely and self-mocking and without a future. He spends all his spare time reading the books given to him by a much-loved uncle (which provide him with an unusually rich vocabulary) and playing cricket. He does not even have a team to play for, but walks a long way to the nets in a public park, to bowl at anyone who asks.
An unpromising start, but Steve keeps faith with his dream of becoming a fast bowler and bit by bit it becomes true. Through cricket, he gets a network of new relationships which change his life.
The Network is a huge tribute to the power of sport. At times it seems too good to be true. It is almost a modern fairy story: the young warrior battles with honour through adversity and comes into his kingdom. Some parts are terribly sentimental, but Richard Heller stops it falling off the edge, by sparky dialogue and by powerful insight on some big issues, including dysfunctional families, homophobia, bullying, desertion, self-inflicted guilt. The cricket passages, in the nets or on the field, are brilliant, especially the match narrated by Steve, which gets right inside his head. Anyone who has ever played any sport with passion will identify with his ever-more desperate prayers for success.
The Network is a thick novel to cover a few months in an ordinary teenager's life. But an awful lot happens - not just to him but to everyone he meets - and it bowls along as fast as its young hero.
It took him fifteen years to write its sequel, and you can understand why. The Network is a Dickensian novel, crammed with incident and characters (some of them Real People) and multiple narratives. The Frenetics all reappear, older though not necessarily wiser, but there are five new characters who act as the narrators. Every single page is told to the reader by one or other of them (helpfully, each has his or her own typeface) - a technique which allows Richard Heller to convey their feelings directly and vividly, and to change fluently between their different voices.
The main character and principal narrator, Steve, is a teenager who is up against it. He is the only child of feuding parents. Ruefully, he notes "my family's a battleground and I'm just a small hill which each side occupies to fire on the other." He is lonely and self-mocking and without a future. He spends all his spare time reading the books given to him by a much-loved uncle (which provide him with an unusually rich vocabulary) and playing cricket. He does not even have a team to play for, but walks a long way to the nets in a public park, to bowl at anyone who asks.
An unpromising start, but Steve keeps faith with his dream of becoming a fast bowler and bit by bit it becomes true. Through cricket, he gets a network of new relationships which change his life.
The Network is a huge tribute to the power of sport. At times it seems too good to be true. It is almost a modern fairy story: the young warrior battles with honour through adversity and comes into his kingdom. Some parts are terribly sentimental, but Richard Heller stops it falling off the edge, by sparky dialogue and by powerful insight on some big issues, including dysfunctional families, homophobia, bullying, desertion, self-inflicted guilt. The cricket passages, in the nets or on the field, are brilliant, especially the match narrated by Steve, which gets right inside his head. Anyone who has ever played any sport with passion will identify with his ever-more desperate prayers for success.
The Network is a thick novel to cover a few months in an ordinary teenager's life. But an awful lot happens - not just to him but to everyone he meets - and it bowls along as fast as its young hero.
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