Dawn and Frank wake up one wet morning in the flat above their pub, the Old Spring. Today they have to meet the brewery representative, creepy Tim Green, and track down an error in their books - or face the consequences. Dawn has something else on her mind, too: the anniversary of an old tragedy for which she has always felt responsible. Frank has a problem of his own - a secret that has ended his sex life with Dawn. Darren the cleaner, meanwhile, is haunted by the ghost of a long-dead landlord. The pub's 'chaplain', Father Thomas, tries to rediscover his faith under the sceptical scrutiny of his tormentor, Alan. And, in the local hospital, pub regular Romesh drifts towards death on his magic carpet, while back in the snug, the tattoed man faces up to a life and death crisis of his own.
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""A wonderfully boozy evocation and celebration of pub life, full of all sorts of characters you dread meeting in a public bar, but are glad you did." --Gerard Woodward, author, " I'll Go to Bed at Noon
About the Author
Richard Francis has published nine novels and three non-fiction books. He has written for TV and regularly broadcasts on BBC Radio. In 2010, Yale University Press published his fourth non-fiction title, Fruitlands: The Alcott Family and Their Search for Utopia. In 1999, Richard became Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, where he is now an Honourary Research Fellow. He is married with two grown-up children, and lives, with his wife, in Bath and south-west France.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
With pubs closing down every week, there seems to be a tendency either to romanticise them as the heart of the community, complete with chocolate box village green and original oak beams, or go for the spit and sawdust variety with its oddball "characters" and no-nonsense ways. In fact, the reality tends to lie somewhere in between, and this is reflected in this book.
The Old Spring stands in a street in a small town and has an open fireplace and a well-polished bar, but that's about as upmarket as it gets. The author takes us into the viewpoints of several of the locals. Each, of course, has their own story. Darren the cleaner, awkward and lacking in confidence, is convinced there's a ghost in the cellar. Father Thomas, mistakenly assumed to be a priest, tries to find a sense of belonging amid mixed reactions to his faith, which is itself going through a crisis. Jake, covered in tattoos and mistrusted by Dawn, has more pressing matters to deal with as he drinks separately in the snug.
Other characters play their part, too, but the constant anchors are Frank and Dawn, the landlord and landlady, as they struggle to keep both their business and relationship afloat, while each trying to cope with their own hidden demons. To make matters worse, a discrepancy in their accounts, chased up by a brewery rep guaranteed to make your skin crawl, lurks constantly in the background and could sink them if it isn't resolved.
I enjoyed this book. Everyone's stories are told with varying combinations of warmth, humour and pathos, but without straying into sentimentality or farce. I found myself rooting for some characters while having mixed feelings for or even despising others. There were a couple of points where I felt it could have done with one of two less, but the story keeps moving forward to a fitting end with the sense that life - at least for some - goes on.
The Old Spring stands in a street in a small town and has an open fireplace and a well-polished bar, but that's about as upmarket as it gets. The author takes us into the viewpoints of several of the locals. Each, of course, has their own story. Darren the cleaner, awkward and lacking in confidence, is convinced there's a ghost in the cellar. Father Thomas, mistakenly assumed to be a priest, tries to find a sense of belonging amid mixed reactions to his faith, which is itself going through a crisis. Jake, covered in tattoos and mistrusted by Dawn, has more pressing matters to deal with as he drinks separately in the snug.
Other characters play their part, too, but the constant anchors are Frank and Dawn, the landlord and landlady, as they struggle to keep both their business and relationship afloat, while each trying to cope with their own hidden demons. To make matters worse, a discrepancy in their accounts, chased up by a brewery rep guaranteed to make your skin crawl, lurks constantly in the background and could sink them if it isn't resolved.
I enjoyed this book. Everyone's stories are told with varying combinations of warmth, humour and pathos, but without straying into sentimentality or farce. I found myself rooting for some characters while having mixed feelings for or even despising others. There were a couple of points where I felt it could have done with one of two less, but the story keeps moving forward to a fitting end with the sense that life - at least for some - goes on.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By T. Andrews
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
The old spring is the setting for this novel about the everyday running of a local pub.
You meet the landlords, whose relationship is teetering, as well as their business. Plus all the colourful characters that still frequent this old local.
Some characters develop quite well and you get to feel you know them, however not all do and you feel a little frustrated at the end of the book thinking it could have gone a bit further.
The whole novel is basically a gentle look at the life of a pub and all its customers, and the little dramas that play out in their everyday lives and around the rooms of the pub itself.
It will though pass a few pleasant hours for those who hanker after the feeling of a good old local pub, sadly becoming fewer and fewer everday.
You meet the landlords, whose relationship is teetering, as well as their business. Plus all the colourful characters that still frequent this old local.
Some characters develop quite well and you get to feel you know them, however not all do and you feel a little frustrated at the end of the book thinking it could have gone a bit further.
The whole novel is basically a gentle look at the life of a pub and all its customers, and the little dramas that play out in their everyday lives and around the rooms of the pub itself.
It will though pass a few pleasant hours for those who hanker after the feeling of a good old local pub, sadly becoming fewer and fewer everday.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Janie U
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
This book is about characters. They come and go through the pub giving life to the book as the reader follows their day-to-day lives.
The biggest character in the book is the pub itself, which provides the link between all the people and their differing interests/lifestyles.
Reading the book, it feels as though you are sitting in the pub watching everyone and listening into the conversations. This gives the book it's main problem as many of the characters are just not interesting enough. In the way that you might want to move away from a boring conversation at a party, I felt that I wanted to skip over sections about some of the characters. There were some people that I wanted to find out more about but felt that they were not developed sufficiently.
On a positive note, the conversations in the pub are written well. Most people want to talk about themselves and there ends up being disjointed discussions with the topic changing continually.
Good effort of a book but it doesn't deliver as much as it promises.
The biggest character in the book is the pub itself, which provides the link between all the people and their differing interests/lifestyles.
Reading the book, it feels as though you are sitting in the pub watching everyone and listening into the conversations. This gives the book it's main problem as many of the characters are just not interesting enough. In the way that you might want to move away from a boring conversation at a party, I felt that I wanted to skip over sections about some of the characters. There were some people that I wanted to find out more about but felt that they were not developed sufficiently.
On a positive note, the conversations in the pub are written well. Most people want to talk about themselves and there ends up being disjointed discussions with the topic changing continually.
Good effort of a book but it doesn't deliver as much as it promises.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Dull and badly written
The Old Spring is a dull book that is really quite badly written.
Supposedly, it follows a day in the life of The Old Spring pub and those who visit it. Read more
Supposedly, it follows a day in the life of The Old Spring pub and those who visit it. Read more
Published on 15 Dec 2010 by MisterHobgoblin
2.0 out of 5 stars
No atmosphere for me
I am afraid I have given this book up. It looked like an interesting premise, characters in and out of the pub, the owners, and the man from the brewery, the cleaner and the array... Read more
Published on 14 Dec 2010 by Joanne D'Arcy
4.0 out of 5 stars
A disappearing world
I love pubs. I don't mean all Bar Ones, or Wetherspoons, or places with a soundsystem and video screens. Read more
Published on 2 Dec 2010 by A. Miles
5.0 out of 5 stars
Written with love
Richard Francis loves his pub traditions and his novel is dedicated to that 'great and beleaguered British institution'. Read more
Published on 17 Oct 2010 by Otherkin
2.0 out of 5 stars
Nice cover
I found this a very boring read, dull as the rainy day that sets the background to the story. I kept reading in the hope that something momentous was going to happen, alas in vain. Read more
Published on 12 Sep 2010 by Johannsen
3.0 out of 5 stars
A bit flat like stale beer
The novel revolves around a day in the life of the eponymous pub. Each person has a story, and each story has a resolution, some intersect and some don't. Read more
Published on 7 Sep 2010 by P. Millar
4.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable book
I wholeheartedly agree with Rebecca Holmes's excellent review above - this is an enjoyable book.
It is a novel about the people who run and go into an ordinary pub in a... Read more
It is a novel about the people who run and go into an ordinary pub in a... Read more
Published on 5 Sep 2010 by Sid Nuncius
4.0 out of 5 stars
Francis's Best
The Old Spring is a rollicking novel, where all the characters compete for one's attention, just like in a crowded pub. Read more
Published on 31 July 2010 by biffothebovverboy
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