AN AUTHOR who grew up in Hyde has published a third and final novel in what has inadvertently become a kind of Hydonian trilogy.
Brent Shore is a retired teacher turned writer of fiction who has just released Cheshire Cheese and Camembert.
It follows Blessèd are the Meek and Twenty-six Nil in a series of stories set largely in Hyde, spanning the 100 years between Peterloo and the end of the Great War.
“I really had no plans to write a second story after Blessèd are the Meek, my novel of the Hyde Chartists,” explained Brent.
“But during the Covid lockdowns I became fascinated by the early years of Hyde Football Club and the pride in the town that was at its peak in the 1880s. Even after finishing Twenty-six Nil, I had no immediate thoughts of writing a third.
“However, I had so much fun writing about the town and its characters (some real, some imagined), that I decided to tie up a few loose ends and take some of the younger characters into the 20th century.”
Brent’s latest novel Cheshire Cheese and Camembert is mainly set in Salford, around the area of the docks at the eastern end of the new “miracle of civil engineering” that was the Manchester Ship Canal, but events conspire to bring the narrative back to Hyde more than once.
The story’s themes are father-son relationships, the expansion of horizons, modernity and progress – and the threats to prosperity posed by the looming war in Europe.
“I was excited by the years between 1913 and 1919 as a background to the story,” Brent added.
“There was so much turmoil bubbling away, beyond the outbreak of war: the agitation for Irish independence, the demands of the Suffragettes and a revolution in Russia, to mention just three examples: all of which affect my characters and impact their lives to some degree.”
Brent lives in Dorset but visits Hyde regularly and has given talks about his writing on several occasions locally in recent years.
All of his Hydonian novels are available to buy at POP in Hyde and Twenty-six Nil is on sale at the Hyde United Club Shop.
People can order any of Brent’s books and find more information about his writing on his website at www.brentshore.co.uk