NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW ON-LINE

This is a debut novel on a CD designed for use in a PC. No internet connection is needed in order to read the book. It is easy to navigate. As well as viewing the text straight from the screen, the reader has the choice of printing off each chapter to read.

The story opens in October 1998 and closes in the summer of 1999. There is an A-Z of People and Places, instructions for bookmarking and the novel is divided up into 23 chapters.

My first reaction was: Ah, another Millennium angst novel and I was concerned that the fin de siecle angle might immediately date it. Is the new Millennium shopping centre starting to sound old-fashioned?

Norrie "advertised himself as a 'dealer in antiques'". However, his chief outlet is the car boot sale and house clearances. Maybe a modern rag and bone man?

He lives with Morris, his business partner. There's a trucker living in Morris's kitchen. They all live in Sadmere, a fictitious Black Country town. Most kids there were brought up on Champion's meat products when Morris was young. Norrie still dreams about Merle, the wealthy Champion's adopted daughter, who died before adulthood.

The first two chapters place things into perspective: how much they have changed since the old days. In chapter three we are introduced to the "Floozies" and in particular Kim, who has succeeded in building up quite a reputation for herself by the time she reaches adulthood. And then there's Fern, who like many of her contemporaries wants to escape Sadmere.

Included on the CD is an interesting piece about the trials of self-publishing.

As I read through the chapters, I couldn't help but be reminded of a kind of Black Country EastEnders with its harking back to the past, obsessive relationships and inevitable tragedy scenario.