
The Network
By Richard Heller
Published by
Bearmondsey Publishing
ISBN 9780955674013
Category Cricket
Summer 2015
Synopsis
Teenage pace bowler Steve is the only child of a disintegrating marriage. 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. His lonely pursuit brings him a network of new relationships and a new life.
Author's Biography
Richard Heller is an author and journalist. He was a finalist in BBC Mastermind in 2008. In the 1980’s he was chief of staff to Rt Hon Denis Healey MP, then Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. He has worked in the movie business and played cricket for many teams.
Reviews
Price £9.99
Can’t remember relishing any cricket fiction so much. Source: Matthew Norman, Evening Standard.
Reader Comments
Excellent!!
A must read for any cricket fan
THE NETWORK is a delayed sequel to my first (well-received) cricket novel A TALE OF TEN WICKETS. All of those characters reappear, but five new characters took over THE NETWORK. They act as its narrators - and they are a bit garrulous. They turned it into a Dickensian coming-of-age novel, with many "back stories." A few Real People have walk-on parts and one character is highly defamatory. The core is simple. A troubled teenager clings to his dream of becoming a cricketer. It changes his life and other people's lives with it. There is a multiple series of happy endings. They still make me blub even though I wrote them.
Keep it up!
....even though I have read it!
This book captured my imagination completely.
Richard Heller briliantly melds the tragi-comedy of cricket and life itself. I see from his biog he is also an amateur cricketer: if he's as good with his bat as he is with his pen, he is the new Joe Root.
Brilliant read. Always entertaining reading Richards books. Such fun.
He is a wonderful, clever, funny writer.
Great fun
Sometimes very funny, sometimes very moving book about the power of cricket to change lives
Brilliant Work