The enthralling new novel about the environment, Blondie, and two young people making a connection, by the author of the acclaimed Homeward Bound 

1989: Two young people are struggling to find themselves and a role in life. For one, the world is changing too quickly. For the other, change can’t come soon enough. Linking them are overgrown railway sidings - home to wildlife but about to be destroyed by developers. 

Jill Standing is mocked because of her name, ignored because of the way she looks and dismissed because of her ‘wacky’ views on the environment.  

Harry Pratt is mired in traditions foisted on him by his father. His interests are vintage jukeboxes, creating Christmas cracker jokes and his boss, Sarah.  

Both want to preserve the sidings, but for different reasons. Campaigning against a big business, a shared love of Blondie and a reclusive, retired school-teacher transforms their lives. 

About the Author 

RICHARD SMITH wrote his first book, Homeward Bound, at age 71. He loved it so much (and it was so well received) that he wrote another. 

Before embarking on his writing career, Richard was a producer of TV commercials, sponsored documentaries and educational and promotional films. It took him around the world and into places not normally accessible to visitors – up to the top of the Elizabeth Tower to see Big Ben strike twelve, on a speed boat around the Needles and North Sea oil platforms, and to the Niger Delta in Africa . . . to name but a few. Worryingly, two of them were featured in a British Library annual exhibition, 'Propaganda'!