Product Information

"Wonnie Overwoad"

By Ray Weston (232 pages)

Synopsis

Ronnie Carter is a happy, ten-year old Black Country Boy. He is fondly known by his family and friends as "Wonnie Overwoad", a nickname he earned as a toddler when trying to pronounce his name and tell where he lived ('over the road').

Through his eyes and the amusing escapades in which he and his pals (The "Brookfield Gang") are involved, the lives of some of the Black Country folk of the 1930's are revealed and most of these tales are true (actual names and places being changed).

His family and the people around him are drawn from real-life characters, endowed with their own special brand of humour, world renowned generosity and stoicism in the face of adversity. Their 'wumspun' philosophies, superstitions, home 'cures' and strong opinions are expressed throughout the book in their native Black Country dialect.

Wonnie's folk are hard-working, often hard-up, but nevertheless, self-respecting and proud of their working class heritage, albeit their yearnings at time, for a better quality of life.

Into Wonnie's life comes a complete stranger from the 'North'; a young lad desperate for work and a place to stay. He is readily taken in by the Carter Family and has a very important influence on Wonnie. He soon learns to admire and love the Black Country people.

The 'lottery of birth' places Wonnie in an industrial community greatly shunned and denigrated by the "Better-Off" folk of the region, who are far too ready to judge people by the houses in which they live, the jobs they have to do and their manner of speech. Better houses and posh speech, however, mean very little to Wonnie, for he is totally immersed in the love of his family and the exciting companionship of his mates and is very happy with his young life. When situations against the sooty black-country environment seem to him somewhat mundane, through his vivid imagination, he escapes into more colourful roles.

Like most children of his age, he is a dreamer, but as the book enfolds, he is faced with a reality from which there is no escape into any of his fantasy worlds. His father, Al, bitterly disappointed in his own childhood at being unable to accept a scholarship to the Grammar School and the chance for a better education, wants a better life for his son; 'the chance ter gerr out of th 'ole that we'em all in round 'ere, ter be sumbody with a good job an' mooer money an not t'ave no debt 'angin' round 'im all 'is life'.

Rather than disapoint his parent's expectations of him, Wonnie goes to the Grammar School but soon feels that he doesn't fit into the ethos of the school and is over-whelmed by what is expected of him there. He soon becomes an unhappy and lonely little boy and greatly misses the precious times with his pals which rapidly dwindle as the demands of the 'Grammar' have to be met. His parents, Al and Gwen, want only what they believe to be the best for him but are distressed to see him so unhappy.

The ultimate choice is left to him, but it is a choice that no young child should ever have to make.

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Price: £9.50