The Sadness of The King George by Shaun Hand #SadnessOfTheKingGeorge @ShaunHandAuthor @BADPRESSiNK @RandomTTours

 

The Sadness of The King George by Shaun Hand was published by BAD PRESS iNK on 14th February 2021. My thanks to the publisher for the review copy and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the Blog Tour invitation. 

Welcome to The King George.

You know it. Your old local. Back in the day.

The stink of beer and piss, sticky carpets, nicotine stains on the ceiling, soggy bar towels, and the chance of a punch-up on a Saturday night – or anytime for that matter.

And in amongst it all an awkward 20-year-old, trapped behind the bar, with nothing to do but pull pints and wait for the next fag break.

Until he finds Amy. And life. And an escape – if he dares.

From West Midlands writer Shaun Hand comes a comedy novel set in a Birmingham pub, well Sutton Coldfield to be precise. Funny, poignant and unflinchingly honest, The Sadness of The King George captures the moment when the easy idealism of youth collides with the hard realities of conservative suburbia. 

My Thoughts:

I am going to start by saying that everybody knows a pub like The King George. They have either drunk in one or they have worked in one. I have done both and it is what initially drew me in to reading this book. 

 

The King George is the sort of pub where you have to watch where you put your elbows on the bar in case it is sticky. It is the sort of pub that sets it clocks by the regulars, those that are there for opening time and those that are there for closing time. All the colourful characters, the quiet characters and everything in between. Those that swear and those that are racist. The sort of person that say I am not racist but...

 

A unique take on the coming of age story we get to learn something about being that 20 year behind the bar and the feeling like life is always going to be this way. No dreams and aspirations and nothing to get him out of The King George although there is a glimmer that starts to poke through. We also get to read about some of the characters and their stories and voices. 

 I often said when I was working in a pub just like The King George serving half a bitter and a bottle of pale ale at 12pm on a Sunday that I should write a book about it. Shaun Hand has done just that and it was an utter delight. Yes the language is a bit coarse at times, and the characters are not all likeable but I loved this book and I loved the fact that it made me laugh out loud. 

 

There is much to admire here and I would read more of this authors writing in the future. 

 About the Author: 

You know that feeling you get when you’re stood freezing on the Welsh moors, wrapped in a cloak you got cheap off eBay, your singer miming backwards in a bathtub as you make a video for your band’s song that’s been used in an American teen drama and become the unofficial theme tune to a podcast about Sasquatch?

Shaun Hand, an author and musician from Birmingham, knows all about it.

Things weren’t always that strange for our intrepid late-starter. After drifting into various dead-ends, Shaun began studying English at night school aged 22 – to get a night off from the pub he was working at six days a week as much as anything else.

After going to university in Wolverhampton and graduating with a First in Creative Writing, he promptly continued to work in local pubs and bars, using his spare time to procrastinate, make music and hang around on the Welsh moors with his band FABRIK and, eventually, begin writing books. His literary career kicked off with Pop Art Poems: The Music of The Jam, widely regarded as one of the best books ever written about the group.

Now a full-time freelance writer, he currently lives in Wolverhampton with his wife, daughter, cat, and record collection.

You can find the author on Twitter: @ShaunHandAuthor

Please do have a look at some on the other stops on the blog tour.