LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
December 2014 Book of the Month.
A truly fascinating tale, sad, moving and at times repugnant, but so utterly compelling. You feel as though you have been spirited back into the 1970’s to sit on the shoulder of the Hudson family from the notorious Canterbury Estate in Bradford. Vinnie and Josie are captivating characters, brother and sister with similar hopes and dreams, they are also as opposite as opposite can be. The nightmare path on which the two find themselves, somehow feels inevitable and the abhorrence you feel as the tale unfolds is even more shocking when you remember this story is true. Although classed as non-fiction, this reads like fiction and Shaw, cousin to Vinnie states that local folklore sits alongside the truth. The family tree at the front of the book is an interesting read in its own right and you can see how two further books ‘My Uncle Charlie’ and ‘My Mam Shirley’ fit into the jigsaw. Unflinchingly raw, honest and bleak, the family bonds of love and protection, particularly between Vinnie and Josie, hold a candle to the darkness. ~ Liz Robinson
Tales of the Notorious Hudson Family series:
1. Our Vinnie
2. My Uncle Charlie
3. My Mam Shirley
4. Blood Ties
5. Bad Blood
6. Blood Sisters
Liz Robinson
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Our Vinnie The True Story of Yorkshire's Notorious Criminal Family Synopsis
The infamous Canterbury Estate in Bradford, a hotbed of crime, drink and drugs, was a law unto itself in the '70s. So when one of their own was wronged in any way, the community always had its own way of dealing with it. The first title in a series of gritty family sagas, Our Vinnie accounts the dramatic true story of a brother's determination to avenge his younger sister's rape. Josie was just 11 when her Vinnie, then 14, was taken away to a detention centre. Distraught by his absence and left alone with indifferent parents, when she escapes from one of their rows she naively enters the house of a neighbour, Melvin, who - horrifically - leads her upstairs and overpowers her. Convinced by her friend Carol, Josie tells her sister Lyndsey about the rape but, with Vinnie out of the picture, Lyndsey uses the information for her own ends. When Vinnie returns, hardened by years inside the system, his outrage on discovering the truth is severe. And with new abuses continually coming to light, a cataclysmic series of violent events begins to spiral out of control...Dramatic and shocking, Our Vinnie is an unbelievable page-turner, documenting a community forsaken by society, and one brother's unrelenting determination to take justice into his own hands.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780007542246 |
| Publication date: |
6th November 2014 |
| Author: |
Julie Shaw |
| Publisher: |
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
324 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Biographies & Autobiographies
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Author
About Julie Shaw
My name is Julie Shaw, and my father, Keith, is the only surviving member of the 13 Hudson siblings, born to Annie and Reggie Hudson on the infamous Canterbury Estate in Bradford. We were and are a very close family, even though there were so many of us, and those of us who are left always will be.
I wanted to write these stories as a tribute to my parents and family. The stories are all based on the truth but, as I’m sure you’ll understand, I’ve had to disguise some identities and facts to protect the innocent. Those of you who still live on the Canterbury Estate will appreciate the folklore that we all grew up with: the stories of our predecessors, good and bad, and the names that can still strike fear or respect into our hearts – the stories of the Canterbury Warriors.
Author photo © Scott Hudson
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