Author(s): Anna Smith

Fiction

In the summer of 1968, four children in a small Catholic community in Lanarkshire in the West of Scotland learn a lot about life and start to grow up. Born to poverty and limited opportunities, they're able nonetheless to enjoy the largely innocent pleasures of childhood but the adult world around them inevitably impinges: the narrator's elder sister, for instance, falls pregnant, no surprise, as she's the village bicycle, and is sent to Ireland to have and give up the child; newcomer Tony and his mum are in danger of real violence at the hands of Tony's violent Polish stepfather; and no child who plays the part of altar boy at the chapel wants to be left alone with the local priest. Observant, clear-sighted in its portrayal of the darker side of life yet utterly warm-hearted, Spit against the Wind reminds us of the wonders of childhood without sentimentality but with gentle humour and great charm.