Why a Booktrail?
1960s: Life near the Tyne Bridge is not easy in “Glue Terrace”
Loving Geordie
What you need to know before your trail
It is August 1960 and Glue Terrace, overlooking the River Tyne, is due to be demolished. All that remains is the abandoned rubbish of former lives. The residents themselves have already been shifted.In the midst of this desolation lives 15-year-old Leslie, whose childhood is rapidly being snatched from him. Determined to find a job, full of worries about unpaid bills and his drug-filled mother and vulnerable younger brother Geordie, his summer holidays suddenly become a journey of discovery and revelation.
For in a derelict building, more a bombsite than a home, identical twins Maureen and Murial are found dead. The house had been their summer playground. But now they are lying side by side, like two sleeping angels on a tomb, a dark gash in each of their necks. Suspicion immediately falls on ‘Geordie the dafty’, who discovered the bodies. But Leslie is convinced of his brother’s innocence, and is determined to prove it to everyone else . .
Locations
Reset- North East England - Newcastle
- A: Tyne Bridge
- B: Elswick Road
- C: Benwell Lane
- D: Scotswood Road-Vickers
- E: Scotswood Road
Travel Guide
Travel to the West End of Newcastle
This book is firmly set in the West End of the city, where some of the so-called ‘deprived areas’ are to be found. Elswick and Benwell are working class areas and terraced houses line the streets. These were primarily houses for the workers at Swan Hunters, the factory which made the tanks, and the other factory workers found up and down the Tyne.
Glue Terrace which is said to have a view of the Tyne Bridge is fictional. You might not want to visit it anyway, but there are many streets like it, with nice houses and nice views of the river.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Loving Geordie
Destination: Newcastle upon Tyne Author/guide:Andrea Badenoch Departure Time: 1960s
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
