Found: A nice review of 'The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang' in the Whanganui Chronicle.

 

Book review: The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang

22 Feb, 2022 04:15 AM2 minutes to read

Whanganui Midweek

The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang
By Robert Philip Bolton
Reviewed by Albert Sword

There is so much 'knowingness' in this exceptional novel, a knowingness bred of the author's deep wisdom, a common-sense knowingness of the surety of relationships and entanglements.

To say the characters are finely drawn is an understatement, for, from page one, each character is etched into the reader's consciousness; they become persons we knew growing up, or persons we know now, with hindsight helping form the connections.

Crudely put, we fall in love with Bolton's characters, who take us on a well-constructed romp through the 60s and 70s of the 20th century.

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My baby-boomer birth date of 1950 meant a catch-up of a few years to join these characters, but everything mentioned in this superbly researched book is strong in my memories of the time, vivid and meaningful.

Robert Bolton doesn't put a foot wrong in his narrative, I am there with him, all the way, and anyone growing up in working-class/middle class 60s/70s New Zealand will also be with the author. The ease of the everyday vernacular, and laid-back syntax instantly draws the reader into the narrative, also into trusting the writer.

There are no off putting gaps in the narrative, or in the way. Bolton stitches together the nine separate main characters, their families, friends and significant relationships. To bring together all these varied stories into one cogent and powerful novel is nothing short of magical.

Robert Philip Bolton is a consummate, and prolific, storyteller. In all his books, he creates interesting characters, hones them to perfection, then lets them tell their stories, just like a brilliant symphonic conductor can set parameters for the orchestra, then get out of the way of the musicians who are then left free to create their own realities. Wonderful stuff!

I enjoyed every word of The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang.
Robert Philip Bolton is an independent New Zealand writer.

Like many dedicated and professional writers, he found it impossible to break into the small New Zealand publishing establishment.

"Thus," he says, "I happily publish my own books on Amazon and Kindle and sell them to loyal and satisfied readers around the world."

My new novel 'The Fable of Flitcroft Point' is now AVAILABLE

 

Yes. The Fable of Flitcroft Point will be available soon is available now in New Zealand paperback and internationally from Amazon and Kindle. 
Set in the distamt future, it's like nothing  else I've ever written. 

HERE IS THE COVER BLURB: 

 Early in the twenty-first century a series of viruses killed eighty percent of the world’s population. Famine loomed.

In New Zealand there was plenty of food but too few people to process it. The surviving city folk therefore fled to the countryside where they provided labour to the remaining farmers in return for a share of the food they helped produce. As a result the country’s towns and cities were abandoned.

Into this vacuum came the invading Vandiers, so numerous and wealthy they dominated the small Kiwiland population whose traditions, culture, religion and language they despised.

The Fable of Flitcroft Point is set in a typical Kiwiland village where, in 2177, the land-grabbing Vandier government has taken village land for its own purposes. The Kiwilanders, angry and frustrated, want their land back. But can their feeble protest succeed against the overwhelming power of central government?