Put out to Pastures New - Rated 
It was a nice surprise, receiving this book from our daughter at Christmas and thanks to the author for kindly mentioning me in his acknowledgements. What did I think of this book? Well, Billy, in I believe the words of your agent/publisher, I loved, loved, loved it!
Without wishing to sound patronizing in any way, I thought you wove everything together in an extremely clever way whilst taking the reader into your confidence with regard to the behind-the-scenes procedures of publishing and marketing a book. It gives a marvellous feeling of being treated as an equal and confidante. Plus there is, of course, your excellent sense of humour and keen observation of life. All good humour is as you know rooted in truth and when people can empathize it`s a joy.
From my own viewpoint, as a recent retiree I got a great deal of satisfaction from your thoughts on retirement and empathy with your comments on it.
One of the things I thoroughly agreed with (excuse grammar) was when you said that memories flooded back, things you had thought were beyond recall. It is said that everything is retained in one`s memory banks, if only it can be accessed., hence some people undergoing regressive hypnosis. And you mentioned synchronicity, which intrigues me too.
It was also a brilliant idea to recap on the previous books in the series.
It did not seem in any way contrived and I feel sure that those people who hadn`t read them would be intrigued and many would seek them out. It rounded the book off nicely.
As with all the books in the series, I felt rather sad when I reached the end. A wonderful read.
Keep them coming, please, Billy, each one is like that proverbial breath of fresh air we all need. You can`t stop now!
But I wonder, like the man said........ "whatever next!"
ALEC ADCOCK
A Welcome Sequel - Rated
This is the latest of a series of six books, which are semi-autobiographical novels by Billy Hopkins. It is a welcome sequel to the earlier novels that related a childhood in the over crowded industrial North, a well-rounded traditional education and marriage, the upbringing of 6 children set against a demanding vocation as a teacher.
The inevitable ageing process in retirement, which covers this part of the series, is related in an honest, humorous and entirely plausible way that marks the style of an outstanding author who will now be familiar across the English speaking world and indeed in many other countries in translation.
It is remarkable for a man, born in 1928, to a very poor Manchester family growing up in the Collyhurst area of Manchester to achieve so much. His vivid and arresting descriptions of childhood in a deprived area of Manchester have always been the author's special forte. These colourful and manifestly believable accounts of growing up, school, the street as a playground, harsh and hard manual work at a time when physical strength and the work ethos for little reward were the norm for so many. The gaps between the very poor and the `comfortable', the well off and hugely rich then were gross and even grotesque. It took a five year period of World War to enact the start of social revolution long overdue and peacefully achieved thanks to so many of the like of this author.
A style that is very easy-to-read, anecdotal and full of interest engages the reader from the first chapter on.
The second part of the book takes us towards his authorship via a course for writers in London, several false trails along the way through investment, private teaching and even supply teaching in the most difficult areas of Manchester. Eventually established authorship was at last realised.
Part two of the book takes on the character of an autobiography. It is interesting that the author wrote the story of his Collyhurst upbringing mainly for his family and possibly great-grandchildren yet to be born. His first book called `Our Kid' he considered to be the only literacy work likely to see the light of day. Yet, partly because of encouragement from friends, he was persuaded to write a second book, which was another best-seller, and three were others just as engaging to follow. Finally we have this delightful and absolutely satisfying novel which updates on-going readers and introduces many new ones to the unique world of the Hopkins' household. Clearly, no matter what age we are and whatever our background life can be full of surprises.
Footnote:
Collyhurst district of Manchester is (or was) the most deprived area with many families barely coping and having to endure extremely crowded and unsatisfactory tenement conditions whilst bringing up young families against a background of grinding poverty.
Professor Brian McGuinness
Like going down a slide in the park - Rated
Having read all Billy's (Wilfred's) books, over the years, there
isn't one l dint enjoy. To read the books is like going down a
slide at the park. So easy, no subplots, no funny names, just
life as it is. I suppose coming Manchester did persuade me
and have a bias on buying the book. I have to say some of his
comments and off the cuff remarks are worthy of stand up
comedian work.
Times are still hard for Billy. He has been made redundant,
and has to fill his time and try and find some income.
He tries everything with all the zealous he ever showed in
any of his his other books or projects.
From teaching at home, to stocks and shares. Laura always
supports him in the end. Though l wonder how??
To say it's a pleasure to read is an understatement.
I normally read Crime fiction, as my reviews show. But a
Billy Hopkins book is more than strawberry cheesecake.
You have to have it.
If you try and look at Billy's other books, his life was
so hard, and he shows life's struggles, you felt from
him in his family and his upbringing from the heart.
Now it's his family, though they don't have to struggle
like Billy did.
If you have read non of his books before this wont
spoil it for you. It will make you want to read his
entire collection.Real life comes into your head, you
can visualise what Billy is talking about.
I have corresponded with Wilfred from book 1, and never
does he fail to reply.A charming gentleman, but a
brilliant author and one of my favourites.
Whatever next? I ask you Billy Will there be a next?
If anyone was short of a couple of pound to buy this book,
l'd give it you, and be confirmed you'd go out and buy
the rest.
The hard part of this review is yes it's worthy of 5*,
but Billy's first books were so intense and filled with
worry about situations l'd have given them 10*
I personally think Billy would have like Kate's story
(his mum) to have been the first, not even sure if
that's his favourite.
Thank you Billy & Laura (For your patience)
RETIREMENT - the ugliest word in the English language? - Rated
RETIREMENT - It must be the ugliest word in the English language in regards to its true meaning. Better to think of it as a renaissance, a rebirth and the start of a third career ...a fresh start.
Such were the thoughts of the fictional Billy Hopkins driving home after leaving his teacher training job for the last time. Such were the thoughts of the real-life Wilfred Hopkins when he did the same and it was Wilf who was to create Billy as part of his personal renaissance.
The rest is history. After Wilf had self-published his semi-autobiographical first book it was immediately snapped up by Headline which knew it was on to a winner.
The sixth `Billy' saga, ostensibly the last, begins with those musings on retirement but optimism reigns supreme as you can tell from the title. Fans of the fictional Billy will be delighted as he looks back on all that was, or might have been, and reflects on his `third age'.
Even his reviewers earn a mention - including a fellow with a posh name you just might recognise from the Warrington Guardian!
Wilf said: "If you find yourself passing a garden in Southport and see an elderly lady tending flowers while her husband is dozing in his deck chair, don't jump to conclusions. That old man could be Billy thinking up his next novel."
Alan Domville (retired Leader Writer, Warrington Guardian)
"Whatever Next" - a sheer joy to read! - Rated
"Whatever Next" is the latest of Billy Hopkins' triumphs, and when I finished the work I tried to analyse what has made all of Billy's books a sheer joy to read. The answer lies in their simplicity of the telling. There are no `alljawbreakial expressions' of words or phrases that even an orang-utan would have difficulty of wrestling with. The prose flows on, and with his glistening pen the Master has his will. Billy is the Mariner, who, not quite Ancient, has steered us through a wonderful sea of troubles, woes, and wonderful triumphs. He has given us these beautiful vignettes of the ordinary man going about an unextraordinary life, just like our own. There are no rapes, murders, or sexual scandals that sell the daily tabloids, or, are the core of the penny dreadfuls. No, Billy has inherited the gene of Irish storytelling, and the imp of humour is with him all the time.
I think that I would love to have been taught by Billy; I have a feeling that I would have excelled at anything he taught me because the simplicity of his style hides a crafty and astute mind. I mean, who could have thought of writing their Autobiography in the third person and then have the audacity to tell us that "Whatever Next" is `a fictionalised autobiography. All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental' Never have I observed this disclaimer to be so untrue. I, too, have lost money on the stock market, as Billy Hopkins has. I have dozed in deckchairs dreaming dreams as Billy has. That is the wonderful thing about Billy's works, we all, each of us, are the coincidental persons in his social histories, we are the living people, remembering memories of things that we thought were dead, until Billy brings them all back to us.
Billy, you see, is the `character', we, the readers, are his puppets. He strings us along from one scene to another. He is the master of the difficult art of simple story telling. I await, with a certain amount of suspense, for Billy to give us, what ever is next!
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