Amazon Review
Paul Wilson's fourth book is an ambitious, beguiling effort. At 51, Noah Brindle has worked at the community centre for more than 20 years, his professional and social contacts a closely circumscribed circle of amiable misfits from the St Silas council estate, his best feature "a kind of stamina, a kind of staying-at-the- wheel". His daytime reveries are brightened with glimpses of Mr George, a figure from the past who became the stuff of legend when he came to Lancashire aged 22, with 11 shillings in his pocket, suitably dressed for an occasion. Noah tries to write down what he sees, but only gets as far as "Mr George was the kind of man for whom the accomplishing of big deeds seemed inevitable". Wilson counterpoises these two men--so perfectly opposed --with impeccable balance, neatly conjuring both the detailed boredom of Noah's parochial, frankly dull existence and the dream-like mythical glory that is Mr George. Naturally, it's not long before Noah's days are disrupted with new challenges, and he starts to come together with his alter ego. Managing to evoke the kind of real British smalltown life too rarely seen in novels today, Noah, Noah is, in its own quiet way, an enthralling read. --Alan Stewart