The Tour

by Peter Aspinall

The Tour is a comedy drama adventure novel, underpinned by a sobering moral story. Its six leading characters will fully engage and delight the reader as their diverse and colourful personalities unfold and clash. The arrival of a dashing young Australian – the first ever professional at Crawford Cricket Club – brings both ‘bonza’ times and bother for his new colleagues. Stuey’s new landlord, Bernard Gazelle, is a staid man three times his lodger’s age who learns to cope with the demands of a young knave determined to have a good time – legal or otherwise. Meanwhile, Sammy the winsome wicketkeeper becomes infatuated with the new recruit and the outrageous antics of all concerned test the tolerance of stuffy club chairman Norman F. Billington to breaking point and beyond… The Tour is inspired by Peter Tinniswood, author of I Didn’t Know You Cared and A Touch of Daniel. It will appeal to fans of comic fiction and the well-heeled English language.

Author news

My new book, 'Two Weeks to Live' will be published this Spring. Here is a brief synopsis.

George Longworth is suffering from terminal cancer. His teenage son - along with an amateur American astronomer - believes that a rogue asteroid heading to Earth may kill him first. Indeed, may kill everybody on the planet first. They are not alone in this belief. Deep in the Australian outback, a sage Aboriginal elder called Jenny Moynahan has gazed at the stars in the night sky and also thinks that the Earth is in mortal danger. Jenny is impoverished, but well-connected. A talented Aboriginal boy - Jamal Jawai - whom she has nurtured and encouraged since his youth has matured into a high profile sportsman in Sydney, becoming a star of the National Rugby League and a favoured celebrity on national television.

When George flies Down Under with his family for the final holiday of a lifetime, the strings of the story become entwined. George unwittingly stumbles into celebrity status...along with his dog. Bernard the St Bernard is the Merlin of the canine world, capable - according to George at least - of understanding every word his master says and of predicting the future. Newspapers and myriad media outlets pour scorn and admiration in equal measure.

â€œTwo Weeks to Liveâ€ takes a humdrum English family and catapults them to world fame as luminaries such as the USA president and NASA boffins bicker over whether a St Bernard dog and his master know better than some of the finest scientific minds on the planet.

The narrative is interlaced with humour, pathos and drama. Colourful characters clash and collude as all members of the Longworth family become entangled in a transglobal adventure with its origins in deep space.

But one crucial question underpins the family's struggle to cope with the international renown thrust upon them.

Can Bernard the dazzling dog save the world from death and destruction beyond imagination?

Peter Aspinall

January 2019

p.aspinall523@btinternet.com

Press Coverage

The Lancashire Magazine

Wigan Today, April 2012

The Bookseller Buyer's Guide, Spring 2012

Book Reviews

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About the Author

Peter Aspinall

Peter Aspinall is a former full-time professional newspaper journalist who has just completed his first novel, 'The Tour.'

The book - although based on a cricket tour - is not a sports book, in fact, no knowledge of any sporting discipline is required no matter what shape the ball.

Rather it is festooned with humour, jolly banter and adventure, a comedy romp which is very much character-driven as a colourful band of troubadors from the north of the country embark on a rollicking sojourn south of the border.

Set in 1981- the same year as the famous 'Botham' Ashes Test - the hardy band encounters travails, tribulations and trouble.

Although humour and warm wit are its mainstays, the work is underscored by a sobering moral thread running throughout, one which skewers several of the main characters on to the horns of same painful dilemmas indeed, changing lives and attitudes for ever.

Yet the work is warm and welcoming, woven from the broad tapestry of the English language.

It contains no sex, no violence, no bad language...and not a lot of cricket.

Peter Aspinall

September 2011.