All is Bright - A Yorkshire
Lad’s Christmas
Reviews
Jo-Ann Roberts - CBC Radio
All is Bright - A Yorkshire Lad's Christmas
is like flipping through an old family photo album with pictures of scrawny
Christmas trees and families wearing funny paper hats, eating big meals
in an old dining room.
You will laugh, cringe and remember important times in your own life.
You might even look up a family recipe for plum pudding. You don't have
to be from Yorkshire to enjoy Dave Preston's new book, but, once you've
read it you just might wish, like Dave, you had grown up in the village
of Old Malton. The book is a series of tales that are brutally honest
and charmingly funny.
Suzanne Steele - Metchosin Muse
In our house in Edinburgh it didn’t matter if was Christmas Eve,
Halloween, Easter or even Midsummer’s Night, anyone passing my daughter
Ella’s bedroom door at 8 pm was bound to hear the cheery tones of
author Dave Preston on Ella’s CD player, as she listened once again
to his Yorkshire Christmas stories.
Much more than a nostalgic longing to hear Dave’s voice and his distinctive Yorkshire accent, Ella simply enjoyed his stories over and over and over again. More than a few drives into the Highlands or down to hike in the North Yorkshire Moors was accompanied by the same CD, always a guarantee of a good laugh and a fun story. The good news for those who have had the pleasure of listening to Preston, either in person or on CD, is that he has finally published a full collection of his fabulous Christmas stories and they’re available this season.
One read through of this part-fiction, part-fact book and Preston’s
Yorkshire comes alive with characters in Dylan Thomasesque prose; a Yorkshire
from simpler and tougher times. Characters such as young Derek’s
(the narrator) somewhat unreliable father Ron who loses the Christmas
money coming home from the bar, the memorable Wetton Wendy (a play on
the ubiquitous UK weather forecast) the little girl who plays Mary in
the nativity play and whose “holy insect so tender and mild”
will never allow you to hear Silent Night again in the same way. And then
there’s poor Jimmy, Derek’s hard done-by little brother.
There’s a whole community of characters and a mid-1960’s
Yorkshire village to become acquainted with in All is Bright,
all told from the point of view of Derek in his Yorkshire-tinged dialect
- a small glossary at the back helps with the translation, as well as
the inclusion of a few traditional Yorkshire recipes! All
is Bright is told with clarity and a spoonful of sentiment
mixed with hard reality.
I recommend Preston’s book to all who love the season, and recommend
that families and friends gather round this Christmas, turn off the computer
games, the CD player, the wide-screen television, and take turns reading
aloud to each other from All is Bright - A Yorkshire Lad's
Christmas. This is a classic, the stuff memorable Christmases
are made of.
Des Reed - Malton Gazette &
Herald
The best and most enjoyable book I’ve read for a long
time came through my letterbox this week. Written by Old Malton author,
Dave Preston, and titled All is Bright – A Yorkshire
Lad’s Christmas. I don’t have much time for
book reading, more am I a picture studier and caption reader, but this
one was un-put-downable in large easily-readable print, telling of carol
singing, village hall activities, church services, and Christmas shopping.
Old Malton school had its place, along with Mrs Heath and Miss Gower,
as well as the church. A lovely read, I laughed out loud several times,
and there are even places where a tear could almost surface. Do get hold
of this book, especially if you can remember some of Old Malton’s
days of not very long ago.
Liz Pogue - Victoria Times-Colonist
From the pen of Dave Preston comes All is
Bright - A Yorkshire Lad’s Christmas. The Christmas
theme won’t prevent the reader from enjoying this collection of
tales at any time of the year, but ‘appen t’use of a bit o’broad
Yorkshire dialect might.
For baby boomers who started life somewhere north of the Mersey, especially
in less-than-affluent circumstances, these stories will bring back fond
memories – memories of buying or selling damson jam or apple chutney
at parish hall sales, of concerns about the half ton of coal lasting until
spring and waking up in bedrooms so frosty you can see your breath.
Preston has other books to his credit including The Story of Butchart
Gardens, and Rails & Rooms - A Timeless Canadian Journey,
about Canadian railway trains and hotels.
"I loved All is Bright! Lots of happy memories...
Great job - thanks!" - David Bird, a reader.
The book has a handy guide to the Yorkshire
words and phrases
and Yorkshire
Christmas recipes
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