Books with author A. J. Cronin

A J Cronin was a well established mid-20th century British author best known for The Citadel and The Keys to the Kingdom and while on a fruitless search for those I happened across a copy of The Northern Light and decided to give that a go. There are two major problems with the novel. One is that Cronin decides that 'tell, don't show' is a good rule to apply to writing fiction and secondly he thinks that an author can never stuff too many possibilities into a simple story of 221 printed pages. As a result this novel has all the elegance of a shrink wrapped bag of spanners. The basic story is that our hero, Henry Page, is the editor & proprietor of The Northern Light, a newspaper serving one of the larger towns in the North-east of England (fictitious names are used for places) in 1956, in the search for ever-increasing readership a national newspaper chain attempts to run him out of business over a two-year period, but ultimately fails. This is a short book but rather than concentrate on one aspect of a story like this Cronin decides to juggles with as many as possible therefore there is tension between Page and his son as both are in love with Page's daughter-in-law, there are financial pressures as Page runs out of money and can't get credit, there is a difficult relationship with his wife and with his daughter, there are problems in the news room as his own people miss out on a major scoop - the proposed construction of a nuclear power station to the rival newspaper, there are printing problems, there is a paper shortage, there are further news room problems as a reporter is poached by the rival paper who also bring in star reporter Tina Tingle (seriously) to write 'feminist' articles on topics such as the pains of childbirth (I'll give Cronin the benefit of the doubt here and assume that he was using feminist as a synonym for women's interest issues - the book was published in 1958 after all).

Excerpt from The Northern LightIT was past eight on St. Mark's church clock that damp February evening when, in the ordinary way, Henry Page said goodnight to Maitland, his chief assistant editor, and came out of the Northern Light Building. The leading article for Monday had kept him later than usual - even with twenty years' experience his composition was not particularly fluent, and that extraordinary call from Vernon Somerville had de layed and distracted him.His wife was using the car and he intended walking home - 1ately Dr. Bard had been urging him towards more exercise of a moderate sort - but now, because of the hour, he decided to take the tram.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Johan, the last surviving Night Hunter, returns to the realm of Wilmurin. Wilmurin is under threat from an ancient enemy so powerful, even mentioning his name will send shivers down the spine of anyone who hears it. An undead horde, led by this bloodthirsty tyrant invades the world bringing darkness, bloodshed and war. Not all hope is lost, Johan, along with newly found friends and allies must race against time to discover the secret to defeat the evil Count Darkool. Their journey takes them across Wilmurin and beyond, perilous challenges and monsters lay ahead. The shape-shifting druid clans must unite to stand up to the evil or face extinction. War is coming to Wilmurin, friends will turn on each other, heroes and villains will be made, time is running out for the druids.

This complete epic fantasy story introduces you to the magical realm of Wilmurin. After being forced to flee as a child, Johan, the last Night Hunter, returns to Wilmurin. He comes to a land that is rich in beauty and peace. Upon his return, he soon meets the druids, a shape-shifting race of humans who now rule over Wilmurin following the extinction of the elves. All of that peace and beauty is about to be threatened by the evil vampire lord Darkool who is about to unleash an undead horde on the world. The druid clans must unite to battle the coming darkness or face complete annihilation. War is coming. Johan, along with newly found friends and allies must race against time to find a way to destroy the evil tyrant. The Night Hunter is about to discover he is far more important than any other being on Wilmurin. He arrives both green and unprepared for the perilous journey that is coming, secrets lay ahead that will shake even the strongest man to his core. H.J. Cronin brings you his complete debut story featuring friendship, death, betrayals and adventure which makes up the high fantasy novel that is The Druid Chronicles. Will the forces of good prevail over evil or is this the end of the land of the druids.