Reviews : Brown Bread in Wengen Jeremy Cameron Scribner, 1999; pp242; £9.99, pbk
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059904600418 |
| Published date | 01 December 1999 |
| Date | 01 December 1999 |
| Author | Mark Hardy |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
273
men
who
abuse&dquo;
and
that
&dquo;there
should
be
funding
from
statutory
agencies
to
provide
this&dquo;.
Probation
officers
currently
running
domestic
violence
groupwork
programmes
without
previous
clinical
training,
may
find
this
undermining,
elitist
and
disabling.
Even
if
contracting
the
work
out
was
thought
acceptable,
those
in
control
of
partnership
budgets
may
struggle
to
find
enough
pro-feminist
trained
therapists
to
provide
adequate
intervention
for
the
numbers
of
abusive
men
and
sufficient
support
for
the
women
they
have
abused.
Paul
Teft
Probation
Officer,
Inner
London
Brown
Bread
in
Wengen
Jeremy
Cameron
Scribner,
1999;
pp242;
£9.99,
pbk
Strange
things
are
afoot
in
the
wilds
of
Walthamstow
and
not
for
the
first
time.
Brown
Bread
in
Wengen
is
the
third
instalment
in
the
adventures
of
Nicky
Burkett,
a
thoroughly
modem
example
of
the
archetypal
loveable
East
End
rogue.
As
per
usual,
our
hero
is
slap-bang
in
the
thick
of
&dquo;aggravation&dquo;,
and
through
no
fault
of
his
own.
Those
readers
familiar
with
his
previous
exploits,
when
’Vinnie
got
blown
away’
and
’It
was
an
accident’,
will
be
aware
of
the
pivotal
role
that
young
Burkett
plays
in
much
of
the
criminal
activity
that
takes
place
in
North
East
London.
Not
intentionally
of
course.
Such
circumstances
just
seem
to
overwhelm
poor
Nicky,
a
young
man
with
a
chequered
past
nevertheless
doing
his
level
best
to
stick
to
his
own
slightly
meandering
version
of
the
straight
and
narrow.
Thus
far,
he
has
had
mixed
success.
The
publication
of
his
third
book
marks
a
welcome
return
to
form
for
jobbing
probation
officer
and
NAPO
stalwart
Jeremy
Cameron.
His
previous
novel
had
a
curiously
convoluted
feel
to
it,
by
virtue
of
a
plot
that
was
just
a
little
too
outrageous.
This
time
out,
although
the
subtext
is
similar,
Cameron
does
not
make
the
same
mistake.
He
skilfully
engineers
a
plot
which
combines
the
gritty
urban
realism
de-rigueur
in
contemporary
Brit-lit
with
an
obvious
passion
for social
justice
and
supporting
the
under-dog.
For
once,
Nicky
finds
himself
in
gainful
employment,
ironically
as
a
somewhat
inexperienced
investigator
hired
by
the
wife
of
the
local
MP
to
establish
the
truth
surrounding
the
death
of
her
husband.
Essentially,
this
is
a
tale
of
scruffs
versus
toffs
in
which
the
author’s
obvious
distaste
for
the
excesses
of
the
monied
classes
ensures
that
the
reader
is
never
in
any
doubt
as
to
who
will
prevail.
A
motley
crew
of
friends,
loved
ones,
criminal
associates
and
fairly
peripheral
authority
figures,
including
probation
staff,
advise
and
assist
Nicky
in
what
is
ostensibly
an
attempt
to
earn
an
honest
crust
but
rapidly
descends
into
an
exercise
in
spending
other
people’s
money.
Ample
opportunities
to
ridicule
the
superficiality
and
pretensions
of
the
upper
classes
present
themselves,
while
Nick
and
co.
seem
almost
pure
and
virtuous
by
comparison.
Humour,
resilience
and
loyalty
are
the
attributes
on
display
and
you
cannot
help
but
cheer
as
the
toffs
get
their
(gruesome)
comeuppance.
Comparisons
have
been
drawn
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