Review of The Angels of L19 in the TLS

There is a short review of The Angels of L19 by Hal Jensen in the TLS (from the 4 March issue). An extract:

Jonathan Walker’s rich evocation of 1980s Merseyside owes as much to his ability to see through young eyes as it does to the period details themselves (Soft Cell, Time Bandits, Walkmans, parka jackets). The industrial midlands versus Thatcher rumbles in the background, but the novel’s focus is local: a close-knit evangelical group, “The Brethren”, whose mix of protective social cohesion and stifling moral coercion is portrayed by Walker with the confidence of a finger tracing an old scar.

What starts out as an enjoyable and nostalgic slice of social realism soon morphs into something more like pure Horror.

I Was a Teenage Christian

I wrote a photo essay called 'I Was a Teenage Christian: Church Youth Culture in Liverpool' for 10 Million Hardbacks, which went up today. A short excerpt:

I went to church every Sunday – usually twice – but I also went to a youth event at Gordon Hall in the town centre most Saturday nights, and to an informal Bible study at the house of one of the church members on a weekday, where the photo below was taken. It’s the opposite of what you’d expect: not sedate contemplation, but barely controlled chaos. Obviously this was after the ‘official’ part of the evening had ended.