Ironopolis

Stranded on the outskirts of Ironopolis — nickname to a lost industrial Middlesbrough — the Burn Council Estate is about to be torn down to make way for regeneration. For the future ... But these streets know many stories, some hide secrets ... Jean holds the key to the disappearance of a famous artist ... Jim's youth is shattered during the euphoric raves of '89 ... A brutal boyhood prank scars three generations of Frank's family ... Corina's gambling addiction costs her far more than money ... And Alan, a man devastated by his past, unravels the darkness of his terrifying father, a man whose shadow has loomed large over the estate for a lifetime. And then there is the ageless Peg Powler, part myth, part reality: why is she stalking them all? 'Human nature? Class politics? Whatever it was, it wasn't us ... Deep down we were part of a whole, single energy, and all we had to do was be ready to sink down together.' "The Burn Estate is doomed. Bulldozers are ready to obliterate its 60 years of life. Sixty years of stories. Vincent Barr is part of every story. Legendary, terrifying, he stands at the intersection of three generations of the sprawling council estate marooned on the outskirts of Ironopolis, Middlesbrough's nickname during its long-gone industrial heyday. There is nothing Vincent hasn't been mixed up in: boyhood pranks gone horrifyingly wrong. Exploding WWII bombs. Acid rave's come-ups and brutal comedowns. The sinister underbelly of the greyhound racing industry. Ancient, child-drowning Tees River witches hell-bent on havoc. Cult artists and hungover hairdressers. And, finally, his own son Alan - a lifelong misfit with a limp - who is closing in on their family's darkest secret of all ..."--Publisher's description