The Ripper file

IT WAS 20 years ago that the Queen of London gangland fiction, Martina Cole, first released The Runaway, and I’ve only just got around to reading it. Crikey! It’s one hell of a tome. Covering several decades it follows the fortunes of prostitute's daughter Cathy Connor and drunkard's son Eamonn Docherty. Having been brought up together as kids while their parents shared a combustible relationship, eventually they are forced apart due to Eamonn’s dad’s roving eye. Their lives

I'LL ADMIT IT: I'm jealous of SE Hinton. To write such an iconic book when she was in her teens is an achievement of monumental proportions. The Outsiders is the age old story of disaffected youth and clashes between two cultures. The writing is refreshing and bright and the names and the characters are fascinating in themselves. At times I did find it hard to get a handle on all Ponyboy's Greasers... maybe fewer characters would have made it an even better book. Still, I wil