Tracks

Written by Karen Woods

Narrated by Emma Gregory

You’ve got to fight for everything when you start with nothing.

Susan Knight has a good life. So she turns a blind eye to the gambling winnings her husband Donny puts through the books at her salon. After all, he needs some way to unwind. At work, he is headteacher at Second Chance, an alternative provision school for kids who have nowhere else to go.

Being the headteacher gives Donny respect, money, and charm. But respect can be lost, money can be stolen and charm can only go so far.

The kids at the school all have a story to tell – as do the staff. Drugs, debt, violence and threat are part of their everyday lives. Donny’s got this far by never playing by the rules. But to keep winning, you have to keep chancing it all. To stay at the top means risking everything.

Susan knows Donny walks a fine line – but if he stumbles too far on the wrong side of the tracks can she stand by him? And for Donny, if he loses Susan, he knows he might be pulled back into the life that’s been waiting for him all this time…

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Jul 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9780008461713

Karen Woods

Karen Woods writes about the world she grew up in and her beloved Manchester – in all its light and shade – is in every book.

Reviews for Tracks

[lquilter_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A railway construction foreman whose glasses get destroyed ends up mis-directing the railroad construction into ponds, up trees, through barns, around cows, etc. The results turn out to be carnival-esque. Shrug. A cute idea but in practice I was sort of annoyed. Why did the workers just follow the crazy instructions? Sure it's a children's story but it destroyed my suspension of disbelief! And practically all the characters were male (until the passengers at the end) -- workers, mayor, farmers, etc., which just makes me think the writer is sloppy and not very thoughtful. And I admit that I'm not much of a fan of Tedd Arnold's illustrations. So, not a big hit for me.