The Liver Bird

By John Maguire

Charlie J, a boy from Liverpool, is bright for his age. “Too clever for his own good,” his dad would say. He is the type of child who would rather escape to his imagination or read a book than play or watch sports.

Grandma Bailey encourages his cleverness, teaching him all about the history of his city. He is particularly fasci

• Language: English
• Publisher: ArtsGroupie CIC
• Release date: Nov 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9781916242197

John Maguire

John Maguire is a writer, actor and community activist from Liverpool, England. He graduated from Aberystwyth University with a degree in Drama, and now has over 20 years' experience in the performing arts, particularly as a writer and director. With seven plays professionally staged in Liverpool and beyond, his work focuses primarily on magic realism, and historical women. He works in Liverpool as a community engagement officer and is dedicated to bettering disadvantaged communities by providing access to the arts through his company ArtsGroupie CIC where access is limited. Additionally, he provides historical walking tours of Liverpool, with a detailed knowledge of the city's compelling history.

Book preview

The Liver Bird

The Liver Bird

John Maguire

ArtsGroupie

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by

ArtsGroupie

---

First published in paperback in 2019

---

Copyright © John Maguire 2019

---

John Maguire asserts the moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

---

All characters in this book, other than those in the public domain, are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

---

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

---

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

---

Cover images and illustrations copyright © Suzi Dorey

---

ISBN-13: 978-1-9162421-9-7 (e-book edition)

ISBN-13: 978-1-9162421-8-0 (paperback edition)

For Charlie James and all the children of Liverpool

Illustration by Charlie James

Illustration by Charlie James

Contents

The Liver Bird

About the Author

Made in Liverpool

The Liver Bird

If you did not play football, what did you do? The city was obsessed. Charlie J had tried to play in school and outside with the kids who lived by him in Dauntsey Brow, a bland, grey council estate with an intimidating black warning posted on several walls, ‘No Ball