panther books° p/b second printing, with new, film tie-in
cover art unsigned, from film poster/pr images
cover price 5/-, 60c south africa, 80c australia, (6/6) 65c new zealand
192pp. including titles, indicia etc, end pp. advertising
° - possibly just after being bought by the granada group; check indicia for any statement of this
Reviewvery dated now; but the soundtrack lp, q.v. of the film (script by hunter davis, additional dialogue by larry kramer) features music by the spencer davis group - and three tracks by traffic, plus one by andy ellison.
the novel is set in carlisle, rather than the home counties new town of the film - but stevenage wasn't exactly swinging in the mid-sixties either - and is about one teenage school-boy's attempts to get laid in an era when ''good girls didn't'' - and you had to be married, to get ''the (still very new) pill''; and buying a packet of condoms could turn a lad's ears a glowing bright pink. . .
the trail of his - more-or-less uniformly - unsuccessful attempts to lose his virginity, without ever confessing to it, as a matter of personal as well as laddish honour amongst his schoolmates, and the sharp distinctions between working-class, middle class and upper middle-class mores, are all well-observed; and the erratically embarrassing, sometimes hurtful and sometimes ludicrous situations his all-consuming sex drive propels him into make for a frequently funny, but pointed read.