Manfishing

Published: 1st October 2024

Simon Fox is a small-town reporter with big ideas. He loves his job on an old-fashioned weekly newspaper at the heart of its community in the dying days of hot metal and smoky newsrooms, with stories bashed out on typewriters before the age of the net. 

Beginning in the scorching summer of 1976, Manfishing is a saga of love, tragedy and intrigue set in the Midlands town of Brexham. Fox grapples with the role of makeshift dad while portraying some of the town’s colourful characters… A disabled pensioner is being driven from his home to make way for a new road. A maverick councillor takes revenge on the comrades who betrayed him. And an Auschwitz survivor pleads for help to save her sick granddaughter.

But the journalist knows nothing of the sinister alliance between a bent cop and a violent skinhead – or of the role played by a pack of mince. A takeover leaves him fearing for the future of his beloved ‘local rag’.

Then a joyful new chapter in his life begins.

About the Author: Pete Pheasant worked for 47 years in regional journalism, finishing as night editor of the Nottingham Post. He was twice runner-up in the UK Press Gazette Regional Columnist of the Year Awards.  

Media

Press Gazette on X: "Journalist Peter Pheasant has published his first novel Manfishing, set in the "vanishing world of weekly newspapers" at the fictional Brexham Bugle. Pheasant draws on a 47-year career in local news. https://t.co/z76pU4h5G2" / X

Ian Skye - 12/11/2024 - BBC Sounds   40 mins in. Radio Derby Interview

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/after-40-years-making-midlands-9705955

My novel's published at last - 40 years after I started it!  Derbyshire Times

Notts Today, Tuesday 19th November 2024 | Notts TV News | The heart of Nottingham news coverage for Notts TV 38 minutes into the programme

ISBN - 9781780916620, eISBN 9781781563595 - available on Amazon Kindle