Branwell & Other Stories

Book excerpt: In these six exciting stories, Branwell, the Bronte boy who ruled an imaginary childhood world, has failed as poet and painter and slips down the road of drink and despair; passionate Alice, searching for a man she can love as she once loved her father, ignores the desperate struggle of her daughter Maudie to make a life of her own; idealistic Mr Berry, trapped in a dead-end job in a failing boys' school, discovers the secret of an illiterate 11-year old, and is forced to re-examine his own life; John Poulson, corrupt Yorkshire architect imprisoned for bribing his way to success, determines to write a book to clear his name and identify the guilty men; simple-minded Mel recalls his best pal Adrian, killed in an accident, but fails to grasp the relationship between Adrian and his own wife Beatrice; and 50 years ago in Dallas, John F Kennedy narrowly escapes an assassin's bullet - and goes on to change the course of history.