What-you-may-call-it

Yesterday I finished writing my second book. It’s a sequel to Voyages with my Grandfather. It starts with my parents’ stories and moves on to how I grew up in Belfast in the 1960s. It also takes me to Scotland, Donegal, France, Dublin, and Belgium.

I’m still looking for a title. The working title has always been, like this blog, Closely related to Chester. I have reworked some of the pieces published here over the last two years, including my tribute to old Chester, the little known 21st President of the United States. But perhaps this title is too obscure, or too presumptuous.

Fire on the Hill was another idea. This refers to a burning police barracks in Loughgiel in 1921. Who was in the barracks, and who saw it burn ? Two little boys, one Catholic and one a Protestant. The mystery is only resolved at the end of the book.

A few weeks ago I found another name: The Corncrake’s welcome. Dad remembered as a boy returning home from the fair, the pony and trap reaching the farm lane, and the unmistakable sound of the corncrake welcoming the family home. The corncrake almost disappeared from Ireland and Britain, but efforts to reintroduce it have been successful, and I heard the Corncrake for the first time last year.

This morning I think I may have hit on the title at last. Much of my book centres on Windsor Presbyterian Church and on Windsor Manse where I grew up. I write about the conflict in Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Peace Agreement, the EU and current problems. And blow me, we have a new agreement since yesterday called the Windsor Framework. How about that for the title of my book ? If I could find an editor quickly and get it out before the Summer it could be a best seller. What do you think ? Could there be a market for it in NI, with no customs checks on books ? Would it get to Dublin in the red channel or the green? Would Joe Biden wish to read it ? Does he know about Chester ?

Of course the DUP may scuttle the Windsor Framework. It’s what they usually do. Claire Hanna of the SDLP, no relation, but an MP I admire, was rolling her eyes behind the DUP leader in the House of Commons as he talked about ‘reworking’ parts of the deal. Will the DUP ever grow up?

The Windsor Framework: growing up in Northern Ireland (and Northern Ireland growing up).

All positive contributions will be welcome, and may be acknowledged in the book.