The Dreaming Suburb and book two The Avenue Goes to War are two of my favourite books.  I've read them both through twice.


The author of these two books lived a couple of miles from where I was born and bred and so I could relate very much to the area that his books take place in.  The story although fiction, I believe, has much of the writer's personal experiences within it.

Part of the area he mentions in the book he names as Shirley Hills.  On the map and in all official documents this is in fact Addington Hills; it's name being taken from the once Addington Lodge Farm.   It's only the locals that call it Shirley Hills.

Shirley, Selsdon, and Addington are all part of the old Addington Lodge Farm.

The book is about several families, all knowing each other and their lives intertwined, and how they adapt to life after the First World War.

The Blurb:

Jim Carver a tough, resolute war veteran, he returns from the trenches to build a better life for his family to find his wife dead.

Archie Carver Jims eldest son, smart, ruthless, he has a quick eye for financial profits and beautiful women.

Elaine Frith seductive and ambitious, she uses her charms to snare the man she thinks will give her wealth.

The First World War ends and the soldiers return to the peaceful Avenue. On the surface their homes look just the same but behind the carefully tended front gardens everything has changed and their families lives in the next twenty years will be as turbulent as any they have known.