“The girl walked the hemline of the hillside to the church. On her left was the heather topped ruggedness of the moor. On her right the town lay clumsy and cluttered in the bottom of the valley. The air was fresh after a recent shower of rain. The feathers of a soft breeze fanned her face. The end of the day sun filtered through the grey sky in moving telescopes of orange light that sailed up sloping sheep filled fields to soften the synergy of land and sky. Silver rain shadows, sunset gold and the pewter of the town mingled.”
The 1950’s turn in to the hedonistic 1960s. Social values change along with morals and culture. Establishment is challenged and young people worry about The Bomb.
A young man and young woman are on parallel paths to maturity. Each is uncertain what paths their lives will take. They seek the starting point to their individual journeys. Their paths fuse and become one.
Paul is a young man exploring his options in this changing world. He is floating in a stream wondering to which river of life it is a tributary. He eventually finds himself on a spiritual journey. With the girl they make the journey together.
He meets the girl at a country park She reminds him of someone he knew in the past. They talk and he goes back to 1968 in Salford. A young graduate full of academic socialism is thrown into industrial Salford as a Management Trainee.
He learns about life and how to manage people. he falls in love with a young married woman who shares his ideals.
But who is the girl at the park. the novel develops into a surreal but beatiful ending.