Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Run Wild, Run Free
AUTHOR: Fiona Glass
PUBLISHER: JMS Books, LLC
LENGTH: 87 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 11, 2023
BLURB:
Growing up in a 1950s mining village in the English midlands is hard for someone like Joey, who’s known he was different since he was a kid. All he wants to do is run wild on the hills, watching nature and indulging his love of art. All his parents want is for him to settle down: marriage, a home of his own, a steady job down the mine, and not so much as a whiff of art college. But none of that appeals to him.
Everything changes the summer he turns eighteen, when the travellers come to town. They’re here for the local farmer’s beet harvest, but the villagers resent them and Joe’s mam won’t even let him speak to them. Dirty, lazy, good-for-nothing layabouts, she calls them. But when Joe meets Billy on the hill behind the village, the man isn’t dirty at all, just good-looking, good-humoured and surprisingly kind. Best of all, Billy shares his love of the natural world.
Unbeknown to his family the two become friends, and then more than friends. But when the farmer’s barn burns down and Joe’s brother Rob puts the blame on Billy, Joe must decide whether to stay loyal to his family, or grow up fast and risk everything he’s familiar with to help the man he’s come to love.
REVIEW:
This is an interesting shorter story about Joey, a young guy who doesn’t fit into his family or community. He’s just turning 18 – something nobody in his poor family even remembers. He’s got loads of siblings and his older brother works in the mine with his father and his mother is pregnant. Again. And they are already having trouble keeping every one housed, clothed and fed. Joey isn’t big or strong and doesn’t even eat meat because he believes animals should be free to live their lives – not cut up on somebody’s plate. He’s an artist who prefers to spend his time alone observing nature and drawing what he sees.
It’s harvest time and the travellers/gypsies are in town to work in the fields. Joey’s mother warns him to stay away from the them with the usual bigoted characterizations of the group. But while Joey’s drawing up on the hill one day, one of the young men from the group approaches him as he’s drawing things. He’s interested to talk to guy as his life is totally different from Joey’s. Billy, as it turns out, is on his own – having lost his direct family or they have run off. He’s inherited his gran’s wagon and she has taught him to be self-sufficient. But what really intrigues Joey is when Billy kisses him. And it feels so right.
Bill and Joey meet again a couple of times, but Joey is always in trouble. His family needs him with his mother taking ill and he’s got to look out for his younger sisters. He struggles to even get away to talk to Billy. Then he gets himself into more trouble is punished by his father and told he’s grounded. But he just can’t stay away from Billy. When Billy is subsequently blamed for a crime and it’s Joey’s own family behind the accusation, he just can’t stand by and let it happen. The consequences for getting Billy off the hook for the arson might be worse – for both of them. What can he do?
This was a very atmospheric story of this time period that I thought was well written. Joey is someone who is not understood by his family and has no friends to speak of. He’ doesn’t fit nicely into the prescribed societal box and he’s not interested in working in the mine or marrying. He’s definitely a free spirit and has talents that lie outside of the expected paths. He realizes just how different he is after Billy kisses him and he comes to understand himself and how living this conventional life is not an option for him. But he doesn’t see a way out. Until he does. Billy is a rather intriguing character whose entire existence is different to Joey’s. His life is not about following a prescribed path and settling down in a village. Travelling and having some freedom are it for him. He really likes Joey and wants better for him than what he’s currently living. But it is the 1950s and he will have to make a choice that will have real consequences.
If you’re a fan of historical novellas with a bit of grit and reality then I think you might enjoy this shorter story. For UK readers, you may recognize that this story has some basis in a common folk-song. Recommended.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
JMS Books
[…] Anyway, you can now see their reviewer Sadonna’s lovely and very detailed write-up about Run Wild, Run Free here. I’m very grateful to them for taking so much time and care over their […]