The Black Diamond

First published in 1921, this absorbing tale has all the ingredients of a 21st-century best-seller: infidelity, sex, drunkenness, violent death, football corruption, urban and rural poverty, and explicit coverage of human frailties and desires. Abner Fellows, a miner and semi-professional footballer, is found a surface job to ensure that industrial injury does not impede his prowess at football. Abner's stepmother is only a little older than himself and, when his hard-drinking miner father is hospitalized, he becomes the breadwinner. Just as his father returns home, Abner is sacked for refusing to 'throw' a cup match for his boss. Fellows senior unjustly accuses his son of impropriety with his stepmother, a fight ensues and Abner leaves home. He tramps west and after several skirmishes finds lodgings with a casual acquaintance. Again he finds himself the breadwinner of a small family. His landlady keeps him at arm's length but, just before the release of her husband from gaol, succumbs to his advances. Following another fight, Abner leaves and, whilst intoxicated in Shrewsbury, accepts an offered panacea for all his problems.