Cows Can't Jump - Philip Bowne

I'm so pleased to be on the Blog Tour today for this book.

Description

17-year-old Billy has just left school with no A levels and he's desperate to escape middle England. As a grave-digger, he’s working the ultimate dead-end job. Billy’s home life isn’t any better. In the evenings, he observes his dysfunctional family: his Grandad’s engaged to a woman half his age, his xenophobic Dad’s become obsessed with boxing, and he suspects his deeply religious Mum is having an affair. 

All the while, celebrities are dropping like flies and Britain is waiting for the EU referendum. Everything is changing, and Billy hates it.

Meeting Eva, though, changes everything. She’s Swiss, passionate about Russian literature, Gary Numan, windfarms and chai tea, and Billy gambles everything for a chance to be with her.

When things start to go wrong, Billy’s journey across Europe involves hitch-hiking with truckers, walking with refugees, and an encounter with suicidal cows. But the further he goes, the harder it is to be sure what he’s chasing – and what he’s running from.

Review

I've really enjoyed reading this book, it certainly kept me entertained and wondering what on earth would happen next.

We meet Billy as he is wondering what to do now he's left school. His Mum finds him a job through the Church and she sends him off to the local cemetery. Where it turns out he's going to be a grave digger! It's here we learn how naïve and unworldly Billy really is and this led me to I fear for him from this point on and throughout the whole book. 

Billy gets another job and meets Eva. They have a whirlwind romance and eventually she returns home to Switzerland. As can happen with long distance relationships it's not going too well and Billy wants to join her in Switzerland. With no money and no job that's not going to be easy though.

Whilst Billy is naïve (he borrows and looses 3k!) he's very resourceful and through one means or another he scrapes enough together to set out for Switzerland. Although when he gets there the lovely Eva (not so sure she is that lovely in my eyes) has gone to Slovenia and asks him to meet her there. This is when Billy's education (and mine) really begins as he makes his way across Europe. 

It's this part of the book that had me gripped. Who was he going to meet next, what was going to become of him? It all reads so true to life, that I wonder if the author hasn't experienced at least some of these same life events. Meanwhile back at home his Grandad is engaged to a woman half his age, his Father is obsessed with boxing and his Mum is having an affair!

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. Brilliantly written with fantastic humour. I feel like I've been on a journey (in more ways than one) with Billy and it was great one too. My thanks to the author and Random Tours for a copy of the book for review.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Instagram @ philipbowne Twitter @chumpybloke https://philipbowne.com/

Philip Bowne lives in London and works as a writer for The Wombles, a children’s entertainment brand.  Like his protagonist, Billy, Phil attended a failing and severely under-resourced school in Bicester, Oxfordshire. However, unlike Billy, Phil ended up studying English Literature and Creative Writing at university. While studying, Phil published short stories in literary magazines and anthologies in the UK, US, Canada and Germany. After graduating, Phil spent time in Europe and the US, working and volunteering in various roles and settings: repairing boats at Lake Como, housekeeping at a mountain lodge in California and working with charity Care4Calais in the former Calais ‘jungle’ refugee camp. Cows Can’t Jump is Phil’s debut novel, which he worked on while managing a bar in London. As well as a writer for The Wombles, Phil also works on a number of independent writing projects, including a musical set in 1970’s Soho and a sitcom set in a failing leisure centre.