Steve Goddard is a public relations consultant, working mainly on exhibitions and films. He has been a sub-editor on the sports pages of the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo and is currently co-editor of www.shipoffools.com, an irreverent Christian web magazine with a vibrant online community. His first novel, Rattles and Rosettes, was a work of social history charting the lives and loves of two young football fans in 1914 and 2010.

One handstand.

That's all it took.

And Lucy Pitcher spun William Shearwater's world upside down.

Fifty years on, 'Shears' is a squeaky-clean Anglican chaplain, nursing memories of a lost and secret love. He has never met English teacher Sophie Daggert, recently bereaved and on a quest to trace her natural parents. But through a mesmerizing series of twists and turns, Sophie and Shears are brought together in a shocking journey of self-discovery – with 1967's Summer of Love at the heart of it all.

'Witty, tragic and emotional. If there's a better-observed comic novel about the 1960s, I'll eat my kaftan.'  
Cindy Kent MBE, (ex-The Settlers)

'Goddard's knowledge of popular culture is extraordinary, and the way he weaves it into a believable range of characters makes this book utterly compelling. A splendid read is guaranteed for all.'  
Don Maclean, former presenter of BBC TV's Crackerjack!

An ironic comedy novel with dark undertones, set in the 1960s and the present day . . .   
It was love at first sight.  
Fifty years on, disclosure means disaster.

Steve Goddard

Front Cover

Half-Title Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Prelude

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

One handstand.

That’s all it took.

And Lucy Pitcher spun William Shearwater’s world upside down.

Fifty years on, ‘Shears’ is a squeaky-clean Anglican chaplain, nursing memories of a lost and secret love. He has never met English teacher Sophie Daggert, recently bereaved and on a quest to trace her natural parents. But through a mesmerizing series of twists and turns, Sophie and Shears are brought together in a shocking journey of self-discovery – with 1967’s Summer of Love at the heart of it all.

‘Witty, tragic and emotional. If there’s a better-observed comic novel about the 1960s, I’ll eat my kaftan.’

Cindy Kent MBE, (ex-The Settlers)

‘Goddard’s knowledge of popular culture is extraordinary, and the way he weaves it into a believable range of characters makes this book utterly compelling. A splendid read is guaranteed for all.’

Don Maclean, former presenter of BBC TV’s Crackerjack!

An ironic comedy novel with dark undertones, set in the 1960s and the present day: it was love at first sight. Fifty years on, disclosure means disaster.

The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released on June 1st 1967, was arguably the most influential album of the 20th Century. Thoroughly British, with references to the Isle of Wight, Blackburn, the Albert Hall et al, Steve Goddard takes the characters from the record - Billy, Lucy, Mr Kite, the Hendersons and Lovely Rita - and puts them back into the sixties, as if they all knew each other in a street in suburban south London. The songs on Pepper chart their combined stories (drugs/ family tensions/ broken homes etc). The tale begins and ends on 1st June 2017, with a fatal car accident; a crowd gathers and gawps at a 'face they've seen before'. The story then covers events leading up to the crash, in particular the thoughts of 64-year-old Canon William Shearwater, Anglican chaplain and minor sports journalist. He is secretly reflecting on his first love, Lucy - a relationship that began in the middle of the 1966 World Cup. England's matches form a central part of Shearwater's reveries. We also follow Sophie Daggert in the present day, an English teacher in her 40s, who has recently lost her husband to cancer. She decides to trace her birth parents, having been adopted as a three-week-old baby. Her quest, and eventual meeting with Shearwater, takes them both on a shocking journey of self-discovery - and the reader on an exploration of the legacy of the 60s, with the scandals of celebrities like Jimmy Savile, DLT and Rolf Harris high up in the mix.

'Witty, tragic and emotional. If there's a better-observed comic novel about the 1960s, I'll eat my kaftan.';Cindy Kent MBE, (ex-The Settlers);'Goddard's knowledge of popular culture is extraordinary, and the way he weaves it into a believable range of characters makes this book utterly compelling. A splendid read is guaranteed for all.';Don Maclean, former presenter of BBC TV's Crackerjack!

Inspired by a mystery that captivated thousands, this intriguing novel investigates hidden secrets during the Summer of Love.

Whatever Happened to Billy Shears?

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Whatever Happened to Billy Shears?

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