{"title":"Mike Padgett","description":"\u003cp\u003eDive into thrilling adventures with Mike Padgett! Perfect for fans of action-packed stories and suspenseful mysteries, explore a world of gripping narratives and unforgettable characters. Start your next adventure here.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"as-far-as-we-can-book-mike-padgett-9781839755156","title":"As Far As We Can","description":"It's 1973. There are industrial disputes in the coal mines and on the railways, and an impending three-day week for workers. Meanwhile in Barnsley, three young working-class men meet in a local pub to discuss plans to travel 'as far as they can go'. They buy maps, stock up on tinned food, club together their savings to buy a second-hand camper van, and set off to the other side of the world. They plan to follow their road maps overland to India and then board a ship for Australia, find work, save up again and come back the other way.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49553798529297,"sku":"GOR012153135","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51167276368145,"sku":"NIN9781839755156","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1839755156.jpg?v=1751447520"},{"product_id":"scrap-book-mike-padgett-9781803813967","title":"SCRAP","description":"Set in the former mining village of Brodworth some ten years after the local pit closed, SCRAP tells the story of fifty-year-old former miner, Phil Steele's attempt to stay in work and retrain as a plumber.       Phil is still struggling to find a new purpose in life following the closure of the pit and fears being thrown on the scrapheap. He is not the man he was and this is affecting his family. His wife, Deb, is frustrated and is pursuing her own dream of owning and running a café, with or without his support. His unemployed son, Gav, has shown little interest in joining a father-son plumbing business, preferring instead to earn 'easy' (probably illegal) money with his mates doing 'a bit of this and a bit of that'. Phil clings to the past, as a member of a mining community, by retreating to his garage to work on his classic BSA Golden Flash motorbike - a restoration project he started just weeks before the miners' strike began. The bike is the last remaining symbol of the hope, pride and dignity he had as a young miner.      Now, in the final week of his training course, he has a violent encounter with an old enemy from his days on the picket line. This leads Phil to acknowledge that his inability to move on from his past life has made him self-centred and endangered his own and his family's safety.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50632927314193,"sku":"GOR014018951","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50907917844753,"sku":"GOR014118553","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51052644368657,"sku":"NIN9781803813967","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1803813962.jpg?v=1751411799"},{"product_id":"kicking-off-book-mike-padgett-9781913625160","title":"Kicking Off","description":"Mike Padgett's new novel is set in a former mining town in the north of England. It is a story of a football match between a women's team of young care workers and a pub team of middle-aged men, back together after 30 years. Sparks fly as the two sides prepare for the challenge.  Brian, a middle aged widowed joiner, thought his footballing and romancing days were long gone. But when Jean, supervisor at the dementia care home looking after his dad, challenges him to put his old pub side back together and play her team of young women care workers, he discovers the game is not over yet.  Women v men; past v present; caring v uncaring; tolerance v racism; fairness v sexism; blame v forgiveness. It is a big match.  Mike Padgett is the author of two books: As Far As We Can, a travel memoir ('It fair rattles along' - Ian Clayton) and SCRAP, a novel ('Authenticity accomplished with aplomb' - Ian McMillan).","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51776170918161,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51776171245841,"sku":"NGR9781913625160","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52638544986385,"sku":"GOR014574061","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781913625160.jpg?v=1751673930"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-mike-padgett.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}