Into the Valley by Chris Clement-Green
Encouraged by the sizeable pay increase and high divorce rate, Chris decided that answering a recruitment ad for the Thames Valley Police was just the thing for a much-needed overhaul of her life. It was 1984, a time before political correctness, at the height of the miners' strike, in the middle of five years of race riots. Perfect timing. Expanding her police knowledge, and her love life, undeterred by sexist remarks and chauvinists, she decided to make her mark - kissing goodbye to her previous dull and conventional existence. Chris captures the colourful characters and humour of the situations she found herself in, but the job had its serious side, too. She was at the centre of a riot in Oxford, during which her life was saved by a young black man she had previously stopped and questioned. Consistently coming up against the effects of Margaret Thatcher's politics - controlling miners' picket-lines, covering (poorly) for striking paramedics during the ambulance dispute, responding to drunken disturbances caused by the haves (Yuppies and Oxford students) and the have-nots (alcoholic homeless and unemployed youth) - Chris also tackled sex crimes and abuse. A humorous, candid and no-holds-barred reflection of the life of a policewoman in the 80s, this book offers a personal account of a life in uniform, while touching on the Newbury Bypass demos, the effects of Scarman, the Hungerford Massacre, the bombing of Libya, the AIDS epidemic, and working under the notorious Ali Dizaei.
Chris Clement-Green recently retired from Thames Valley Police after sixteen years as a uniform sergeant, followed by five as a civilian investigator on serious and organised crime teams - which included working on several murder incident rooms. Her last job involved the management of sixty registered sex offenders. Since becoming a serious writer in 2007, Chris has had several articles and letters published both home and abroad, and was the winner of the Oriel Davis Prose Competition in 2016 and a finalist in the Women in Comedy Festival 2016 writing competition with her monologue, Queenie. Chris has now moved to rural Wales and set up The Welsh Writing Shed, from where she runs tutored and untutored writing retreats (thewelshwritingshed.co.uk).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781907324727 |
| ISBN 10 | 1907324720 |
| Title | Into the Valley |
| Author | Chris Clement-Green |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Mirror Books |
| Year published | 2017-09-21 |
| Number of pages | 320 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |