SOLOMON HUGHES recommends Sunjeev Sahota’s recent novel set in a trade union election campaign for its fresh approach to what unites and divides workers, but wishes the union backdrop was truer to life
FORTY years on Hilary Cave offers her recollections of the 1984 miners’ strike from her vantage point as a member of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) headquarters staff. Her official responsibilities as head of education vanished as she assumed all manner of organisational tasks including the organisation of mass rallies and demonstrations throughout the country.
The opening chapter recounts a confrontation between the author, accompanied by NUM chief executive Roger Windsor, on the way to a meeting with a police operations chief, and a police roadblock intent on stopping miners from moving around the county.
Characteristically she refused to bow to police intimidation, or let them know she was on her way to meet their boss, challenged them to arrest her and forced them to abandon their pretence and let her pass.



