Mr Overs keeps a sweet shop in Manchester and is proud of having his own business and being independent, but he hopes his son Willy will go further and become a great man. He wants Willy to leave school and go into the insurance business, but Willy longs to go to a grammar school and continue his education, which Mr Overs considers a waste of time. The Overs are looked down on by their more prosperous relatives, the Sowters, and this makes Mr Overs even more determined that Willy shall get on and make a mark in the world. Can there be a way to make them both happy? The atmosphere of Edwardian Manchester is vividly evoked in this very entertaining story with interesting characters, and a marvellous ending.

This tale of a young boy growing up in a gritty area of Manchester around 1900 gripped me enormously, but I'm not sure that any actual children would really enjoy it. Unless they're children who relish period domestic drama, and psychological acuity in the portrayals of emotionally abusive fathers and bullies and so forth. I haven't met any children like that, and wasn't one such myself, but none the less, I raced through the story at top speed, winced at the uncomfortable parts, and found the unexpected ending quite satisfying.