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Guile and Spin Paperback – February 3, 2013

by Stuart Louis Larner (Author)

3.9 9 ratings

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An outrageous, compelling, unforgettable story of cricket played to a farcical level you had previously never thought possible. A must-read for cricket fans everywhere. Jeremy Freeman hates cricket, but is enticed by woman cricketer Claire who turns his life upside-down. Fardeep Singh shows him how he can use spiritual powers and mystical charms to achieve his secret dreams. Oriental magic meets sport psychology in an explosive mix. But that is only the start of their problems. Anything can happen - and does. "...decent, warm-hearted page-turner.....many of the characters will be familiar to anyone who plays cricket...." Patrick Kidd, The Times. "...something a little different...." Andy Bull, The Guardian.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ FeedaRead.com (February 3, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 306 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1782991786
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1782991786
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 16 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 0.69 x 9.02 inches

Customer Reviews:
3.9 9 ratings

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Stuart Larner

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Stuart Larner, CPsychol, AFBPsS.

Stuart is shown with fellow author Rosie Larner. Stuart is a chartered clinical psychologist and writer. He worked in the NHS as clinical psychologist for thirty-five years. He assessed and treated approximately four thousand people in depth. As a psychologist, he has published many articles of a technical nature in scientific journals, as well as giving addresses at conferences. As a writer, he was mental health expert for XL for Men magazine and has written self-help material for various magazines and newspapers and local community radio. As a playwright, his plays have had rehearsed readings in Yorkshire, UK. He has been part of a team that worked on shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He has an interest in cricket and has written a novel and short stories. He is currently completing more plays, more poems, a novel, and a sport psychology book.

See his blog on http://stuartlarner.blogspot.co.uk/

also the website with Rosie Larner: http://slarner5.wixsite.com/hope

and find him on twitter: @StuartLarner

photo credit: Charles Spencer

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Benny

A fun and informative piece of cricket fiction...

Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2012

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If you're anything like me, you're a sucker for cricket, romance and reading. When all these are combined together, it is even better. That is exactly what you get in Stuart Larner's "Guile and Spin" - a fictional story of a man's romantic feelings for a woman, which leads him on a journey full of twists and turns to a point where he discovers what cricket and true love is all about.

This is Stuart Larner's first foray into cricket novels, though he does have his own blog featuring short stories based on cricket. In "Guile and Spin", Larner has attempted to incorporate cricket, humor, romance, oriental magic and sports psychology into a single story with the purpose of producing something which apart from being humorous and compelling, helps the reader to get into the mindsets of the players. His work will evoke comparisons with Joseph O'Neill's "Netherland" and Jennie Walker's "24 for 3"; Other notable influences in his style of writing are Tom Sharpe, Bob Cattell and PG Wodehouse.

So, does it work? Well, if you're a hardcore fan of cricket literature, this is a must-read. Larner's vivid description of the game and the events surrounding them, make you feel as if you are right there along with the characters. He also manages to elicit emotional reactions from the reader at various points in the story, which is a hallmark of quality writing.

For a casual reader who has grown up on a diet of cricket journalism and is reading cricket fiction for the first time, it might take a little bit of getting used to at first. For readers unfamiliar with England and it's cricket scene, some of the lines might just fly over their heads. Still others may find the prose very heavy-handed and off putting. All these are minor quibbles and doesn't take away from a wonderfully written and well paced story.

Personally, the winning component of the book is the rich tapestry of characters. There is the protagonist whose cynicism and apathy towards cricket finds itself being slowly chipped away in a phase of transition as he comes in contact with a bunch of weird and interesting people. There is the cricketer/school teacher whose intentions are too good to be true. The shifty boss, a exotic Indian coach, an American celebrity chef - these are just some of the wonderful characters you will encounter in this fascinating book.

There is also something in it for those who are interested in sports psychology. Larner does a good job of illustrating this in regards to techniques that assists in concentration. So, not only has he managed to write a humorous story with a cricket theme, he has rendered a serious and analytic look at concentration-enhancing techniques which can be applied in modern sport. Kudos to Stuart Larner for that!

All in all, this would make for a wonderful read this holidays or even a great Christmas gift for a cricket nut you know. Highly recommended!

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AotearoaXI

More fact than fiction

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2012

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I've read more cricketing (auto) biographies than one man should, so why not a work of fiction - Stuart Larner's Guile and Spin is infinitely more readable, and believable, than most of them and doesn't require the contrived controversy that mars current cricket books.

Guile and Spin is written in the first person from the hero's viewpoint - it makes the story more human; more believable. For me, that's the essence of this novel. Larner has captured the true soul of cricket - he has a strong understanding of our great game and his knowledge comes through in the minor details that if absent would sink the cricketing back story.

Larner has penned a novel that is more than a story of cricket, love and greed. It touches on the infiltration of sports psychology and superstition in cricket - two powerful forces whose boundaries are often blurred. But above that he has shown, in characters we can all relate to, both the best and worst of people - often within the same character. There is an obvious hero and heroine in Jeremy and Claire respectively but the true victor is cricket - its history, its players, its rivalries, and its enjoyment.

This is one of those novels made to accompany a day's cricket, or to pick up on a cold evening when cricket withdrawal sets in. Many with roots in the amateur game will recognise team mates, adversaries and administrators in many of the novel's central characters - their traits are ever present in the cricketing lives of weekend warriors.

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Backwatersman

Mystery spin - but easy to read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 14, 2012

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Given how much good writing there is about cricket, it is surprising, perhaps, that there is so little entirely satisfactory fiction about the game. What there is tends to be broadly farcical (humorous tales of incompetent amateurs) or accounts of the lives of cricketers (amateur or professional) in which the cricket itself is incidental (these tend to be gloomy). Older books tend to be twee, or laced with sententious moralising, the more modern aspire towards the way that Americans write about baseball.

Stuart Larner's 'Spin and Guile' combines many of the best elements of existing cricket fiction, while avoiding the worst pitfalls. The outline of the story - the revival of a defunct small town club and the revitalisation of a struggling community - is not unfamiliar (it reminded me a little - in spirit - of that other self-publisher J.L. Carr's 'How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers won the F.A. Cup'), but is made original through what feels like close observation of time and place - small town Yorkshire in the current recession, a world of condemned leisure centres, the ominous threat of spending cuts, half-abandoned youth, predatory entrepreneurs and the Byzantine struggles to secure funding. The author has some sharp fun with the absurdities of management-speak and the weary pettinesses of office life.

Anyone who knows club cricket will meet some familiar characters and scenarios - the gnarled old pro, the bumptious committee men, the territorial tea ladies, the ancient quarrels and long-nursed grievances, the perpetual wrangling over the interpretation of league regulations. The author knows his cricket well enough to make the matches themselves exciting, but credible. There are, too, some vividly-written descriptive passages (Larner also writes poetry), such as the hero's first sight of the abandoned ground and some sympathetic portrayals of non-cricketing characters, such as his faithful, underestimated deputy Ann.

Not the smallest achievement of the book is in balancing the elements of farcical comedy (Tom Sharpe without the misanthropy), satire, realistic observation, and downbeat romance with the essential point (I think) that the elusive Spirit of Cricket can be found doing its good works in some apparently unlikely places.

Somewhere close to the heart of the book, too, is the equivocal figure of Fardeep Singh - a real mystery spinner - a Bedi-esque Indian bowler-cum-guru, who operates at the point where mysticism meets sports psychology, where the Zone meets Satori. As he says

"Many people, they think cricket is boring because nothing ever seems to happen. But it does. Cricket is like a still pool - with the life bubbling under the surface."

'Spin and Guile' is never boring - the plot is too twisty and fast-moving for that, but there is a sense that its real purpose, too, is bubbling under the surface and only occasionally reveals itself openly. Perhaps, to understand that fully, I'd need to read the book again. Which would be no hardship.

I'd recommend this book to anyone with an interest in cricket. To anyone, too, who - like the hero - needs an initiation into the mysteries of the most fascinating of games.

One person found this helpful

Winker54

Brings Back Memories

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 24, 2013

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Having played cricket many years ago at the standard described in this book it brought back many happy memories, particualrly of the captain trying to make use of tactics and strategies his team didn't have the skill to execute. No such problem with the author of this book. The story has just the right aount of intrigue off the pitch and suspense on it. The characters are well crafted and the hero, who is railroaded into organising a cricket team in order to save the leisure centre he manages, alternately invokes the reader's sympathy and exasperation in equal measure. Of course, our man is at the crease when the winning run needs to be scored. Will he do it? Normally you'd be sure the hero would be triumphant, but not with this one. You'd also be pretty certain he's going to get the girl at the end, but again not with this hero. The author keeps you guessing until the end.
Whether you like cricket or not there's plenty to keep you interested until the end. I'd definitely recommend it.

Kirby Meehan

A story of love and cricket in a recession torn town.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 9, 2012

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Excerpts from a review:

"Cricket is a game that appeals to a variety of people for a variety of reasons, including women, and this is the heart of Larner's story. Jeremy, who really doesn't like cricket, is asked to help resurrect an old club in order to make a bid for more council sports funding. He agrees, after much consideration, only in the hope of getting nearer to our quick-bowling semi-heroine, Claire, but soon finds himself managing a small cricket club with big dreams. A few players from the past and some new young lads join Jeremy and Claire; add a rival bid and a celebrity chef to make the teas and those dreams suddenly look like becoming a reality. Humour ensues, the bid application grows and its success may eventually depend on the state of the panel members' bowels."

"On the surface just a light hearted and easy to read story about cricket, Guile and Spin covers so much more than just humour, conspiracy and love. It delves into the psychological process at the heart of playing the game, coaching techniques and shows a good understanding of cricket by its author. Not to mention, the matches described are just plain exciting.

Guile and Spin tells us that sport is important; that it can make a difference and that it should be available to everyone. On the face of it, it's all about Jeremy and his desire for a better sports centre and his desire for a certain woman; but when you dig a little deeper, the true hero of this story is the game of cricket."

Full of sports psychology, Eastern wisdon and ... well, cricket. If you're a fan of the game, you'll enjoy it.

Jimmy C

Escapist fun

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 24, 2021

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As a story, this took me away from the depths of winter to the pleasures (and trials) of club cricket. I enjoyed the dilemmas (of team selection, of character assessment and of cricketing technique) and was swept along with this light-hearted story - an escape to the joys of summer sport!
(Written in lockdown January)

Dave Oxley

Easy Reading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 16, 2014

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Easy reading the story just pulls you along it's more about human interaction than cricket but quite enjoyed it, would make a television programme out of it

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