It tells the story of Robbie Blair who is a very talented young footballer who has dreams of becoming a professional footballer when he becomes an adult.
Yes, Robbie has the prerequisite footballing skills. But he also has the ability to break his bones. Multiple times, unfortunately.
Robbie is taking part in a very important trial match but disaster befalls him when he breaks his leg for the third time.
He then faces the grim realisation that his dreams of becoming a professional footballer have turned to dust.
But have they? Is his dream truly over? Because as Joe Hart said "We can all learn from Robbie Blair."
This is a stormer of a book by J G Nolan who was born and brought up in a sleepy Shropshire village and loved two things as a child. Football and writing.
Sadly his football mad son Robbie was very prone to breaking his bones and was warned by his doctors that he must never play football again.
The idea for Jump! slowly coalesced in his mind when he was making one of his many lengthy stays whilst he was visiting Robbie in the local children's hospital.
J G Nolan took an interesting route to writing Jump! He made a study of the exploits of historical footballers who, although famous, had also, back in their day, being mavericks.
He became fascinated by and drawn to stories of famous Celtic legends from the 1920s. Even to the present day their names are still chanted at Parkhead.
During his many, many hours of research he learned of Glasgow's icon Cathkin Park. Which resulted in a meeting with Simon Weir, a Scotish actor, who helped preserve the park for many years. And Jump! to coin an expression, took wing.
When Robbie, J G Nolan's son commenced on his long road to recovery and fitness news of his sheer courage and determination reached famed local football hero Joe Hart, a fellow Shropshire lad and former Shrewsbury Town player, whilst he was playing for Manchester City.
Joe sent Robbie some signed goalkeeper's gloves to buck him up during his recovery.
By chance Robbie eventually followed Joe's footsteps and Robbie attended the same secondary school in Shrewsbury.
Some years later, when Joe had been transferred to Celtic he was thrilled to be asked to read Jump! and he kindly offered to write the forward.
On to the book. It's a labour of love and it tells the story of Robbie Blair. But it's more than the story of Robbie Blair. It's the story of everyone who, due to physical injuries or difficulties found that, as one door closed another door opened for them. And that sometimes it's just a minor diversion to get them to their original goal.
What kind of a book is it? It's a novel, it's a historical work, it's a mystical work that's on a par with Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance a little bit of a ghost story but it's primarily a romance novel. A romance novel? Yes. A novel about the romance of football.
It's got to be a "must buy" present for every football fan this Christmas.
It's published by SilverWood Books at £12.99 https://www.silverwoodbooks.co.uk/jump-by-jbg-nolan.
Hi, that is an awesome review - you have totally 'got' the story. Thank you!
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