The Bridges family struggled to escape poverty because of Albert’s ill health. The children were happy until they realised they were deprived of the pleasures that their friends enjoyed. But love surrounded and encouraged them every day of their childhood days. Their lives were filled with good times and adventures.
Eddie, the eldest child of four, suffered at the hands of the bullies. But his father showed him how to stand up for himself. Albert taught his children that success could come even after multiple failures if they kept trying. But when he had a lung removed, he lost his job and their home. The family moved in with Grandma in her terraced house in the Colliery village of Browney. Gran was already caring for her divorced daughter’s family of three young men. Somehow they managed to coexist for over a year.
A few months later, the family was rehoused into a new housing development and their first home with hot water and an indoor loo; what luxury. Eddie was training to become an unpaid Minister in the Independent Methodist Movement. His girlfriend, Doreen, for eighteen months, was the daughter of one of the Senior Ministers in the circuit of six chapels.
When Eddie met Pam, he was employed as a University Junior Technician, and his life was turned upside down. Cupid’s arrow flew and lodged so deep that the warnings of his friends in the Chapel never got past his ears. The pair were immediately smitten; nothing could part the young lovers. It was hard to break off with Doreen and even more difficult to heed the warnings of his associates in the chapel community. Pam was a Roman Catholic, and he was warned that their faiths were incompatible.
After purposely underperforming at school GCE ‘O’ level, Eddie studied part-time at night school, and with the benefit of day release from his employment as a Univerity Chemistry Technician, he gained HNC level Chemistry certification. Then he was invited to take up a career in Technical Sales by a local supplier of scientific products and instrumentation. Within a year, he and Pam had secured a mortgage on their first home and never looked back. There were ups and downs, but love always got them through the sticky patches. Eddie and Pam are approaching their diamond wedding anniversary.
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Love Changed Everything
“Love Changed Everything: The Power of Love” is a poignant memoir by Eddie, vividly capturing his life from childhood poverty to the challenges of adulthood. Set against the backdrop of a coal town, the narrative explores intergenerational struggles, heartbreaks, and the transformative power of love. Wallace Briggs, known for his children’s fantasy genre works, demonstrates his versatile storytelling skills, delving into complex themes of family, ambition, and resilience.
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Book Reviews
“Love Changed Everything: The Power of Love” is a memoir of Eddie’s life. Eddie’s family lives in poverty as his father, Albert, struggles to remain healthy with his single remaining lung. In a coal town, with generations of coal miners, Albert is determined to keep himself and his family from the mines. With three kids, his parents struggle to make ends meet and money becomes an oft discussed topic within. Anyone that’s every lived penny to penny knows how all consuming the thoughts of the next paycheck or bill can become.
Beginning with Eddie’s earliest memory, at the age of four, and carrying readers well into adulthood, “Love Changed Everything” is an enchanting read. Predominately centered around the year 1960, when Eddie is a mere 17 years old, readers are further introduced to Eddie through his journal entries. This pivotal year housed much heartbreak, struggles, and love as it sets the tone for this book and Eddie’s trajectory. Through these journal entries readers are shown the innermost thoughts and depths of his brain as we understand his life, the proceeding years and the years yet to come.
Author Wallace Briggs highlights the diversity of his talents, off the heels of his Jimmy Crikey series, firmly rooted in the children’s fantasy genre, he delivers this wholly encompassing, deep, and thought-provoking memoir. With sweeping interfaith relationship concerns, to poverty, ambition, and loss, “Love Changed Everything” shows Brigg’s wide breadth of talents.
Jill Rey - Amazon Review
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“Love Changed Everything: The Power of Love” is a poignant memoir by Eddie, vividly capturing his life from childhood poverty to the challenges of adulthood. Set against the backdrop of a coal town, the narrative explores intergenerational struggles, heartbreaks, and the transformative power of love. Wallace Briggs, known for his children’s fantasy genre works, demonstrates his versatile storytelling skills, delving into complex themes of family, ambition, and resilience.