Snow on the Cobbles by Maggie Sullivan is a prequel to the TV series, which started broadcasting in 1960. The cover indicates that the story might take place in late December, but the action begins in January 1945. Early series characters such as Elsie Tanner and Ena Sharples are introduced yet the action centres on two characters: Lizzie Doyle, who moves onto Coronation St. with her family after she lost her fiancé during the war; and Hilda Ogden, who would eventually become part of the show for 23 years.
I was disappointed by this novel, for the first reason that Christmas takes a back seat, since the holiday wasn’t even mentioned until page 266 (and the novel only had 335 pages). And it was indeed only a mention–Christmas was as nonexistent in the storyline as the snow was omnipresent. As a loyal viewer of “Coronation Street”, which shoots genuine exteriors, snow never falls in such vast amounts to make the cover image of the novel even possible. Real-life rain does occur and outdoor shooting proceeds as normal, but in 38 years of watching the show I cannot recall seeing a real snowfall and definitely not any snow on the cobbles. Even the snow from 2013, which the actors used to create life-size snow figures of Roy and Hayley, was obviously fake, and sadly, very poorly done.
The purpose of this book was to create a feel-good read with an ostensible Christmas theme, to be read at this time of year when readers–as I often proclaim here about myself–want a happy story that doesn’t involve a lot of thinking. Nothing wrong with that. However, the second reason I did not enjoy this book is that nothing exciting happens. The story is boring, and no wonder it took me four days to read this when I should have finished it, with its large type and gaping margins, in half the time. Lizzie and Hilda work at their pub jobs as barmaid and cleaner respectively and Elsie pops in at times with her street-smart wisdom. Lizzie believes her house is haunted so she has Hilda come over to work some spiritual magic. Yet even with a haunted house, the author couldn’t drum up some suspense. Steve Carter, a soldier who was sent home from the front because of a leg injury, joins the staff of the Rovers Return and he develops an attraction to Lizzie, but her incessant refusals of his gentlemanly advances prove annoying.
It turns out that Lizzie and her mother Cora (whose husband was killed in the war) have colluded on a story to pass off Lizzie’s son (fathered by her fiancé) as Cora’s child, thus Lizzie’s infant son Sammy is introduced in the story as her baby brother. Since both men are now dead, there could be no battle for paternity. I was able to figure out who Sammy’s real mother was before the Big Reveal, yet the buildup to it was a yawner. How Steve and Lizzie could even find a mutual attraction was also a mystery since nothing happens between them except short walks they share from the pub to Lizzie’s home.
There is a happy ending, of course: Steve and Lizzie (with Sammy) move to Cheshire to run a country pub. A wedding is planned. Of all the “Christmas” novels I have read over the past three years, this one could have taken place at any time of the year as the absence of the holiday made the book a disappointing read.