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Paraffin Winter by Peter Chowney
Fiction
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The winter of 1963 was the coldest winter of the century in the UK, at a time when post-war austerity and social class divisions made for a miserable life for many people. These were the days of back boilers, bubble and squeak, paraffin oil stoves, gas works, steam trains, and starting handles. The 1960s technological and social revolution hadn’t happened yet.
Ronnie and Jenny Delaney live in the south coast town of Poole, close by the gas works. They get by - Jenny works in the local pottery and Ronnie runs a paraffin delivery round, helping to keep his grateful customers warm. But then something unexpected turns up on the paraffin round: an eyeball. It doesn't take Ronnie long to work out that it's got something to do with his past as a small-time crook, back in the East End of London. Someone's messing him about. He can handle it. Or so he thinks.
But things start to get complicated, and he quickly finds himself way out of his depth. It's going to take someone cleverer than Ronnie to get to the bottom of this one. And that someone is closer than he could ever have imagined ...
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Chapters
| Title | Description | Date Created |
| Paraffin Winter 01 (22.38 MB) | The Eye of the Storm: It's Boxing Day 1962, and the first snow has begun to fall. Next morning, Ronnie makes an unexpected find on his paraffin round. And that leads to meeting someone from his past - someone he'd rather have forgotten. | Feb 4, 2010 |
| Paraffin Winter 02 (31.36 MB) | The Naming of Parts: Ronnie visits Veronica James, and gets another surprise. Back home, an inspector calls, and Ronnie has to tell Jenny what's going on, and reveal something of his past. | Feb 4, 2010 |
| Paraffin Winter 03 (32.21 MB) | Happy New Year: Ronnie and Jenny celebrate New Year with dinner out, and find that someone else is in need of Ronnie's services. | Feb 4, 2010 |
| Paraffin Winter 04 (26.59 MB) | Charlotte Comes to Stay: Ronnie gets some useful information from a friend of a friend, but finds himself in a spot of bother on the quay. And a new friend comes to stay ... | Feb 4, 2010 |
| Paraffin Winter 05 (41.08 MB) | King Coal: More clues turn up, with Jenny making a find at the pottery and Ronnie getting closer to finding out exactly who the victim is. | Feb 4, 2010 |
| Paraffin Winter 06 (31.41 MB) | Chapter 6: The Picnic. Jenny reveals something of her past, while Ronnie discovers something more sinister than a scotch egg. | Feb 14, 2010 |
| Paraffin Winter 07 (24.74 MB) | Veronica Comes Clean: Ronnie finds out who it was that told Veronica to contact him. And it's someone closer than he would have imagined ... | Feb 20, 2010 |
| Paraffin Winter 08 (37.53 MB) | Dead in the Water: where Ronnie gets some new clothes, but can't hold back the tears when events take a downward turn. | Feb 28, 2010 |
| Paraffin Winter 09 (36.41 MB) | Battle of the Giants: Ronnie and Jenny see the town's power brokers in action, but Ronnie comes of worse in another little encounter. | Mar 8, 2010 |
| Paraffin Winter 10 (38.03 MB) | Exile: After getting into some very hot water with DI Parker, Ronnie has to cross the water to escape, while Jenny proves to be more resourceful than he could ever have imagined. | Mar 13, 2010 |
| Paraffin Winter 11 (30.47 MB) | Railway Terrace: Jenny waves goodbye to Ronnie, and goes home to Mum and Dad. She needs to talk all this through, with someone who knows what's going on ... Author/narrator's note: All this now requires some suspension of disbelief, in terms of the narrative voice! And I'm sorry if Jenny keeps lapsing from Dorset to Norfolk, I'm doing my best ... it's just that I've lived in Norfolk more recently ... | Mar 20, 2010 |