It has been called “The strike to end all strikes”, and decades later, the wounds of the miners’ strike of 1984-85 still run deep within the UK.
Just in time for the 40th anniversary of that unprecedented 12-month standoff between workers and the government comes Death of a Union, a gripping geopolitical thriller that imagines just how profound and penetrating those injuries could be.
Author Andrew Wood’s intelligent plot delivers an intricate exploration of corruption within and without the corridors of power, where the scandals of two eras collide and the cracks in a rapidly fragmenting Britain are ultimately traced back to shady dealings behind the picket lines of the mid-eighties.
In 1984, Scottish miner and trade union figure George McDonald, a dedicated family man and conscientious leader, is increasingly dismayed as he watches the miners’ struggle continue to go from bad to worse.
While he had favoured pragmatism, seeking negotiations with PM Margaret Thatcher’s Government after their decision to close pits, the National Union of Mineworkers’ President, Arthur Scargill, is determined to make a stand without compromise.
Soon, thousands of miners across the UK have swapped their tools with placards as the fight commences, but the cost on their side is huge. With no wage coming in, they struggle to feed their families and heat their homes.
This couldn’t be more at odds, in McDonald’s mind, with things in the NUM itself, where executives enjoy elaborate office buildings, fancy cars, and overseas holidays.
As time marches on, and the standoff becomes increasingly violent, he begins to look into the union’s financial affairs. Millions have been received in donations yet this money isn’t reaching the miners. Instead, it seems to be disappearing into thin air.
He becomes further alarmed as he finds that the KGB and other shadowy foreign entities are among the donors.
They will not take kindly to being brought into the spotlight, and neither will his colleagues in the union, but firmly believing it’s the right thing to do given the toll the strike is having on ordinary people and their communities, he plans to reveal all to a reporter.
Before he can, however, he is killed in a hit-and-run accident.
Four decades later, Maggie McGown; the wife of late millionaire businessman Robbie Gordon, announces her plans to enter politics, standing for election within the SNP.
While incredibly wealthy, she has never forgotten her roots in a poor mining family, where she experienced hunger during the miners’ strike.
With no love lost for Westminster and English rule, she is committed to an independent Scotland; one where the wealth stays in the country and is spent on improving the lives of all its citizens.
After a successful campaign, she takes her seat and begins to investigate suspicious dealings within her own party, uncovering bribery, corruption, and wrongdoing at almost every corner.
A strong, independent woman, she is determined to make things right. Rising through the ranks, she may yet get her chance to bring about a referendum to decide Scotland’s future, and is willing to do so even if this puts her in the crosshair of enemies – including those who may have had some connection with George McDonald all those years before.
Expertly intertwining the dark events of the past with the real-world pressures of today’s troubled political landscape, Death of a Union is a compelling thriller that seamlessly blends well-researched historical fact with timely speculative fiction.
Through McDonald’s eyes, Wood captures the tragedy of the miners’ strike, where innocent men, women, and children eventually became pawns in a lopsided power struggle between opposing ideologies.
He is witness to the deepening hardship, the rising desperation, and the increasing brutality of police as the Government takes an increasingly hard line to end the strike, as encapsulated in the Battle of Orgreave, named after the shocking clash that took place outside a British Steel Corporation coking plant at Orgreave, in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
As Wood writes, “McDonald had a gnawing sense of dread in his gut, which told him that the strike was a monster, already out of control. It needed feeding, and in the end, it would consume them all.”
For those old enough to remember the strike, there will be lots of ‘aha’ moments as they are whisked back to those depressing days, as well as many eye-opening revelations to be found, such as the involvement of state-sanctioned agents to instigate conflict and undermine the miners’ public support or how the roots of the unions’ dismantling began not with the Conservatives but with Labour under PM James Callahan, who feared the NUM.
Wood, originally from the UK but who emigrated to America in the early 1980s, saw the impact of the miners’ strike firsthand and draws upon those memories to add to the authenticity of the period, which is captured in all its bleakness.
Remembering the strike myself I can attest to how well he captures it. When the strike began, I regularly came across road signs blacked out by picketing miners in the hope that the coal lorries would not find the power stations.
I also recall the divisions the strike caused, especially when some miners, shorn of all resources and hope, went back to work to were called out as traitors by their colleagues. In some senses, the UK at that time seemed to be going through a second civil war.
For younger readers, the up-to-date and topical themes of Scottish independence, the use of artificial intelligence to spread disinformation, and China’s growing political influence on the world stage will make fascinating food for thought.
While Death of a Union is a meaty read, coming in at over 450 pages, its fast-paced narrative and unfolding intrigue makes you want to keep reading until the mysteries set up in the first half of the story find their satisfying resolution.
This is aided by short, punchy chapters which mix up the action and characters particularly well, making you wonder just what will come next.
Perhaps the biggest strength of the novel is Wood’s ability to deliver well-rounded and recognisable characters, each with their own stories and motivations that fill in important pieces in the narrative jigsaw.
Protagonist Maggie McGown; the rich populist leader, for example, has a fascinating journey marked by a sharp political mind and unstoppable drive to build a new Scotland, one that makes her a thorn in Number 10’s side, especially when she begins courting questionable foreign ties.
Remarkably, Death of a Union is Andrew Wood’s 51st book. A seasoned entrepreneur and the world’s leading golf marketing expert, the vast majority of his back catalogue are non-fiction business guides, including The Golf Marketing Bible, which has generated more than $500,000 in sales.
In recent years, however, he has turned his attention to fiction but and his new novel marks something of a departure, moving away from satirical and humorous works such as Career Change, featuring a middle-aged accountant becoming an international gigolo.
Based on how well his transition to the thriller genre has been, I can only hope we see more straight-rolling stories from him in the years to come.
Death of a Union by Andrew Wood is out now on Amazon, priced £14.20 in paperback and £7.88 as an eBook. An audiobook version is coming soon. For more information, visit www.AndrewwoodInc.com. You can read more from Andrew on his blog, www.LifeWellLived.expert, and about his strategic marketing advice at www.LegendaryMarketing,com.
Death of a Union author Andrew Wood chats to us about his new novel, his own memories of the 1984 miners’ strike, and his wider writing output, among other things.
Q. What sparked your interest in setting your geopolitical thriller Death of a Union against the backdrop of the UK miners’ strike?
A.With the 40th anniversary of the strike coming up, there have been a lot of articles on it in various publications, which piqued my interest. There was also the ongoing effort for an inquest into the police action at the Battle of Orgreave, the most violent day of the strike. Then, of course, the hapless SNP are always in the news, and I saw an opportunity to have the two stories meet.
Q. Could you share your process for researching and writing your novels?
A. I start with an idea and then create the beginning and the end. The end may change, but I have a good idea of what it is at the start. Then, I fill in the pieces to get us from the beginning to the end, adding various subplots along the way. I do a lot of rough writing before I start fact-checking or researching details.
Q. Can you recount any personal memories or experiences you have related to the miners’ strike?
A. I remember driving to a golf tournament in an MG Midget borrowed from my brother-in-law. I had a very close call with a coal truck bombing down a Scottish B-road not big enough for both of us.
Moreover, there was nothing on the TV news or the front pages of the papers except the strike. You couldn’t get away from it. Going up and down the M6 or M62, you saw the police and the pickets everywhere.
Q. How important do you think the miners’ strike was in shaping the Britain of today?
A. Most people saw it as a struggle between the working and ruling classes, but it was just the end of an era. It would have happened under any government. The strike just sped it up. The steelworks imported Polish coal, and the power stations changed to oil, significantly reducing the demand for coal. Britain shifted from mining and manufacturing to service. The internet caused another seismic shift in the ‘90s, and now we must deal with AI. It will create massive unemployment and social issues, like closing the mines did.
Q. Death of a Union effortlessly blends historical accuracy with speculative fiction. What do you think readers will be most shocked to learn about the miners’ strike?
A. The level of corruption and lack of transparency around the millions that were donated. The condoned aggression of the police, their infiltration of the miners’ union, and how close it came to the army being called in.
Q. You have written, on average, three books a year for the past few years and have authored more than 50 books in total. How do you fit this into your schedule, and where do your ideas and inspirations come from?
A. Most ideas come from an incident in real life, like stepping into an elevator 15 years ago in Monaco and being asked by an attractive young woman if I’d ever thought of becoming a gigolo because her agency was hiring. About the same time, one of my best friends’ wives ran off with an Italian shoe salesman she had met only once in a bar. Those two stories gave me the idea for my novel, Career Change, a humorous exploration of a divorced, middle-aged accountant’s, reluctant new life as an inexperienced gigolo in the principality.
As for time, I’m always writing something on my computer and my phone wherever I am.
Q. What one thing are you most proud of about your new novel?
A. The two parallel stories, one forty years ago and one in the present, really holding the reader’s interest. Death of a Union deals with contemporary issues while detailing the fascinating history of a seismic event in UK history.
Q. Who is your favourite author and what have you learned from them?
A. I am a big fan of Ken Follet, who writes excellent historical fiction. He’s great at keeping multiple subplots going and superb with historical detail.
Q. You are a keen blogger. What subjects interest you most, and what compels you to continue sharing content?
A. I love to read, averaging a book a week, and am very interested in what’s happening in the world. I like writing about current events, interesting people, travel, entrepreneurship, and marketing. I enjoy sharing ideas and stimulating people to think differently about a topic.
Q. What can readers expect from you next?
A. I have yet to start a new novel, but I have a book on how to be a world-class instructor well down the road. I also have a guidebook to the best cities in Italy using a famous person from that city as your fictional guide. I have chunks of a new marketing book and one on strategy, which few people truly understand. I’m also working away at an autobiography – I’m lucky to have enjoyed a pretty astonishing life for a Shropshire lad.
