The Bottle Factory Outing - Beryl Bainbridge

I ordered this book after listening to the podcast of Radio 4's 'A Good Read', broadcast on 25 November 2011 and still available to listen again on the Radio 4 website.

I don't much enjoy Harriet Gilbert's style, she is a bit irritating and patronising and talks over her guests.  I much prefer James Naughtie's Book Club or Mariella Frostrup's Open Book but they alternate on the podcast and I've been inspired, to read books I might not have chosen otherwise, by all three.

The Bottle Factory Outing is a slight odd story that suddenly goes in a direction I wasn't expecting.  To be honest I lost my way a bit in the middle and found it less than gripping, I kept falling asleep after a couple of pages and consequently lost the momentum.

A rainy morning with a rest from running gave me the opportunity to finish it after which I went back and speed read the beginning again and discover that it's actually a well constructed book that really needs to be read in a single sitting.  200 pages and the language that is accessible makes this is quite achievable.

Freda and Brenda are two English women who's lives stumble together.  They share a bedsit and both get jobs working in a wine bottling factory.  Their colleagues, apart from the Irish driver, are all relatively recent Italian immigrant peasants.  The factory is owned by a Mr Paganotti who is always present in the story but never puts in a personal appearance and doesn't influence the outcome in any way.

There is a failed shooting that results in no injury or charge and a murder (manslaughter is probably a better description) that goes unnoticed by the authorities and is accepted and tidied up rather stoically by the witnesses.  Doesn't sound like a recipe for mirth but it is a funny book.  I enjoyed it and recommend it.