When people hear the name Winston Graham they immediately think Poldark. Well, he also wrote other, exceptionally good books.

The walking Stick is one of my all time favourites. It's a slim volume so I have to be careful not to give too much of the plot away. The story revolves around a young woman who uses a walking stick. As the story unfolds we discover that her withered leg is due to having been ill as a child with polio and she now hates confined spaces because she spent so much time in an iron lung. This in itself might make us pity her, but when we witness her having breakfast at home with her two stuffy parents and discover that they are both doctors...suddenly we realise that she's an embarassment to them; and that her disability is as crippling to them as to her.

Into her restricted, solitary life, appears a young man. He flirts, she falls in love, something she never thought possible. After all, who would find a cripple attractive?

Written in 1967 the book is set against the fast paced life of the swinging sixities with all of its seedy undercurrants. The reader is immediately transported to the hub of 60s life and shown the stark contrast beween the parents' properness and the laid back beetnik culture; a freer way of living that beguiles an unhappy young woman into falling in love with a man who may not be all he claims to be. ( )