C’mon you Spurs (From Ealing Times)

C’mon you Spurs

9:13am Friday 2nd July 2010 in

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AN author has taken inspiration from her years as a Tottenham Hotspur supporter to pen her latest novel.

Linda Green’s Things I Wish I’d Known tells the story of a troubled teenager, Claire, whose obsession with a football star spirals out of control.

Years later she discovers a sealed envelope containing a “20-years-from-now” list she wrote as a teenager and realises how far removed her life is from the one she had imagined. However, her decision to try to put her life back on track by delving into the past has unforeseen consequences.

“Half of the novel is set in the ‘80s when Claire lived in Potters Bar, near the training ground of a fictional top-flight football team called Hornsey United,” says Linda.

“I grew up in Hertfordshire and used to travel through Potters Bar regularly when I attended college in Welwyn Garden City for two years. I needed a setting for my novel on the edge of Hertfordshire, near the M25, and on a train line into London. Potters Bar seemed the perfect location.”

Linda, 40, lives in Yorkshire, but was born in North London, lived in Waltham Cross until she was 19 and worked as a journalist covering the Enfield area.

Her previous two novels, I Did a Bad Thing and 10 Reasons Not to Fall in Love, proved successful and she is currently writing her fourth novel.

Things I Wish I’d Known is inspired by Linda’s own teenage years as a football fan.

“I was a big Spurs supporter as a teenager, attending many games at White Hart Lane," she says.

“I also used to be a regular visitor to the Spurs training ground in the ‘80s when it was in Cheshunt.

“In those days you could get really close to your idols. I got stacks of autographs and had my photo taken with the likes of Ossie Ardiles and Glenn Hoddle. That was as far as it went for me, but I wanted to write a novel about what could happen to someone who met their idol in real life and the situation got out of control.”

Things I Wish I’d Known is published by Headline Review. Details: www.linda-green.com