Worldly Goods
- Andy Bracken
- May 1, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 30
His brother inherited the business - his sisters the house and worldly goods. Danny Goods got his father’s seven and a half thousand vinyl albums. For six years, he feels cheated.
Circumstances lead to him exploring the collection with a view to selling it. Inside certain records, he finds letters his father, Bill, left for him. Each tells the tale of the memory associated with the LP containing it. And, as Danny discovers, the true value lies in what he unearths about himself.
Have you ever wondered what will happen to your vinyl record collection after you die? This book may make you chuckle. It might prompt a light cough to relieve a tight throat. It’s even possible that brief periods of reflective cogitation will be required when reading this book.
Listen to a playlist of music mentioned in "Worldly Goods" on Spotify, kindly curated by Michael Halliday.
Author Notes
Early-2019, and I decided to re-set and take a bit of time off writing.
Until I spoke with a friend, Pete T, and he suggested I incorporate records more prevalently into my writing. As he put it, “it’s how I met you, after all, through the label and a record collecting forum.”
Around the same time, I’d picked up a second-hand album, and tucked inside the sleeve was a Valentine Card. Further, my Dad had stayed with me for a few months in late-2018 after he found himself alone, and we’d talked about what he wanted to happen to his worldly goods.
Those elements came together to spark an idea. Not to mention a title. There was no real plan beyond that. I just began writing, and seeing where it took me. Looking back on the novel, it’s a book where I encourage the reader to judge a character or situation, before revealing the truth to them. Very much ‘show it, don’t tell it’. I’d done it before, on ‘Across The Humpty Dumpty Field’ for example, via Mr. Glenn. This was on a different level, though.
Even the cover image is terribly poignant, but you don’t know that until you read about it in the text. My wife created it for me, and I’ve teased her ever since that she can draw like a 5-year-old!
Characters make books. And films and television series, et al. As I said in a recent interview with TIWN Magazine in Wales, “I mean, if you don’t care about the characters, you don’t care what happens to them, so why bother finding out?”
That said, I had no idea at the time of writing, that Tommy Histon and Ally Mac would go on to have books of their own as a result. It is a loose trilogy, ‘Worldly Goods’, ‘Folklorist: The Tommy Histon Story’, and ‘Equilibrium’. They each stand alone, and can be read in any order, but I think of them as being related, certainly.
‘Worldly Goods’ was a game-changer, I suppose. To date, it’s sold more than any other of my books by some distance. Why? It appeals to vinyl record collectors, naturally, and what will become of their collection after they die. But it also appeals to everyone. We all have ‘things’ we value. More importantly, we have things we want to say - tales we wish to tell. But the time mightn’t be right, or ears not receptive. Or we simply don’t feel able.
So the notion of a father, Bill Goods, leaving notes in his albums to be discovered after his demise, addresses that perfectly. Only when the time’s right, though. His son, Danny, must want to explore the legacy. He has to be of a mind to go looking for something…
And, of course, it has a profound effect on him. I confess, the concept is very good. And I think I handled it reasonably well.
Reviews
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The best book I have ever read!
“What makes this book so special ? It resonates in so many ways and has you on an emotional roller coaster from chapter one. As a lover of vinyl records this book will always hold a place in my (literary) heart but as a son/father/husband it’s so much more than that too. It’s the story of our lives - all of us - and it proves (in an unashamedly heart-warming way) that it’s never too late. I just wish it was a true story…….but maybe it is.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A compelling voyage of discovery on many levels, in a vinyl wrapping!
"This was the second book I read by Andy Bracken, and was quite different to ‘Folklorist: The Tommy Histon Story’. Much more personal, but equally, totally compulsive. I devoured the book with the same amount of fervour as the main character applied to his journey through his inheritance. As a record collector, I was drawn right in, the book is cleverly conceived and well executed, and it was even more intriguing to make sense of some of the cross references to the Histon book, having read that first. The book stands tall on its own though, an emotional read that allows the reader to put the pieces together without being obvious. Mr Bracken is perhaps reinforcing the universe he encourages us to visit, and I was delighted to be led there in these very engaging pages. I was sad to finish, and immediately encouraged someone else to read it too! Fab!"
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