The Enameller's Apprentice

The Enamellers Apprentice

In1955 twenty-two-year old innocent, Mark Johnson, joins one of the last Victorian makers of enamelled hollow ware in England, Blake Brothers. He fancies Annie, the office junior and is lucky to find real love with his first experience. The business is struggling but fate intervenes and illness and arson changes both his and Blake’s future. Moving into moneyed circles, he is introduced to a new and potentially dangerous side to sex. His love life, dominated initially by his passion for Annie, sets him a standard that will not be achieved before many and varied experiences are gone through, including a marriage that becomes increasingly dissatisfying and does the search for a mistress. as the hoped-for solution to his dissatisfaction. As the story moves through the liberated nineteen sixties and seventies Mark becomes and something of a libertine until he realises the possible consequences of his behaviour. He is not the only one; others in his life also have their foibles reflecting the strengths and weaknesses of human beings, illustrating how differently each of us view ourselves and the world. Mark is a successful entrepreneur and becomes wealthy. He takes over a neighbouring firm from which come two people, one for him and one against him. As a consequence, he is faced with possible ruin. His past can save him or destroy him and the outcome is in the balance.