The clarity and freshness of Thomson’s writing continues to impress. The evocation of the market in the first chapter of the book sets the scene with telling detail. Tommy B was clearly a deeply unpleasant man: perhaps ‘the driven’ always are.

Perhaps going Shakespearean isn’t the best antidote to the onslaught of cobblers’ puns at the end of The Rise and Fall of Tommy Ball (by award-winning novelist, Ian Thomson and Patricia Price, Ball’s daughter), but a reference to the bard helps to recognise the complexity of Tommy Ball.

Tommy Ball’s was a rags to riches story of a man determined – hell-bent, one might say – to make his fortune and deliver himself from the grinding poverty he had grown up in. His ultimate success, fame and fortune did not come without a significant amount of collateral damage to his family and, indeed, to himself.

Starting as a used clothing a shoe market trader, Ball moved to refurbishing shoes rejected by their manufacturers and then to a major shoe importer and retailer. As his wealth grew, so did his outward demonstration of it: bigger houses, expensive cars, and £500 a week to charity.

However, back home, the benevolence was evident only in material things. He was serially unfaithful to his wife and mean to his children. On his “buying trips” to exotic places, he was not accompanied by his wife, who had laboured alongside him in the early days, but by his flavour of the month floozie.

Patricia Price had read Thomson’s Blackburn Trilogy and contacted him to tempt him with helping her tell a real-life tale of Blackburn. She could not have made a better choice.

The early scenes of the book are evocative, detailed and, in some then-common details, shocking. Sensibilities have certainly changed. As the city comes to life in the book, so does Tommy Ball and his family. Everything rings very true – especially the complexity of Ball himself.

Psychologists, sociologists and moralists would (and still can) have a field day studying Tommy and his world. While Patricia’s pain comes through, the story of her father is told without bitterness. Resentment, yes, but even though he did some hateful, cruel things (she does at one stage want to banish him to the nether regions), in maturity, there is some objectivity.

It’s a slight book, less than 100 pages, but it is packed with life, drama, and at the end, a dose of frivolity that leavens the story, without diminishing the reality. Thomson’s writing is as good as ever: clean, clear, witty, and erudite.

While Tommy could be cruel to his family, they appear – even in dark days – to have been well cared for. When in charge of Patricia when her mother was ill, he ensured that she ate well. He bought her a pony. The house had an indoor swimming pool. Yet, his values could be strangely warped. One evening when a teenager, Patricia gets tarted up (beehive and miniskirt) for an evening at the Mecca Ballroom. An outraged Tommy follows her to the bus stop, embarrassing her by shouting, “Get them bloody shoes off your feet. You haven’t paid for them.”

“My ducats! O my daughter!”

Wow! What memories that brought back for me as a child. I lived 15 houses up the hill on Boxwood Street and played with the Ball kids in the Street. I remember even then Mr Ball was ‘the boss’. Mrs Ball was a lovely woman

When they moved to St James’s Road it was just up the ginnel. I spent many hours in the kitchen with little Pat helping Mary and the grandma sort through the clothes Mr Ball had brought home to be washed repaired and ironed. I was always sent home after a cup of cocoa and a jam butty when Mr Ball got home ‘ just in case’. I saw and heard a lot of things in that house as he’d start before I’d closed the kitchen door. This book as I said has brought back memories some good and some not so good. Tommy Ball has been captured well by Pat. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and shall purchase the hard back for my library. Well told Pat and well written Ian.

Really enjoyed this read and perfect to unwind one evening over a cuppa. Pat has shared a her memories of her father and given us a glimpse into what it was like to grow up as Tommy Balls daughter, a personal yet brave story to tell. I especially enjoyed reading about what Pat and her daughter went on to do with their lives too! There’s love, laughter and some gripping sections too. Well done Ian & Pat

Really interesting book that gives a different point of view of someone who was held in such high regard. Ian and Pat have put together a fantastic book and it’s amazing what Pat has gone on to do in later life. Haha 10/10

I purchased this book for two reasons, one I was very close to Tommy balls granddaughter in my youth and have recently reconnected with her, and secondly because I remember wearing several pairs of shoes from Tommy balls when I was at school which saved my parents a fortune . I have to say I could not put this book down once I started reading it. It was sad in parts how tough it had been emotionally for Pat and her family, while her father battled hard to be successful and provide for his family, but what an amazing success he was. I loved Pat and Jane’s story too, this had me crying with laughter and was a lovely end to an amazing account of Pats fathers journey from Rags to Riches. I recommend this book to anyone who was born and raised in blackburn. Brilliantly written by Ian Thomson.

Patricia Price has a fascinating tale to tell about her father, the legendary Blackburn shoe mogul Tommy Ball. There is much to be learnt about the drive to success and the toll it can take on the family of the entrepreneur. And who better to tell the tale than Ian Thomson, author of the brilliant trilogy of novels set in Blackburn? Anyone who has read these novels will not be surprised to find the atmosphere of the town wonderfully evoked and the tale compellingly told. A great read!

I really did enjoy this book. It brought back memories, good and bad

Most Blackburnians of a certain age will remember the name…Tommy Ball. Well known for the shoes he sold that had holes in the backs where the strings went through to hang them over racks. I was intrigued and read the book in one sitting. This is a very personal story which gives an insight into how things really were for this family. Patricia Price is an amazing lady to overcome such a difficult life with Tommy Ball and to share ‘her truth’ with the author Ian Thomson and all the readers of this book.

Really enjoyed it ❤️❤️❤️