No.13 Herbert Road is an engaging autobiographical account of a young boy growing up in the back streets of Small Heath in Birmingham during the 1940s. Through fond recollections and amusing anecdotes, the reader is transported back to the often hard times experienced by many of the working classes in post-war Britain. It was an era of queuing in the exceptionally cruel winters of the 40s for rationed food and fuel, having shoes with holes in and making clandestine visits to the pawn broker. From the perspective of a child it was also a time of freedom and adventure, of playing on the...