Get Into Reading Group Diary #6: The Rescue Man by Anthony Quinn

In the book today Tom and Richard both thought it would be a shame to let all the photography work go to waste and that it would be a good idea to set up an exhibition. An argument followed mainly between Bella and Richard about what to show! Richard just wanted to show off the architecture of Liverpool but Bella wanted to show both sides of the coin – the grandeur and the social poverty. Tom could see both sides of the argument but reluctantly sided with Richard.

This still goes on today – the media love to come to Liverpool and concentrate on social deprivation which does exist but they ignore the other side of the coin – the majority of people here are ‘sound’ and you would have to go a long way to beat the architecture. Saying that, 2008 and the year of Capital of Culture tried to give a much more positive view.

David, Bella’s brother, came up with the idea of calling the exhibition ‘city by the sea’, which was reluctantly decided on, by Bella. I look out of my flat window and can see Liverpool cathedrals and the river – whenever I am in a landlocked part of the country, it’s as if I suddenly develop asthma, as I appear to lose the breath of life when I am not by water!

Anyway, the two men considered Bella’s strong views about what should be shown in the photography exhibition. Richard revealed some of Bella’s family history and the fact that her mum was part of the suffrage movement and had actually been to prison for her views.

A person can often have a personality transplant when something they feel strongly about it being discussed and a lighted match is put to their emotions and they erupt.