Toby of the White City

A hitherto unpublished book by Sheila Stewart, the author of the classic canal novel Ramlin Rose, who died in 2014.

Horse-drawn long distance narrow boats became a rarer and rarer sight on Britain's canals from the 1930s. Carrying a wide variety of cargoes to such destinations as the Potteries, the textile mills of Lancashire, the papermills of London, but especially on the Oxford Canal, they struggled on against increasing competition from rail and road traffic to maintain their place in the country's economy.

This book tells of the Hone family, Alf and Lizzie, their two children Rose and Betty, and their horse-drawn boats 'White City' and the eponymously named 'Rose and Betty' during World War II. But more particularly, it's the moving story of Toby, their boat dog, "with his tail cut short and his ears all wrong", and Toby's adventures, both good and bad, on the Oxford Canal.

Beautifully illustrated by D C 'Dusty' Miller.