Underdogs

''These hands,'' he said, and spread the paira them out wide so we could see the callouses and the little lines of coal dust underneath his skin; ''these hands were made to pick out summat precious from somewhere that doesn''t wanna give it up.''

County Durham, 1998. The pits have closed and jobs are hard to come by, but charismatic ex-miner Bertie has a plan. He runs an underground gambling business at the local dog track which offers down-on-their-luck local blokes the opportunity to turn their life around.

And if anyone needs this chance, it''s Reg. Reg''s ten-year-old son George knows his Dad hasn''t been the same since Mam died, and the letters with scary red type that keep coming through the door can''t be good news. So when Bertie offers Reg and George the chance to race Goldie, a beautiful fawn greyhound, they jump at the opportunity.

To succeed they''ll need to learn how to navigate the larger-than-life world of the flapping track. It''s a world full of grown-ups and secrets, and a bookmaker intent on getting revenge on Bertie for the events of fifteen months ago. Do Reg and George have what it takes to pull off the gamble of a lifetime?