Push The Rain Away

About the Book

The year is 1952. American newlyweds Frank and Sally Scott honeymoon in London. Sally becomes ill and dies. Frank mourns her. In a daze, he restlessly wanders the dark streets in the rain. He has lost his passport and his only possessions are an English five pound note and a pocket watch.

Frank is approached by Dora, a prostitute, and passes out at her feet. He awakens in her shabby one room apartment. She nurses him back to health from pneumonia. He resents her and her lifestyle, but, out of economic necessity, he continues to stay with her. He invests some of her meager earnings in the stock market, making a profit. He obtains a replacement passport and prepares to return to America. Other than his travel costs, he plans to leave Dora the profits from his investments so she can train for a socially acceptable occupation.

Dora is beaten by a drunken customer and later dies. Frank is riddled with guilt. She had so little, but unselfishly shared it all with him. He returns her to her rural English village birthplace. At the funeral, he meets Betty Holmes, Dora's childhood best friend. He tells her lies about how happy and successful Dora's life was in London, keeping the truth of her sordid existence to himself.

Frank deflects further questions about Dora and him. Initially, he is unaware of Betty's interest in him, but later succumbs to her persistence and charms. He repeatedly misses his train back to London, and continues to enjoy Betty's company and the peacefulness of the countryside. She helps Frank overcome his depression from the loss of his innocent young bride and the worldly woman of the streets who saved his life, both of whose deaths he blames on himself for not having properly protected them.

About the Author

Charles A. Beckett was born in Independence, Missouri and grew up in St. Louis, where he still lives. He is a graduate of St. Louis University and the University of Oklahoma. During military service in the U.S. Air Force, he and his wife lived in a thatched roof cottage in a small rural village in England for three and a half years, where the oldest of his three children, a son, was born.

Push the Rain Away is his first novel. His other writings include two short stories, The Man Called X - Crisis in Cairo, an espionage adventure, and Jack Benny - Cheap Benny or Generous Jack?, a look-back at the comedian's undeserved reputation as a miser-- published in books of short stories. In addition, he has been a frequent contributor to Return With Us Now, a monthly publication of the Radio Historical Association of Colorado. Published articles include Recollections of Sherlock Holmes, I Love a Mystery, Richard Diamond, Private Detective; Abbott and Costello, War of the Worlds, and numerous others.