In 'A Northern Youth' John Kruse brings together in chronological order his three novels set during his teenage years in his hometown of Barnsley, South Yorkshire. The stories are 'Feeling Called Love' a romance set in 1975-77 in Barnsley and Dunfermline; 'Freak or smoothy?' which follows his career as a schoolboy rock-star between 1974 and 1979; and, lastly, 'Rewind and edit' which is a tale of time travel and growing up after he leaves home for University. All the stories are concerned with issues of growing up, sex and romance and contemporary music.