Light Up in Wonder: A Novel

When Sam Lockhart, a young gardener, is captured on film by George Albert Smith, the result alters both their lives. The year is 1896, and cinematography is in its infancy. Smith, a showman and illusionist, believes moving pictures could add to his Brighton-based theatrical acts. However, Lockhart and Smith soon gain a reputation for producing entertaining films; and by the turn of the century their short, one minute motion pictures are enjoyed throughout Europe and the United States. Sam travels to New York to find a new distributor, and is helped by Carl Laemmle, a German emigre. Laemmle foresees the future. Instead of investing his savings in a clothing store, he buys two nickelodeons--the up-and-coming picture houses of the new era. When George Smith ceases film-making, Sam returns to the United States to work for Carl Laemmle. It is then he encounters the stranglehold Thomas Edison has on small companies making moving pictures: tightened when the big producers join forces to create the Motion Picture Patents Company. When a number of small film producers band together as a bulwark against the Edison consortium, an organization is created called the Universal Film Manufacturing Company. Carl Laemmle emerges as president, and to avoid legal wrangles and physical aggression, he takes the decision to move to California and establish 'Universal City'. But in Hollywood, other crises confront them--from racketeering mobsters to power struggles within the company. With Carl in New York, it is left to Sam to find a way to overcome these even more damaging setbacks. Light Up In Wonder highlights the romance and the exhilaration felt with the advent of motion pictures. It also exposes the less welcome aspects: the in-fighting, greed and conflict when this exciting, new form of entertainment first caught the public's imagination.

About the Author :
Born in London, Patrick Gooch has enjoyed an interesting and varied career. He studied the history of art and went on to lecture at the Central School of Art and Design in London. He has also worked for many years as a marketing professional for British, German, and American international companies. One of his roles was chief executive of a British government-inspired trade council. For his service, Patrick was awarded the title Commander of Civil Merit by King Juan Carlos. Thereafter, Patrick joined his wife's trade development company, which specialized in providing marketing support for governments of countries exporting their goods to Britain. It was while traveling to all parts of Europe, and Central and South America, that Patrick began writing to while away the hours. He wrote several novels and it was at his wife's insistence that he sought to have them published. Gooch lives close to the Ashdown forest in East Sussex.