One of the lesser-known facts about Liverpudlian writer Willy Russell is that he trained as a women's hairdresser and ran his own salon. His days as a coiffure are a far cry from those of a man whose plays are the fourth most performed by an English dramatist. Days spent arranging the tresses of Liverpool's proletarian housewives provided a constant source of chat, gossip and character ideas for some of his most successful work.

Russell's first big theatrical hit in 1974, 'John, Paul, George, Ringo.and Bert' (a quasi-documentary account of the Beatles), confirmed his standing as a contemporary playwright. 'One for the Road' opened in 1978 to critical acclaim, but it was his musical masterpiece 'Blood Brothers' - a sort of biblical West Side Story tale of two siblings - that placed him at the forefront of modern British theatre.

It is his extraordinary talent for writing female characters that has ensured his work has reached the big screen. Both 'Shirley Valentine' and 'Educating Rita' have been made into highly successful films. They also demonstrate Russell's primary motivation as a writer - the desire to invent, create and tell stories.

His tendency to locate 'the story' at the peak of the writing process is prevalent in his latest book 'The Wrong Boy'. Not only does the title sound like a cast-aside Morrissey song-title, the book is written as an epistolary novel to one of Manchester's favourite musical sons. Raymond Marks is a happy-go-lucky lad until some boyish fun at the local canal is misinterpreted and Raymond's life is never the same again.

The book is overly detailed, sporadically funny but for the most part poignant. Its main flaw is the abundance of coincidences that veer into pantomime territory. Russell's ability to tell a tale is without question as his is brilliant grasp of language. Some may argue that his latest book has gotten it wrong this time - but committed fans will probably just ask what difference does it make?

Sinéad Gleeson