Novels
My first book, 'A Bowl of Dry Soup', published by UKA Press, is available from many sources, including myself. (click here to read a sample)
To order online, please click on the links below. Contact me directly here to order (it's cheaper!) or click on the following links Alternative Bookshop/Amazon.
A Bowl of Dry Soup
What is happening to Gerald Bovington's life? A routine and comfortable, if unexciting existence in a small, South Yorkshire town, is suddenly shattered with the arrival of life changing news from Australia. His life is completely changed by the discovery of two elder sisters and a brother, the covert produce of a now deceased, accident prone and eccentric father. Old wounds are re-opened and characters, both old and new, leap in and out of his life with bewildering speed and inject more action, controversy, doubt and pain into just two weeks, than in the whole of his previous fifty-one years. A previously unread will bequeaths an inheritance, which tests the new family's resolve and attracts the interest of a blackmailer. The ultimate solution has a significant impact on Gerald's future.
Sample review. "I gestured for him to mind his own business", October 21, 2004
Reviewer: A Pawlett, Wentbridge, West Yorks United Kingdom
Some really great laugh out loud stuff in here. The tone ranges from outrage at life and this world's crazy nuances, through farce and into the kinds of deep reflection and self-realisation that families bring out in us. The characters jump off the page and the there is clearly a lively imagination at work. The people that populate the book will remind you of the allies you cherish and the grotesques you endure. There is a strong and reassuring feeling throughout that the book is grounded in a reality that will feel familiar to many a "normal" working northerner. The phrasing is current and real and sounds fresh. Made me really wonder what happened next... I took this book on holiday (we had a lovely time together).
Head for Justice
Cameron Head leads a simple life. A forty one year old divorcee, he lives alone, helps to run a pub and occasionally sings in a country and western band (although he doesn't like it too much). A stint on jury service re-acquaints him with a judicial system he experienced in a former career as a prison warden. But all does not go smoothly and the result leaves him with a strong sense of injustice, outrage and inadequacy. This impacts on his personal life and relationship with his casual partner, Claudia. Work and play conspire to make him realise his belated affections for her and as he learns that her future plans do not involve him, he makes some life changing decisions. However, before they can be realised, he unwittingly becomes re-united with the case that caused him so much angst in court. Finally, he is able to readjust the balance of justice and life but not before causing further mayhem in the process.
To order a copy please go to the 'contact' page.
