It is a coming of age novel, aimed at adults, both young and old, set in England during 1948.
Alby and me is powerful and poignant evocation of the friendship of two unusual boys growing up on a tough housing estate in the English Midlands. Set against a background of family strife, it is a compelling, often humorous, account of a critical period in the boys' lives as they encounter, bullies, sexually savvy girls, a suicide, and God. It is a story touched with both sadness and joy and has an ending many may find hard to forget.
Excerpt
My legs felt like jelly as we hurried along the towpath. I hardly dared to contemplate what we might find. As we got close to the spot, Alby pulled aside the rushes, and there, floating face down in the water was the pallid, bloated body of a woman. Her yellow cotton dress had ridden up over her chest, exposing a whalebone corset with suspenders holding up dark stockings...
Then Alby muttered, 'You know who it is, don't you?'
I knew all right.
My second book is about a boy who has Asperger's Syndrome and is bullied to the point to where he shoots up his school. I have divided the excerpts from it into three parts: Before, during and after the shooting.
My second book is about a boy who has Asperger's Syndrome and is bullied to the point to where he shoots up his school. I have divided the excerpts from it into three parts: Before, during and after the shooting.
Determined to confront the hazy memories of his troubled youth, Oliver Matthews, a retired detective and confirmed bachelor, returns to the picturesque town of Henley-on-Thames for the first time in years.
