Monday 3 April 2017

It seems I have a book coming out

and it seems to be a dystopian kind of thing called The Book of Air.

In the attic of an ancient house, Agnes finds an empty journal and starts recording the events of her life. This wouldn’t be unusual, except that in Agnes’s community the few books, including a well-thumbed copy of Jane Eyre, are thought of as the only books that have ever existed or could ever exist. So this book, which has no words in it until Agnes writes them, is a mysterious object. And the unprecedented act of writing about herself has to be conducted in secrecy, and will lead her into deeper trouble, threatening the stability of the community.

In the same house, far back in our own time, Jason wakes from a fever, surprised to find himself still alive. The airborne virus that has swept through the human population at terrifying speed usually kills in three days. Two women, squatters on his country estate, have nursed him through the worst of his sickness and cared for his five-year-old nephew. There is a kind of peace – and time to reflect on the shattering events that led to this situation. Then three more people turn up, escaping the ravages of the plague. The balance shifts and dangerous secrets are uncovered.  

These two stories interweave, shedding light on each other, on the tensions between order and freedom, and on the way fragments of memory cling and become mythologised.   

For more information on The Book of Air and to see a 3-minute trailer, please visit my website. You can order it from your favourite bookstore or buy the paperback or ebook here in the UK or here in North America.  

Do please buy it, suggest it to your bookgroup and give copies to your friends for their birthdays, and I will be more grateful than I can adequately express.


1 comment:

  1. I can attest to the fact that this is a book worth buying! Gripping, complex and thought-provoking - a brilliant read.

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