I wrote a book.
It’s a short novel called Milk, and it’s available on Kindle and Apple Books (see the links below).
I actually started writing it about 15 years ago, dipping in and out over the years, trying to pull it into some sort of coherent story. Last year I went back to England for my dad’s funeral, and the trip itself (not the funeral…) inspired me to finally get the book finished once and for all. When I got home, I dusted off the old Scrivener project and really dug in.
Anyway, long story short, the timing turned out to be perfect. The effort coincided with one of those nice creative bursts I get from time to time, and I managed to pull together a complete draft in just a couple of months.
A bit of backstory. I’ve always enjoyed writing, but I find it really hard, and I have almost no confidence in the things I write. In fact, until now, I’d never let another human being read anything I’d written, blog posts not included obviously. That energy definitely found its way into Milk, because it’s ever so slightly autobiographical, with the main protagonist sharing the same struggles with writing and self-confidence as myself. The story is also loosely based on and around my life, circa 1984, so there’s that too.
Once I’d finally pulled the whole story together, I let my sister, Janine, read it, while I sat there holding my breath, convinced she was going to tell me it was rubbish. Instead, she loved it. Her feedback and encouragement gave me the confidence to keep going and turn it into something publishable.
After that I let a couple of other people read it, and they said much the same thing. Eventually I hired a professional editor, who edited the manuscript and gave me some really encouraging professional feedback too.
So… here I am. I somehow ended up with a self-published novel.
If you feel inclined, pick a copy up (it’s cheap as chips), and leave me a nice review. Or don’t.. You likely don’t even know me, so why would you?
Here’s the official blurb:
Milk
John Thomas leads a quiet life. He spends his days working in a small video shop and his evenings lost in books, films, and notebooks filled with stories no one else has ever read.
One rainy evening, a simple errand to buy milk for his tea leads to a chance encounter with Roota, a young Ukrainian woman whose life couldn’t be more different from his own.
As the night unfolds, their paths cross again and again. Through chance meetings, quiet conversations, shared stories, music, and unexpected acts of kindness, an unlikely friendship begins to take shape. By dawn, both have glimpsed the possibility that life might hold more than either of them had imagined.
Set against the backdrop of 1980s Britain, Milk is a warm, moving literary novel about kindness, resilience, and the extraordinary difference that ordinary people can make in one another’s lives.
Sometimes hope begins with nothing more than a simple human connection.
Available on Kindle
Available on Apple Books
Available on Bookshop.org
Available on Kobo
Available on Barnes and Noble