About Me

Tollesbury, Essex, United Kingdom
I was born in the Summer of 1969 in Dagenham, just on the border of East London. School was largely unproductive but enjoyable, setting me up for something of a wayward but interesting life! On leaving school I had various jobs including putting up stalls at Romford Market, working in a record shop, putting up ceilings, gardening and road sweeping. After resigning from an insurance company to play in a band, I found myself unemployed for two years. Then finally I got back on my feet and I've been a psychiatric nurse since 1997. I wrote A Cleansing of Souls when I was 22 years old and followed it up with Tollesbury Time Forever almost twenty years later. I started writing The Bird That Nobody Sees in September 2011 and it was released in July 2012. In terms of writing, my heroes are Jack Kerouac and John Steinbeck. I would also include Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan and Tom Waits as literary influences. So that's me I guess - scruffy, happy and in love with literary fiction, music and life...

Wednesday 18 January 2012

The latest review of Tollesbury Time Forever...

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully Written, Heart-warming Story and Food For Thought, 
18 Jan 2012
By 
AshraeThis review is from: Tollesbury Time Forever (Kindle Edition)
Two of the most important things in my life are Cricket and Mental Health, so no wonder I was drawn to this book.
The book is beautifully written. I read it pretty much in one sitting (only pausing cos life got in the way). I laughed, I cried, I got angry, I empathised so much with Simon through his journey. Suffering from mental health issues myself, it is always a concern to me how a book like this is going to affect me personally and, although I did go on a bit of a rollercoaster ride emotionally, I believe that Mr Ayris has got the balance between the dark bits and the lighter moments absolutely perfect so I felt totally safe the entire journey.
It is hard to believe this is a new author, his use of language and description is, at times, simply stunning, and the movement between the use of prose, poetry and lyrics in telling the story is a new one on me and works so well. The story as well as being heart-warming and emotional is also original and believable. His characterisation is also spot on. Never have I related so much to a character as I did with Simon. There were a fair few "I do that" moments, most of which made me smile (especially the posting incident).
I can take so much from this book to add to the tools I have already at my disposal in my own journey of recovery. Sometimes a book lands at your feet at the right time. I believe that this was one of those books for me and will be one I will carry with me always and refer back to often.


Brought tears to my manly eyes when I read that!
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