This novella is the story of plain old Arthur Whitty, a man whose dreams are never dull and whose vivid imagination and sense of humour carries him through a series of sometimes challenging situations. Arthur has retired to a pair of slippers and jigsaw table in a quiet cul-de-sac in Berkshire, England. He walks his dog, Max, and lets his mind wander to a series of dreams in which he is more daring, skilful and adventurous that his real-life humdrum self. He is an irritant to his orderly wife, Emilia, and has succumbed to irksome cancer treatment following a run-in with skin cancer.
Once a date has been set for corrective surgery, Arthur sets his mind on organising a real-life adventure – a bucket list trip to Machu Picchu in Peru where he finds peace and a calming of the spirit. Arthur’s bullish nature carries him through a series of situations but there is little the retired couple can do about the onset of dementia. But Arthur is well supported by Emilia and their daughter, Holly, as the family rally round to make his declining years as comfortable as possible. And there’s always escape to his secret world of risk, responsibility and danger.
The author has drawn on personal experience and observations of elderly men in a support group he helps run for Men’s Matters charity in Windsor, Berkshire. Half of all royalties from the sales of this book will be donated to Men’s Matters, who support older men by encouraging social interaction and connecting them to health and wellbeing support services.
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MY THOUGHTS
Arthur Whitty has lived an unremarkable life, but now he has reached the age of retirement, so no longer will he be adding up spreadsheets and doing tax returns. But life as a retiree takes some getting used to. He seems to be always under the feet of his beloved wife Emilia, who is queen of the house in which they share, and who struggles to share it now that he is home full-time. But Arthur has a secret weapon up his sleeve to cope with the mundane – he has his imagination, and he can always turn to his dog, Max, for company.
Turning any situation into an adventure, Arthur, is certainly quite the character, but when he begins to experience ill health, then things become a little blurred – and the reader finds themselves asking what is real and what is imagined.
The author has done a marvellous job of bringing Arthur to life, and I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion, for his imagination is certainly imaginative to say the least. The story opened with him driving a rally car at speed, only for his wife to interrupt his musings and remind him that there is a 30 speed limit on the road, and he has just gone slightly over it!
When Arthur battles cancer, his sense of humour and imagination help him through it. He also creates a bucket list of sorts and goes on his own real adventure to Machu Picchu in Peru, where he has one last hoorah, although somehow he manages to get lost on a guided tour!
With the onset of dementia, the story takes a more sombre turn, and his confusion is heartbreaking. His wife is very supportive, but she cannot keep her eyes on him all of the time. To see this dynamic character slowly lose himself is incredibly upsetting and hard to read.
This is a really touching, funny, and ultimately heartbreaking book. The story is engaging, and it is short enough to read in one sitting, which I did. This is probably the most emotional book that I have read this year.
Tim Walker is an independent author living near Windsor in the UK. Born in Hong Kong in the Sixties, he grew up in Liverpool where he began his working life as a trainee reporter on a local newspaper. He went on to attain an honours degree in Communication Studies in South Wales before moving to London where he worked in the newspaper publishing industry for ten years.
In the mid-90s he opted to spend a couple of years doing voluntary work in Zambia through VSO, running an educational book publishing development programme. After this, he set up his own marketing and publishing business in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, then managed a mineral exploration company before returning to the UK in 2009.
His creative writing journey began in earnest in 2014, as a therapeutic activity whilst recovering from cancer treatment. In addition to short stories, he researched and wrote a five-book historical fiction series, A Light in the Dark Ages. The series connects the end of Roman Britain to the story of Arthur in an imaginative narrative. It starts with Abandoned, then Ambrosius: Last of the Romans; Uther’s Destiny; Arthur Dux Bellorum and Arthur Rex Brittonum, the last two books charting the life of an imagined historical King Arthur.
More recently, he has written a dual timeline historical novel set at Hadrian’s Wall, Guardians at the Wall. His two books of short stories, Thames Valley Tales and London Tales combine contemporary and historical themes and are now available as audiobooks. Somewhere along the way, he co-authored a three-book children’s series with his daughter, Cathy, The Adventures of Charly Holmes.
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