In a Besieged City

In a Besieged City is a novel about Ethan, a young, gay, Jewish man and his lifelong struggle with his faith.

The novel begins with Ethan attempting suicide, trying to slit his wrists on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. He is sixteen and a half and is in a young offenders' institution serving a life sentence for the murder of his foster parents. It then returns to his childhood and tells the story of his life and how he became the angry, depressed and guilt ridden young man that is encountered at the beginning.

The main event which shapes Ethan's life, full of abandonment and instability, is when, at age five, Ethan's father kills his mother and eight year old sister, throwing Ethan into the turbulent foster system. Fears of being unwanted and unloved plague the rest of Ethan's life as he struggles to maintain links with his religion and keep God in his life. At eleven Ethan has become a difficult, angry and distrusting child, and when a couple with grown up children, Ben and Jackie, appear in his life he knows it is the last chance for him.

With time, Ben and Jackie restore the stability to Ethan's life, and just as he has put all of his trust into them, he overhears them talking, and it sounds like they want to get rid of him. As all of the anger and hurt of being abandoned as a child wells up, Ethan stabs both of them. Overwhelmed by guilt and depression, Ethan must struggle to find redemption and make his peace with God.

Click above on Preview and there is a sneak peek.

My New Project

I'm afraid this one has no title yet. I'm struggling to come up with one. But will post it when I know what it will be.

But anyway, this is a short synopsis:

Pete, a straight-talking no-nonsense prison officer, suffers a devestating blow when his partner, Jamie, dies suddenly at thirty-five. Overwhelmed with grief at losing the love of his life, Pete becomes a single parent overnight as he is left to care for Jamie's eight year old son Alex. He must try and overcome his grief to make a new family for his son, and a new life for himself; but with Alex's mother making things difficult for him, and his relationship with his best friend Michael becoming strained, one wrong move and he risks losing everything. It is a story of a complex, modern family in crisis.