About 'To The White Gate'

People have been asking me about my new book To The White Gate (c105,500 words) so here is a brief synopsis.

To The White Gate is a fictional memoir of a ninety-year-old man, Tommy, approaching the end of his life. As he is a kind, gentle, patient and philosophical old man — a lover of life, people and nature — he tells his story in a gentle fable-like way. It is a plain and simple story told by a plain and simple old man gifted with an uncommon insight which is spiritual but not religious. His story should appeal to sensitive readers interested in but not obsessed by the meaning of life.

Tommy spends most of his life as a simple hard-working gardener/labourer in a public park in a country called Aotearoa, the traditional Maori name for New Zealand

Although To The White Gate is set in Aotearoa Tommy and his wife travel to England to visit friends and in November 2013 I travelled to Manchester to research the sites I wanted to use in the book. Although the story is fiction I did not want it to conflict with reality. You can see a few photos from that trip in the photo gallery here.