About the release of The Boy Who Rescues Pigeons

 A lot of people have asked me why it's taken me so long to release The Boy Who Rescues Pigeons. The answer is simple and yet exceptionally emotionally complex. 

I wrote the book back in 2009 or thereabouts and edited it ready for publication. But I didn't publish it. I couldn't. I wasn't emotionally ready. But I am now. 

The story centres around Lucas Reverential Pertwee - an unusual boy in an unusual situation. Lucas finds and takes in an injured pigeon and in caring for and helping to heal the bird, he manages to emotionally heal himself. The character of Lucas is based upon me and my eldest child, Ryan. We are both raw, bleeding hearts when it comes to animals. 

But the core of the story is actually about my dad. Or rather my step-dad, Gerald McCammick. He took me in as his daughter when I was six and strove to provide a physically safe environment for me. I make the distinction here because ours was not always an easy relationship. Both of us were emotionally scarred by life and there are things that regardless of how hard you try, you never fully recover from. So we trundled along with the occasional drunken rage on his part and teenage truculent slamming of doors on mine. 

I'm not seeking to trivialise these moments. They were part of our lives. A big part. But they also never really shook the bedrock that our made-family was founded upon. We both knew we loved each other. 

Of course there is much more to this story than I've put down upon this page. But that is for another time. Or perhaps never. 

When I wrote the book I told my dad that I was dedicating it to him. He just smiled and said, "Oh aye, very good Carmen." But I know how much it meant to him. It didn't matter that I couldn't bring myself to publish it for so long. We both knew the dedication was forged in each line of text I'd written. Publishing the book wouldn't give it any more validation than it existing in the first place. And when my dad died a few years ago, it didn't matter that I still hadn't brought out the book. The time wasn't yet right. 

So what made the time right now? I don't honestly know, except that deep inside I recognised the change. I'm 56... and six. I'm still that little girl. I still rescue pigeons. 

The Boy Who Rescues Pigeons is available from June 1st, in time for ordering for Father's Day. Take a look at all my books here.

x

Coming very soon...

I'm thrilled to announce that The Boy Who Rescues Pigeons will be coming soon. Keep your eyes peeled!

This morning I met with my 'coffee ladies'. We discussed whether it was indeed possible to put your mind to doing something and achieving it even if it was beyond your intelligence level.

For me the jury is still out on the subject, however my character Lucas is finding that school work has a  new relevance for him now that he has a rescue pigeon in his care.

Here is today's snippet.

He had spent the Saturday morning doing his homework with Brighteyes watching him from the window sill. For maths he had work in fractions and decimal points to be done and he flew through the questions with ease, regardless of whether they were purely numerical or worded ones, reshaping them in his mind to have reference to the bird. Two and a half multiplied by 3.8 became two full adults and a baby bird requiring 3.8 mls of medicine each. Five and seven eighths divided by 2.9 became five adults and a teenage bird who had to share almost 3mls of water between them…suddenly everything had a relevance, a purpose that he understood.

Even his English homework had a significance now that it hadn’t had previously. In his freestyle assignment he chose to write an investigative report on how pigeons were maligned by society, vilified because of the erroneous belief that their faeces was harmful to humans. And to his surprise he loved every moment of the work.

 

Happy Reading!

Here is the latest snippet from The Boy Who Rescues Pigeons.
 
Lucas is growing closer to his rescue every day. But the bird is growing stronger and soon he will have to face that bittersweet moment all rescuers do - he will have to let the bird go back to the wild.
 
I know fellow resucers will all know that feeling well, the hope and the dread mixed together, it is a heavy feeling in your heart, like treacle seeping through it. Here Lucas is just beginning to feel it :-

 
The pigeon was coming along well and every day took more of an interest in the world outside the window. She would turn her head to watch other birds fly past but now, instead of trying to press herself through the glass as she had done the first morning he had placed her there, she would watch for a while and then turn to him as if to say, ‘that will be me one day, won’t it? You will set me free, won’t you?’


He always replied verbally to her look. “Yes Brighteyes, that will be you too one day.” His mouth said the words even as his heart tried to retract them. He could no longer imagine being in his room without his little feathered friend to keep him company. The pigeon was growing more and more comfortable with him every day and there was a feeling of teamwork between them, as if it was actively helping in its own rehabilitation
 
This book is now about 2/3 complete. I will let you know how I get on. In the meantime if you want to look at my other work just scroll down or click on one of the links.


And as ever - Happy Reading!

The end is in sight!

The summer hols are almost over and I am desperate to get back to my writing. I can't normally write whilst the kids are home but today I got up early whilst they were still in bed. I actually managed half a chapter before I had to stop.

The book is at the half-way point and I can see more clearly where it is going. It is a deep tale of a troubled boy and the act that ultimately saves him.


Here is the very latest excerpt from The Boy Who Rescues Pigeons. I hope you enjoy it.


Happy reading.

“I prepared some more food for your bird. There was some left over bits of meat and potatoes so I chopped them up really small and I did some more peas and corn.”


He nodded, relieved to be talking about the bird rather than Martin. “Will it eat meat and potatoes?” he asked.
 
Anna shrugged. “Out in the wild I guess they eat whatever they can find. They eat worms so that’s meat!” she said, pushing away from the table and taking the dirty bird dishes from him. “But the bird is your responsibility Lucas. I thought I made that clear. You need to look up on the internet what it should be fed and what it will need to make it better.”


He nodded. She was right and it was what he had been planning to do until…until he had had that message from Hugh Grant. He cursed himself for not getting on with his responsibilities. If he messed this up Martin or his mother would make him get rid of the pigeon.


Lucas sensed that this would not only be a death sentence for the bird but that in some strange way it would be the death of him too.

Hello again folks!
Just a quick post to let you know that The Boy Who Rescues Pigeons is now half-written. [Working Title]


 This is where Lucas is just about to rescue his first bird. I hope you like it.
Carmen x

It was an almost eerie experience, walking home along familiar roads whilst everyone else was still in school. With no reason to rush, he walked at his usual pace.

Had the streets been filled with other children he might not have seen it. Had he walked this particular path just an hour later, it might have been too late.

At first he thought it was a piece of rubbish on the road – a discarded crumpled up newspaper or chip wrapper – but as he approached it moved away, cowering from him, drawing its injured body inwards to shield its already broken and battered wings from further harm. A bright red crescent of blood bloomed around its neck and across the area between its wings where feathers and skin had been ripped away to expose the fine muscles beneath.
  
Terrified, it huddled into the side of the kerb as he towered over it, too terrified to drag itself away, too terrified not too. He saw the indecision flicker under its brightly beaded eye. But more than what he saw, it was what he felt that crushed his heart.

This bird had been beaten and savaged by life – just as he had been. It didn’t much matter who or what the perpetrator had been, a car, a cat or even another, bigger bird…what mattered was that life had dealt this creature such an unkind blow and left it abandoned here to die like a piece of trash, discarded and disposable.

With no awareness of what he was about to do, Lucas carefully scooped the pigeon into his arms, trying to avoid touching it where it was wounded. It tried to flutter away from him, chest heaving in frenzied gasps, beak wide open in a soundless scream. Inside his head Lucas heard its cry. It was a strangely human sound, full of sorrow and misery and desolation.

Only as he brought the bird to his chest, resting it against the beating of his own heart did he recognise the source of the scream. It was his own.