Andy Evans's Blog
April 23, 2012
Displaced by Andy Evans and Vesna Kovac
From coal miner to author
West Yorkshire native re-discovers his roots in the former Yugoslavia
Born into the coal-mining industry, Andy Evans spent his childhood dreaming of another place, one not blackened by industry, but green and pure, the land his grandfather, Maksim Culumovic, had once called home.
Maksim was a ‘Displaced Person’. Originally from the former Yugoslavia, he had left his country of birth during the bitter fighting of World War II, where, in 1941, he had survived a brutal attack on his village that had left his neighbours, friends and the majority of his family ruthlessly slaughtered. The once peaceful community he had fought so hard to protect was destroyed in one single despicable act.
Following the horror of that day, he had left what remained of his family, including his older brother, Ostoja, his friends and everything he had ever known and after time spent in resettlement camps in Germany and Italy, Featherstone became his new home.
Like most of West Yorkshire, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Halifax had become home to ‘alien’ communities, encouraged over by a western power that had suffered heavy casualties in the war and needed a new workforce to run the heavy industry at home.
For the next 40 years, Maksim worked hard and built himself a new life, far away from the one he had started with. The shadow of his past hung over him, but he remained silent on the subject.
When he died in 1988 aged 79, it was his grandson, Andy, who set out to find the past, so well hidden to both family and friends that it would take a twenty-year search to uncover the truth.
Displaced is a joint work between Andy, and his Bosnian cousin Vesna Kovac, granddaughter of Ostoja, bought together finally to show both sides of this emotional story. The hardships of the coalmine and a heartbroken grandchild are bought into sharp contrast with a young woman’s trials in a post-Yugoslav civil war that would once again scar the landscape of what is now Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia.
Their stories combine to create an enthralling text and finally answer the question that Andy, now 45, has spent the last twenty years trying to discover.
Who was Maksim?
Displaced is available from Lulu Publishing in paperback, hardback and for the Kindle.
Also from Amazon and direct at http://kovacevans.blogspot.com
West Yorkshire native re-discovers his roots in the former Yugoslavia
Born into the coal-mining industry, Andy Evans spent his childhood dreaming of another place, one not blackened by industry, but green and pure, the land his grandfather, Maksim Culumovic, had once called home.
Maksim was a ‘Displaced Person’. Originally from the former Yugoslavia, he had left his country of birth during the bitter fighting of World War II, where, in 1941, he had survived a brutal attack on his village that had left his neighbours, friends and the majority of his family ruthlessly slaughtered. The once peaceful community he had fought so hard to protect was destroyed in one single despicable act.
Following the horror of that day, he had left what remained of his family, including his older brother, Ostoja, his friends and everything he had ever known and after time spent in resettlement camps in Germany and Italy, Featherstone became his new home.
Like most of West Yorkshire, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Halifax had become home to ‘alien’ communities, encouraged over by a western power that had suffered heavy casualties in the war and needed a new workforce to run the heavy industry at home.
For the next 40 years, Maksim worked hard and built himself a new life, far away from the one he had started with. The shadow of his past hung over him, but he remained silent on the subject.
When he died in 1988 aged 79, it was his grandson, Andy, who set out to find the past, so well hidden to both family and friends that it would take a twenty-year search to uncover the truth.
Displaced is a joint work between Andy, and his Bosnian cousin Vesna Kovac, granddaughter of Ostoja, bought together finally to show both sides of this emotional story. The hardships of the coalmine and a heartbroken grandchild are bought into sharp contrast with a young woman’s trials in a post-Yugoslav civil war that would once again scar the landscape of what is now Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia.
Their stories combine to create an enthralling text and finally answer the question that Andy, now 45, has spent the last twenty years trying to discover.
Who was Maksim?
Displaced is available from Lulu Publishing in paperback, hardback and for the Kindle.
Also from Amazon and direct at http://kovacevans.blogspot.com
When Spirits Break Free by Andy Evans and Vesna Kovac
Synopsis – When Spirits Break Free by Andy Evans & Vesna Kovac
Billy’s birth is sudden and premature. Unbeknown to his mother Molly, the cancer riddled, morphine-fuelled Doctor Foster dies en route to the birth. Through a haze of pain and fatigue she is convinced the doctor is present as her baby inhales his very first breath. Family members present at the birth dismiss this as being the product of her overworked and stressed imagination.
During his childhood years Billy often seems in another world, distancing himself from the other children. One terrifying night Molly sees a spirit of an old lady in her son’s bedroom. Taking matters into her own hands she employs a cassette recorder and attempts to record proof of the mysterious apparitions frequenting the shadows of the family home.
The audio recordings reveal the truth - Molly picks out the distinctive voice of an elderly lady.
Roger, Billy’s father, a staunch traditionalist, refutes the voice captured by the recorder, dismissing it immediately. Billy’s troubles finally come to a conclusion and Roger is forced to accept the nature of his wife’s concerns when Billy suffers a seizure. The medical profession suspects a culmination of deep fear and shock. What they fail to diagnose is Billy’s out of body episode - his spirit finally breaking free from the chains shackling him to his earthly misery.
Shaken by the incident Roger instigates a fresh start, blaming his urge to provide for his family and their home’s unworldly atmosphere for his son's illness. The house is sold and a new beginning dawns.
Shadows withdraw and Billy finally forges relationships with locals his own age.
Around his peers Billy is introduced to cannabis and hallucinogenic mushrooms. With his mind stimulated by the use of the recreational drugs, Billy’s dreams become entwined with reality. Drug induced psychosis is the professional prognosis; the spirits from his childhood have again returned without restraint into the land of the living.
Billy finally follows the family tradition, beginning work at the local coal mine. Tragedy unfolds as Mother Nature finally retaliates against what has been taken from her for centuries.
Without warning, gallons upon gallons of water are unleashed when the coal cutting machine breaches an underground lake. One by one the miners fight for survival is lost and death welcomes them with open arms.
As water engulfs Billy in its icy grasp, all seems lost. Sunlight and sheer beauty replace blackness as Billy looks into the eyes of the man standing before him. The same doctor that brought him into the world of the living now carries him into the realms of the dead.
When Spirits Break Free is available from Lulu Publishing in paperback, hardback and for the Kindle.
Also from Amazon and direct at http://spiritsbreakfree.blogspot.co.uk
Billy’s birth is sudden and premature. Unbeknown to his mother Molly, the cancer riddled, morphine-fuelled Doctor Foster dies en route to the birth. Through a haze of pain and fatigue she is convinced the doctor is present as her baby inhales his very first breath. Family members present at the birth dismiss this as being the product of her overworked and stressed imagination.
During his childhood years Billy often seems in another world, distancing himself from the other children. One terrifying night Molly sees a spirit of an old lady in her son’s bedroom. Taking matters into her own hands she employs a cassette recorder and attempts to record proof of the mysterious apparitions frequenting the shadows of the family home.
The audio recordings reveal the truth - Molly picks out the distinctive voice of an elderly lady.
Roger, Billy’s father, a staunch traditionalist, refutes the voice captured by the recorder, dismissing it immediately. Billy’s troubles finally come to a conclusion and Roger is forced to accept the nature of his wife’s concerns when Billy suffers a seizure. The medical profession suspects a culmination of deep fear and shock. What they fail to diagnose is Billy’s out of body episode - his spirit finally breaking free from the chains shackling him to his earthly misery.
Shaken by the incident Roger instigates a fresh start, blaming his urge to provide for his family and their home’s unworldly atmosphere for his son's illness. The house is sold and a new beginning dawns.
Shadows withdraw and Billy finally forges relationships with locals his own age.
Around his peers Billy is introduced to cannabis and hallucinogenic mushrooms. With his mind stimulated by the use of the recreational drugs, Billy’s dreams become entwined with reality. Drug induced psychosis is the professional prognosis; the spirits from his childhood have again returned without restraint into the land of the living.
Billy finally follows the family tradition, beginning work at the local coal mine. Tragedy unfolds as Mother Nature finally retaliates against what has been taken from her for centuries.
Without warning, gallons upon gallons of water are unleashed when the coal cutting machine breaches an underground lake. One by one the miners fight for survival is lost and death welcomes them with open arms.
As water engulfs Billy in its icy grasp, all seems lost. Sunlight and sheer beauty replace blackness as Billy looks into the eyes of the man standing before him. The same doctor that brought him into the world of the living now carries him into the realms of the dead.
When Spirits Break Free is available from Lulu Publishing in paperback, hardback and for the Kindle.
Also from Amazon and direct at http://spiritsbreakfree.blogspot.co.uk
