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Back Road
Pete used to live a humdrum, nine to five existence before escaping into a world of travel, beer, study, sex and cigarette smoke. Searching for enlightenment, he instead began toiling with his ego, obsessing about gaining recognition and glory for himself. Glory on a nationwide scale, a worldwide scale!
Now he teaches vulnerable adults at 14, Back Road, where he thought he had at last started to overcome the egotist inside Instead of thinking of himself, he found he was genuinely caring about the well being of others.
Then the selfish, manipulative Deborah Styles joins the teaching staff. Gradually, Pete finds he is being dragged back into a battle against his own ego, only this time with potentially tragic results. Will tragedy be averted? Which side of his character will defeat the other? The altruist or the egotist?
Now he teaches vulnerable adults at 14, Back Road, where he thought he had at last started to overcome the egotist inside Instead of thinking of himself, he found he was genuinely caring about the well being of others.
Then the selfish, manipulative Deborah Styles joins the teaching staff. Gradually, Pete finds he is being dragged back into a battle against his own ego, only this time with potentially tragic results. Will tragedy be averted? Which side of his character will defeat the other? The altruist or the egotist?
170 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 24, 2013
1 person is currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
Chris Gill
2 books32 followersChris Gill is an author who grew up in Yorkshire as part of a Dales family. As a proud Yorkshireman, he was able to draw on the landscape and voices of his home county whilst writing his first two novels, ‘Back Road’ and ‘The Butcher Boys’. This has given his work a powerful authenticity. 'Back Road' is published by Fisher King Publishing and 'The Butcher Boys' is also soon to be published by them.
Chris discovered his love of storytelling whilst travelling throughout Europe and Asia during the nineteen-nineties, when his passion for literary realism developed through observation of real life and the opportunity to read widely.
Determined to continue his learning journey upon returning to the UK, he read Politics and English at The University of York. In addition to studying, he wrote and produced various plays. ‘The Picnic’ won a Commendation for Outstanding Writing at The National Student Drama Festival.
After graduating, Chris spent a decade as a Further Education teacher, but never lost his ambition to become a traditionally published author. Throughout his time as a teacher, he matured as a writer by penning plays and short stories. He then devoted himself to what became his first published work with Fisher King Publishing, a novel about the battle between altruism and egotism, ‘Back Road’.
With a desire to develop his writing further, Chris joined a group of accomplished authors in Manchester, where he now lives with his teenage son, and began writing his second novel, ‘The Butcher Boys’. This labour of love was completed over eight years and is now also published by Fisher King. It is a story about how our need for identity can threaten what we hold most dear:
'In a Yorkshire Dales village in the nineteen-seventies, best mates Michael, a boy with a strong sense of tradition and family loyalty, and Jack, a boy drawn to new horizons, are there for each other through traumatic childhoods. But as they become men, set against the backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain and the fall of the Iron Curtain, their struggles for identity and the intense rivalry between their butchers’ shops threaten to destroy them.'
Chris is currently working on his third novel, a modern-day story exploring the ‘lives’ we present to the world and the lives we actually live.
Chris discovered his love of storytelling whilst travelling throughout Europe and Asia during the nineteen-nineties, when his passion for literary realism developed through observation of real life and the opportunity to read widely.
Determined to continue his learning journey upon returning to the UK, he read Politics and English at The University of York. In addition to studying, he wrote and produced various plays. ‘The Picnic’ won a Commendation for Outstanding Writing at The National Student Drama Festival.
After graduating, Chris spent a decade as a Further Education teacher, but never lost his ambition to become a traditionally published author. Throughout his time as a teacher, he matured as a writer by penning plays and short stories. He then devoted himself to what became his first published work with Fisher King Publishing, a novel about the battle between altruism and egotism, ‘Back Road’.
With a desire to develop his writing further, Chris joined a group of accomplished authors in Manchester, where he now lives with his teenage son, and began writing his second novel, ‘The Butcher Boys’. This labour of love was completed over eight years and is now also published by Fisher King. It is a story about how our need for identity can threaten what we hold most dear:
'In a Yorkshire Dales village in the nineteen-seventies, best mates Michael, a boy with a strong sense of tradition and family loyalty, and Jack, a boy drawn to new horizons, are there for each other through traumatic childhoods. But as they become men, set against the backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain and the fall of the Iron Curtain, their struggles for identity and the intense rivalry between their butchers’ shops threaten to destroy them.'
Chris is currently working on his third novel, a modern-day story exploring the ‘lives’ we present to the world and the lives we actually live.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 10, 2017
Pete wants to be a better man and he thinks working in the service of others will help him to that end. He soon learns that not everyone working in the caring professions is caring, and this story revolves around how he will respond to this realisation. Pete is good, humorous company, and not always reliable as a narrator, which makes this my kind of novel. It is, by turns, funny, thought-provoking, philosophical (egotism versus altruism), frustrating (I wanted to give Pete a good slap at times to bring him out of his soliptic spirals) and throughout beautifully, sometimes lyrically, written. One tiny criticism: though I loved the poised ending, I really wanted to know what happened right after it.
February 23, 2013
thoroughly enjoyed this book, just couldn't put it down - the ending was quite sudden and not what I anticipated - good read
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews