Counterpart

by Rorie Smith

A decorated World War Two hero and a beautiful Thai lady who has suffered for twenty five years with Parkinson's disease are both dead. They are my father and my wife. This is a memoir of their lives. It is a love story, a story of adventure, a comedy and an homage. There is gambling, a gun, a bizarre manuscript. It is an attempt, by means of fiction, to be true to the spirit of who they were. It is also an attempt to preserve their memory for generations future. Because if we forget those who have gone before us we forget our history. And if we do not know our history how can we know ourselves? Counterpart is also an acknowledgement that there are as many different ways to see a life, or to write a memoir, as there are stars in the sky.

184 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2014

About the author

Former journalist. Now living in the wonderful French city of Bordeaux - but home is always Freathy Cliff, Cornwall. Long distance walker. Spain and France. Three other novels. Tombola, Counterpart and One Million Euro.

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a remarkable book! Advertised as a "fictional memoir", the author tells the stories of his wife and his father mixing fact and fiction in a way that reads like it all happened - except for how bizarre some of it is. Trouble is, I looked up some of the bizarre bits on the Internet and they DID happen. So, you start to wonder about the rest! What is most attractive about this book, though, is the love with which it is written. I couldn't put it down.