Beth Jenkins is a young locum doctor and prides herself on helping her patients reframe the story of their lives – nudging them towards more optimistic narratives – but her own story is stuck. Her husband has had a stroke, disastrously altering his personality, and she’s trapped in a life of duty and loneliness. Beth is semi-bereaved and will be for decades. On the other hand she knows, in theory, that there are millions of lives possible to live. Could it be that, by a quirk of fate, she’s in the wrong life? Should she flee, make a new start? It would have to be somewhere far away, somewhere so out of the way and hazardous that no one would risk looking for her – somewhere like Zimbabwe, where she might find the person (part real, part fantasy) she’s named Safari Man. But she has a career, of sorts, has responsibilities and she’s twenty-eight-and-a-half – far too old to run away from home. Then she comes across a poem: ‘The day comes when they have to declare the great Yes.’ She makes her choice...
I've received several requests to attend book groups. I'm always delighted to accept (diary permitting) as it's a wonderful way to engage with readers. I give a short talk and then join in the discussion. I don't charge except travel expense if travelling out of Leicestershire.
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Andrew JH Sharp is a writer and medical doctor. His first novel won the 2010 Waverton Good Read Award and was shortlisted for 2011 International Rubery Book Award.
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