It’s back to school for big launch
Former Morrison’s Academy teacher releases debut book
A familiar face returned to Morrison’s Academy recently to officially launch his debut novella.
Crieff- based Patrick O’Kane unveiled ‘Joining the Dots’ at the independent school’s Lafferty Library on Friday, March 24.
Patrick was head of English at Morrison’s for 16 years and took early retirement four years ago after a career in teaching which lasted 34 years.
Formatted and produced by Ant Press, ‘Joining the Dots’ is now available through publishers KDP in hardback, paperback and e-book formats.
A series of short stories, the novella follows the antics of two 14 year-old boys who befriend each other at a Clydebank comprehensive school during the mid-1970s.
Prior to the recent launch Patrick, who went to school in Clydebank himself in his youth, explained: “The two lads are sharply contrasting characters: Charlie, the cocky ‘gallus’ joker, and Danny, the more sensitive and naïve academic.
“Much of the hard- hitting, reductive, humour is drawn from their verbal sparring and the manner in which they react to the confusing and challenging world they have to confront – parents, teachers, fellow pupils, girls, peer pressure and body image being some of the many problems they have to tackle.
“They make friends through their shared interest in music and sport but it is a relationship which is often strained, the conflict arising mainly from loyalty and betrayal issues.
“Despite the constant threat of bullying and violence from adults and peers in each narrative, the collection celebrates friendship and resilience.”
Patrick continued: “It roughly follows the boys through the academic year with
recurring, varied, strange and eccentric characters woven through the fabric of the 11 chapters – in total, approximately 40,000 words.
“The dialogue uses ‘Glaswegian patois’ – though, like [ Douglas Stuart’s debut novel] ‘Shuggy Bain’, it is accessible to the uninitiated – and the rest of the text is written in standard English.
“This is not a work that presents the west of Scotland as a place of hopelessness and depression – it is, rather, an affectionate, nostalgic, entertaining and funny rite of passage book that is, despite the multiple obstacles the boys face, uplifting and lifeaffirming.”
For more information, see the website www.patrickgeorgeokaneauthor.co.uk or search for Patrick on social media.