Hugely pleased with the launch last night of ‘The Naples of England’. More than 40 people turned up at Wirksworth Town Hall on a wet and windy midweek November night and many others sent apologies saying that various circumstances prevented them from being there.
Some were very old chums, others more recently made friends. Many in the audience I didn’t know and three chaps introduced themselves as on a walking holiday in the area and from the South West – they had seen a poster for the event in Matlock library.
I have also been receiving a string of very gratifying emails and other
communications from people telling me that they have enjoyed the book and telling me why. The growing clutch of positive reviews on Amazon is the icing on the cake.
When I was writing the book I did wonder whether, if it was going to have an appeal, this would be restricted to people born within a very specific timeframe, in a particular area of the country and social class bracket. The feedback I have been receiving has been gradually challenging that notion of a tightly-defined demographic, which is very rewarding. Last night, for instance, a couple told me that, although they had grown up in the 70s and 80s, they had found much to parallel their experiences in my account of the 50s and 60s.
I had become a bit twitchy when preparing for the evening, mainly because I was not sure that what I had written would lend itself that easily to ‘public performance’. Although I had been pleased with the words on paper by the time I came to publish the book, my ‘rehearsals’ beforehand in the privacy of my study, strongly suggested that reading them out loud might have a very different outcome. I had found myself stumbling over words and unable to find a satisfactory rhythm or drama in the prose. In the event though, the adrenalin kicked in to good effect and a very supportive audience helped me deliver the material with some feeling – and to enjoy myself in doing so.
Many, many thanks for all the support and encouragement so far everybody.
(The book remains available locally in selected bookshops and online at such outlets as AbeBooks and Amazon – where a kindle version is also available).