#BlogTour-‘A Letter From Sarah’ by Dan Proops

My thanks to Love Books Group for the chance to be on this blogtour for debut novel,’‘A Letter from Sarah’ by Dan Proops, courtesy of Urbane Publications

About the book…

Adam’s sister, Sarah has been missing for seven years, but he hasn’t given up hope of finding her. He is a sculptor and lives with his bedridden father who is a bully and a curmudgeon. One morning, as the anniversary of Sarah’s disappearance nears, Adam receives a letter from her and she is apparently alive and well, living in New York. Adam travels to Brooklyn to search for Sarah as he’s desperate to see her, but she seems determined to avoid him. Sarah’s letters arrive weekly, but she continues to remain elusive. Adam is perplexed by Sarah’s requests for secrecy, as is his father and his girlfriend, Cassandra. He is determined to find her, whatever the cost to his wellbeing, health and sanity..

I really liked the design of this book, the way that the pages and cover reflected the bedroom which had been kept in stasis since Sarah, missing for 7 years at the start of the novel,had run away from home.

The peeling wallpaper motif neatly echoes the way that her brother, Adam, is unravelling-his sense of obligation to his girlfriend, Cassandra, who was there when Sarah went missing, or his best friend Nigel, who has stuck around long after the interest in Sarah died away or his odious father is overwhelming  .

But…Cassandra is using him for her own ends to reaffirm her faith that God will have taken care of Sarah, somehow, and Nigel is the worst type of toxic friend that you can imagine…don’t even get me started on his father as well.

All 3 keep Adam trapped in a web of convenience, lies and distorted reality that is reflected in his ability to create art through sculpting. It is as though, like the wallpaper, he is chipping away at the reality he is experiencing versus what other people tells him it is. He is striking Sarah into existence through his art, his memories and his dreams which is affecting his ability to grieve-there is no body-but not yet give up hope-he is stuck in limbo.

And without that knowledge, he is trapped in an endless cycle of hope versus grief whilst being lied to and manipulated for the purpose of his family. Stumbling from day to day , suddenly, letters from Sarah arrive saying that she lives in New York, with a family and to keep this news away from their father.

So now he is trapped again, but this time the revelation of the letter and subsequent corrspondance from Sarah has a very unexpected side effect…

This is a wonderfully rendered book on grief, toxic masculinity, manipulation and family relationships which left me thinking about the damage we do in the name of obligation-both to ourselves and others.

Click here to read an exclusive insight into the inspiration behind ‘A Letter From Sarah’ courtesy of Go Book Yourself !

For an extract from the book please click the link-https://shortbookandscribes.uk/category/extracts/

About the author…

Dan Proops has been a full time writer for six years and has completed four novels and a memoir. Previous to this he was a professional artist, organising a one man show at the age of fourteen. He has had many exhibitions over a long career and his artwork was purchased by internationally acclaimed art dealer, Eric Franck. His artwork appeared frequently in the national press and his painting was featured in Image of the Week in the Times. One of his exhibitions was previewed in the Telegraph by columnist Colin Gleadell.

Dan is a Twitter influencer and has a following of 22,000; last year 1.2 million people read his tweets, and he currently attends the advanced writing class at Morley College, run by the renowned radio four dramatist Mike Walker. Dan Proops is also the grandson of legendary advice columnist, Marjorie Proops. He lives and works in London.

Links-http://dan-proops.com/

Twitter @Dan_Proops

@urbanebooks

@LoveBooksGroup