A terrible tale of child abuse with a twist of Charles Dickens
If there was ever going to be someone brave enough to turn abuse in children's homes into a novel for teenagers, it was Melvin Burgess.
It was back in 1996 that his novel Junk about teenage heroin-addicts marked him out from most of the other authors in the young adult genre.
Then, in 2004, with the publication of Doing It, an open and honest account of under-age sex, controversy once again came knocking.
Burgess remains unapologetic and it's with good cause. Both his previous books were bestsellers, embraced by a generation who had finally found an author who wrote about the realities of the life of a teenager that most adults would prefer to turn a blind eye to. His latest book is no different.
Nicholas Dane, which will be officially launched in Leeds next week, is the story of a 14-year-old boy who is sent to a children's home following the death of his mother.
Finding an institution where violence and intimidation is endemic, he is also abused by the apparently respectable deputy head. While the
book may be fiction, it has its roots in all-too-familiar reality.
"It was one of those issues which just doesn't seem to
go away," he says. "When I was growing up, thousands of boys and girls were subjected to the most horrendous sexual and physical abuse in the very places they were supposed to find security.
"It was something which I had been thinking of tackling for a little while and then I read about a case in Manchester which had recently gone to court. I contacted the prosecuting solicitor who not only
agreed to talk to me about the case, but passed on my details to those who had testified against their abusers.
"Having already opened up about their experiences and broken through the silence which so often surrounds the issue, a number of them were willing to talk about what had happened.
"I wasn't sure what I expected, but the stories they told me were so much more horrific than anything you could make up, but what struck me was just how resilient they were," says the author.
"Yes, they were angry, but they were also determined that they would move on and that they wouldn't let the people who had abused them win. Listening to them was an illustration in just how powerful the human spirit can be."
Melvin knows that a story of a teenager caught in a corrupt 1980s' children's home is bound to offend the sensibilities of some parents, but he insists that honesty is the only way of protecting children in the future.
"Some people have said they wouldn't want their children to read a book about child abuse," he says. "That's fine, but I do think there is a need for us all to talk about the issue, and one way of doing that is through fiction.
"The reason so many cases were swept under the carpet was because no-one dared to speak about it and for many it sparked a vicious cycle of abuse."
Despite the shocking subject matter, Melvin knew that if the book was to have the desired effect, it also had to be a page-turner, which is why he turned to the master of social realism, Charles Dickens.
"I wanted to write a book which was a good read, but which wasn't frivolous," he says. "It was then that I remembered Dickens.
In Oliver Twist, he wrote about the workhouse, one of the great scandals of the age.
"It was an institution designed to help the poor, but which during his time had become a place of fear and misery. Oliver Twist was an expos of how society had failed the most vulnerable, but it also featured these wonderful larger-than-life characters.
"It may be set against a pretty grim backdrop, but it makes you want to read on."
Born in London, Melvin spent many years living in Manchester, but recently moved across the Pennines to Hebden Bridge. While he may write about the grittier aspects of modern life, he quickly came to appreciate the benefits of living in the leafy West Yorkshire town.
"I moved to be with my partner, and I can't fault the place," he says. "As a writer, you do tend to go a bit stir-crazy. By about lunchtime I find that I'm desperate to have a conversation with someone – anyone in fact.
"There's a few of us writers around in Hebden Bridge and for a little place there's a lot of welcome distractions."
Melvin Burgess will launch Nicholas Dane on Wed, June 10, at Leeds Art Gallery. For more information, visit www.melvinburgess.net
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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