North London writer’s near-death inspiration for book
Added: (Thu May 05 2022)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
Peter Straker’s diagnosis of multiple sclerosis became healthcare’s loss and literature’s gain.
The 47-year-old from North London was working as a junior doctor in 2005 with ambitions of becoming a surgeon when he was struck down by the debilitating condition.
Peter was left almost completely paralysed and blind.
And it took a risky drug for him to finally get enough movement back to launch a new career as both a stand-up comedian and a writer.
Peter’s near death experiences have been channelled into his five-star-rated debut novel, The Unforgiving Minute.
He explained: “Before I got really disabled, my neurologist sent me for an experimental drug at Cambridge, unfortunately they refused to give it to me as it had caused a death on its trial.
“I called my doctor. He said he was in the airport on the way to Australia for a conference but that I was to not lose hope even if it gets worse because he had something up his sleeve.
“When Prof returned I had worsened significantly. I was paralysed from below the chest with weak arms, hands, speech, swallow and breath. I was also blind.
“Prof said that he had the Cambridge drug in the cupboard and that he was prepared to give it to me if I accepted the risk. I took the drug, of course.
“Having had the drug I moved something below my chest for the first time in five months, my left big toe.
“This caused tremendous excitement and I wrote an email to Prof in which, without intending to, I started to write fiction. This was the beginning of my book.”
The Unforgiving Minute is a gripping allegory of a dead man who is distracted from his ‘upstairs’ mission of preventing humanity messing up by regular flashbacks to his earthly love.
Peter’s ‘fantastic’ and ‘thought-provoking’ debut is a stunningly good satirical study of mortality, religion, politics and love-triangles.
The father-of-two admits the autobiographical elements of his novel are uncomfortably close to the bone.
H added: “With my strength recovering from the drug, I moved back to London where I had a 22-year-old illegal Philippina cleaning lady, Rizza, who was recommended by a friend because ‘she’ll look after you too’.
“My girlfriend was working in Scotland.
“One Sunday, I woke up with a fever, which causes Uhthoff’s Phenomenon in MS which, where there’s a raised core body temperature, the disability worsens - in my case, I was back to near quadriplegia.
“I called Rizza’s but did not have the breath to phonate so spluttered a bit and the line went dead - 40 minutes later, she arrived in her Sunday best and resurrected me by putting me in a cold bath and giving me antipyretics.
“Having risen like Lazarus, I took her out for lunch.
“I soon realised that I had accidentally fallen in love with Rizza, but I still wanted to marry Daisy who while still in a relationship with me, was clearly worried about the future.
“So I decided to propose to her – she said yes.
“All the while, I had been writing and without meaning to, the story reflected the intense emotions I was experiencing.
“I am married to Daisy and happily, we have two daughters. I am still in touch with Rizza, in fact I spoke to her this morning, I am godfather to her son.
“I intend to write another book in the series - at the moment the allegory implies I regret marrying Daisy and wish I married Rizza, this is not the case!”
Peter’s own godfather, the late Paul Torday, who wrote Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, is one of his inspirations, along with Harper Lee and Douglas Adams.
For more details, visit Amazon and search for Peter Straker, where the paperback and Kindle formats of The Unforgiving Minute are both available.
Notes to the editor
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For more details on PublishNation, visit their website at www.publishnation.co.uk