THE AUTHOR of “the most uplifting novel of 2017” will be appearing at the Malvern Book Co-operative this week.
Keith Stuart will be showcasing his debut novel ‘A Boy Made of Blocks’ on Friday at 7.30pm at the St Ann’s Road store.
A Boy Made of Blocks is the story of a father searching for an understanding of and connection to his beautiful and surprising autistic son.
Through the world of Minecraft they discover a place where they can rediscover both themselves and each other.
Currently the games editor for the Guardian newspaper, Mr Stuart found out in 2012 that one of his sons had been diagnosed with autism and his experiences inspired him to write the novel.
The book has been selected for the Richard and Judy Book Group.
At the event, Mr Stuart will be reading the novel, explaining its background and discussing the book as well as autism.
“When I started writing A Boy Made of Blocks, there were lots of experiences I had as the parent of an autistic son that I wanted to communicate to other parents who may have children on the autism spectrum,” he said.
Tom Padfield, of the Malvern Book Co-operative, added: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be welcoming Keith to the co-op.
“Keith knows Malvern well and is very fond of the area as his wife grew up here and his in-laws still live locally.
“Once I’d found that out it was a simple case of sending him an invite via Twitter.
“His book is a fantastic novel – extremely readable, funny and profoundly moving.
“But it also has many important things to say not only about autism, but about family, technology and communication.
“We’re sure this is going to be a very popular evening.”
Tickets cost £8 and are available to buy from the store in St Ann’s Road.
