When Michael Gove championed the outlawing of To Kill a Mockingbird from the English GCSE curriculum, he claimed to be intent on ensuring ‘a more nationally centred syllabus’ of ‘works originally written in English’. But the message of the book inspires regardless of whether its reader is American, English or alien.
Reading it in her teens certainly moved novelist D.B. Martin to make Atticus Finch the idol of her fallen hero, English barrister Lawrence Juste, in the first of a pithy and compelling mystery trilogy dealing with deception, murder and blackmail masked by respectability and privilege.
Patchwork Man follows Lawrence Juste, QC, respectable and professionally perfect, but emotionally frozen as he rediscovers not only his principles – those of Atticus, from the revered book of his teens – but also his rejected family, and his belief in the need for truth and justice regardless of the personal cost. As he steadily unravels when faced with a vicious bully from his childhood, his wife’s blackmail attempts and an eleven year old murder he allowed to go unpunished, the challenges in Juste’s life evolve into something far more testing than success or failure in court. More than merely distinguishing between truth and lies, it has to be intrinsically something of which, ‘Atticus would have approved…’
Martin is widowed and lives in Oxfordshire with her two daughters. She’s previously taught, run her own businesses and organised networking events for the University of Winchester. Now she is keen to promote a love of all literature through her own writing and her position as Chair of the Wantage (not just Betjeman) Literary Festival.
Martin writes adult and YA fiction with a specific intent in mind. She says,
‘We learn through what we read. It explains the world to us, and helps us come to terms with the more difficult parts of it that we don’t know how to deal with. That’s particularly important for young people, struggling with issues of conscience versus peer pressure, but without the experience to base choices on.’
With Patchwork Man being released on 18th August 2014 and its sequel Patchwork People following at the end of September 2014, Martin obviously has a lot more to say in Harper Lee terms. Her websites are www.debrahmartin.co.uk for adult fiction and www.lily-stuart.co.uk for YA fiction. She adds,
‘Harper Lee’s message was as much about prejudice versus principles as about finding the right way to deal with that. It was – and is – inspired.’
If you'd like more information, to schedule an interview with D.B. Martin, or receive a review copy of the book, please e-mail info@debrahmartin.co.uk.To discuss rights contact her agents at A for Authors www.aforauthors.co.uk.
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