Nicholas Almond’s first novel has definitely been a labour of love.
Every single one of the words has had to be painstakingly dictated to numerous personal assistants taking more than three and a half years. So to see Murder Through Disabled Access finally in print is a proud moment for the 33-year-old from Leeds.
“It wasn’t easy for me to write the book,” he says. “I was also working on my Phd so I would write the book in the evenings. It is also quite a dark book, which deals with subjects such as rape, which can be hard to dictate to friends.”
Nick suffered brain damage due to medical negligence at birth which left him with severe dyskinetic cerebral palsy, which means he is unable to control his body’s movements. It has left him unable to do virtually anything unaided. As well as being in a wheelchair and in need of full-time care, his brother Tom is his full time carer, the condition affects his speech because he has difficulty controlling his tongue and vocal chords.
Every word he utters takes physical as well as mental effort which makes the fact he has dictated the 171- page book, even more remarkable.
The book, his first novel, is a psychological thriller with the main protagonist being severely disabled.
“I wanted to include a main character with a disability. There are hardly any characters in fiction with disabilities and I wanted it to raise awareness of disability,
“Hopefully people reading the book will not only enjoy it for the story and the darkness of the main character but readers will also take away the idea that just because someone is disabled they should not be all viewed in the same way - everyone is different even if they are in a wheelchair or have a disability.”
Murder Through Disabled Access by Nicholas Almond (Author House priced £10.76) and is available from Barnes and Noble or from.murderthrough disabledaccess.co.uk
Email Nick Almond on: nalmond944@aol.com
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