10:39am Thursday 3rd July 2008
A 51-year-old author from Hartlebury has written his first novel.
Sirocco Express, by Tony Judge, tells of the epic journey of Adebayo, a young and naive Nigerian student who leaves his home in Lagos to travel across the desert to Europe.
Mr Judge decided to write the book after reading stories about African immigrants who travel to Sahara and board small boats to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
He said: “So much of what we read treats migration from the point of view of statistics. I wanted to explore the phenomenon at a personal level, to write about the experiences of someone who attempts this journey.”
The father of one has already started his second novel, which is set on the Eastern front during the Second World War.
It is the story of a young woman, a Red Army sniper and her father, a senior army officer, and explores their experiences during the Russian retreat of 1941.
The book, published through Lulu.com, is available by logging on to www.lulu.com