A NEWPORT man has self-published a new book that combines real life and fantasy.
Ray Punt, 83, grew up in Newport and initially began writing to document working-class life in Newport for his family.
It was these writings which turned into his book, An Extraordinary Meeting.
Mr Punt said: “With little family history to start with, the exercise An Extraordinary Meeting was initially to give an insight into my working-class upbringing in the middle of the twentieth century for the benefit of my grandchildren and their descendants by leaving a few notes.
“My notes turned into sentences and the sentences became paragraphs. This led to sorting individual chapters to become a draft manuscript.”
An Extraordinary Meeting sees a recently retired businessman at a corporate meeting, who finds out the real reason why he was invited..
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Speaking of the book, Mr Punt said: “I was chatting with friends and someone was led to say; ‘it is said, that just before you die, your whole life flashes before you.’
“I recall saying that was a tad unlikely, but, I added; ‘I think it would be lovely to again meet the many interesting characters I had known from long ago and who were no longer with us.’ I had in mind those who had influenced me, like Fred Hando, my headmaster at Hatherleigh School and aunty Liz.
“We proceeded to name names and discuss the various characters we had known, and I began to feel that here was a story waiting to be told. With the biography already half written for my grandchildren about growing up in industrial South Wales it seemed I was already part way there.
“I decided that if indeed a book were to come our of it the story would need an appropriate ending, which would eventually clarify the various happenings in the story. It took a little time to work out an ending that was in keeping with the initial fantasy aspect of the story.”
After 12 months of piecing together the biography aspects and creating the fantasy sections, Austin Macauley published the book and is now on sale through their website. https://www.austinmacauley.com/book/extraordinary-meeting
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