NEWS - OUT AND ABOUT

GP and author Andrew Sharp.

Would you Adam n' Eve it?

GP at University teaching practice receives nomination for prestigious literary prize

Published 17 November 2009

A Leicester GP has received a booster after his debut novel was nominated for one of Britain’s most prestigious literary prizes.

Andrew Sharp, 53, penned The Ghosts of Eden in his spare time away from his hectic workload at South Wigston Health Centre. The Centre is a teaching practice for University of Leicester medical students.

The father-of-three said the book – based on his childhood in East Africa – took three years to complete.

Now it has been nominated for the coveted Waverton Good Read Award, which honours the UK’s best new fiction writers.

Previous winners include Mark Haddon for ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ and Paul Torday for ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’.

The competition is run annually in the Cheshire village, and is judged by residents rather than literary figures.

Andrew’s book – described as a “gripping and evocative” read - is one of only 63 novels that have been submitted for the 2009/10 award.

Yesterday, Andrew said, “It’s only four months since I had the excitement of seeing The Ghosts of Eden published, and now I’m thrilled that it’s been nominated for the Waverton Good Read Award.”

Set in the wilds of Uganda in the 1950s and 80s, The Ghosts of Eden follows the fortunes of two very different boys in the dying days of the British Empire.

Michael is the son of white missionaries, while Zachye, a Ugandan native, and his brother Stanley tend their father’s cattle and dream of increasing the size of their herds.

Described as a “stunningly haunting debut”, the 384-page novel follows the children into adulthood in a tale of “loss and infatuation”.

Since its publication in May, it has proved so popular that Andrew will begin a UK book tour next month.

He will visit London, Cambridge, Oxford and Cork in under four months, where he will give readings and sign copies.

The first leg of the tour will begin at 2pm in Waterstones bookshop in Leicester on Saturday December 5.

Married Andrew, who also has an operating list at Leicester Royal Infirmary, began writing the novel in 2006.

He has been a GP for the past 22 years and returned to Uganda in the 1980s on a medical secondment.

His own father and grandfather were also doctors and worked in East Africa in a number of ‘bush’ hospitals.

Andrew said: “I was brought up in Uganda and Kenya and so it was natural to set my first book in East Africa.

“I was 13 when I moved to England, but the dramatic landscapes of my childhood were the perfect backdrop for the novel.

Practicing medicine and writing are at first sight two very different activities, but each can inform the other.”

Organisers of the Waverton Good Read (WGR) said the competition – which has a first prize of £1,000 cash - was created to “recognise the very best of British”.

The winner of the 2009/10 awards will be announced on July 3 next year.

Andrew will give a talk on medicine and a narrative to the judges on November 30.

Gwen Goodhew, of the WGR, said: “Andrew’s book has been submitted and we are all very much looking forward to meeting him.

“His book is very different from the others we’ve received, and we wish him the very best of luck.”

The book has proved popular with reviewers since its publication.

Critics said it was as “enchanting” as Alexander McCall Smith’s international bestseller, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.

Andrew was also likened to Ben Okri, the Nigerian novelist who won the 1991 Booker Prize for The Famished Road.

Andrew is currently plotting his second novel and recently travelled to Zimbabwe – the birthplace of his wife – on a fortnight’s research trip.

But despite the success of The Ghosts of Eden, he remains modest about his achievements.

“Writing has been a lifelong passion and the fact that The Ghosts of Eden has been so well received is wonderful. I’m indebted to my readers.”

Andrew will be at Waterstones bookshop in Leicester on December 5 at 2pm.

The Ghosts of Eden is available from Amazon online priced £8, in bookshops, or through Picnic Publishing at www.picnic-publishing.co.uk (01273 722865).

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

• For interviews with Picnic Publishing, contact Corinne Souza on 01273 722865.
• Website: www.theghostsofeden.com