A Blindfellows Chronicle – Alumni Stories, Auriel Roe
We love a good book at York St John, so we were delighted to hear from former student Auriel Roe, when she got in touch to tell us about her new book, A Blindfellows Chronicle.
Having graduated from York St John in 1991 with BA in English Literature and Art, Auriel has gone on to spent most of her working life as an art teacher and Artist, with two of her artworks being shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Show in London. However, finding herself particularly bored during a recent summer, Auriel decided to turn her attention to penning a short story about a man in his 60s who, rather awkwardly, finds himself experiencing his first ever crush. The work was subsequently published as a short story and, soon after, Auriel began thinking about her character’s earlier life and what he was like when he was younger. As a result A Blindefellows Chronicle was born, an ‘entertaining and hilariously funny’ chronicling of the man’s life over 40 years, working in dysfunction British boarding school.
Getting her debut novel published however was incredibly difficult, and despite receiving a great deal of positive feedback on her novel, a lack of contacts in the publishing world meant Auriel struggled to find any publishers who would take the book on, with one literary agent turning her down immediately because she wasn’t an established celebrity, and another turning the book away because despite it being a well written page turner, they weren’t sure if it would be a best seller. Talent today is too often measured by celebrity, which makes it difficult for regular people who are excellent writers to get published.
Not to be defeated, Auriel turned to the crowd-funding publisher, Unbound, where the novel soon gained the support of more than 200 patrons, resulting in the book being published in August this year. A Blindefellows Chronicle has crept into the top 1% of books sold on Amazon twice in the last month, which proves that purely good writing can sell books and we don’t have to be dependent on the celebrity link. Unbound is experiencing considerable success with one of its author’s books about to be made into a drama on Channel 4 and another book recently serialized on Radio 4. Following the early success of her debut novel, Auriel has already started worked on her second novel, a prequel set 100 years earlier, The Blindefellows Deception.
A Blindefellows Chronicle is available to buy now from Amazon, Waterstones or the Unbound website, and if you would like to find out more about Auriel and her work, you can also visit her website.
Do you have a story to share with us? get in touch! you can e-mail us at alumni@yorksj.ac.uk
