Killing Hapless Ally
By Anna Vaught
Published by
Patrician Press
ISBN 978-0-9932388-6-4
Category Humour
Autumn 2016 (Sept - Nov)
Synopsis
This is a black comedy in which young Alison conceived an alter ego ‘Hapless Ally’ to present a more palatable version of herself to her family and others. Ominously, the alter ego began to develop autonomy. Alison deals with this helped by a varied catalogue of imaginary friends.
Author's Biography
Anna is an English teacher and an occasional freelance journalist; she has self-published two previous books, been a volunteer nationally and internationally and now writes poetry, as well as working on a new novel and some short stories.
Reviews
Contemporary Small Press May 2016 https://thecontemporarysmallpress.com/2016/05/04/darkly-funny-and-courageous-killing-hapless-ally/
Amazon (link as above) 7 Reviews
Price £10.00
Reader Comments
Delighted to have been recommended this book. Beautifully written.
Thought provoking. Excellent read
A beautifully written book
loved this book, it really spoke to me.
This is a wonderful novel, hard-hitting and heart-warming in equal measure. Its protagonist, Alison, creates an alter-ego, Hapless Ally, in response to the trauma of a difficult childhood, that she believes to be more palatable than herself. However, Hapless begins to take on a life of her own.
Anna Vaught's writing is stunning and she has a great gift of voicing her characters - Alison has a host of famous imaginary friends: Albert Camus, Shirley Bassey and the fossil-hunter, Mary Anning, to name a few - who are brought vividly to life.
This book is deeply moving, tackling the issue of mental health, but is also ultimately uplifting and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny - Anna Vaught brings a lightness of touch to a difficult subject with her superb black humour.
I would thoroughly recommend this debut novel.
A book to make you laugh and make you cry and give you a whole new perspective on what life can be like for other people.