Julian Roup, author of ‘Boerejood’ and ‘A Fisherman in the Saddle’ has a new book out this week, ‘Life in a Time of Plague.’ It is a daily diary of Covid-19 under lockdown at his secret valley home in Sussex, England, which he describes as a tanker moored in the English countryside. It is being issued in a serialised format by BizNews in print and podcast formats with the author himself reading his work.
Link: BizNews – iono.fm.webloc
The diaries explore his life and feelings about the pandemic and range far and wide to the Cape in South Africa and California where his sister and brother live with their families. His age and medical issues colour this diary with a dark humour as his age group is most at risk and the UKs NHS ride shotgun on him. He is determined to make his 70th birthday at least on May 18, despite the 30,000 deaths in Britain to date.
Alec Hogg, Editor of publisher BizNews says:
“We are delighted to be able to publish Julian Roup’s new book. His writing has been described by the FT as: “Brilliant, terrific, really very, very good. Engaged, intelligent, personal, fast moving and funny.” And this new book underlines that gift.”
Hogg adds: “We’ve launched the work as a serialised book today with UK-based South African Julian Roup reading each chapter of his in-gestation novel called Life in the Time of Plague. This is Roup’s fourth book, one which moves at a leisurely pace with a deadly undertone – the author is almost 70 and lives in a country where his age group dominates 28,500 mortalities to Covid-19 thus far.
Prodigious nineteenth century novelist Charles Dickens is known for many things, but what few know, is the one time Parliamentary reporter was also the creator of the concept popularised by television soap operas. Dickens disrupted his industry by publishing his novels as monthly serials, not complete works, starting in 1836 with The Pickwick Papers, published in 19 double chapter booklets over 20 months. More than a dozen more followed.
Please have a listen (or a read if you prefer). We’ll be publishing a chapter a day for the next couple of months. We are hoping you make the project as popular as it deserves to be. If so, it could resuscitate Dickens’ long forgotten innovation. Which is sure to earn the gratitude of deadline-challenged writers everywhere.”
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Roup comments: “When I studied Journalism at Rhodes University from 1977 to 1980 I learned that journalism is the first draft of history. So with this terrible threat hanging over us I felt that I would like to add my voice to what will become the human story of death and survival of this pandemic that has brought the world to a screeching halt.
What has surprised me most is that amid the death, heartache and economic carnage, there is also a silver lining, a chance to simply stop and stare, and rethink our lives. I do hope that I have captured something of the essence of this time in Life in a Time of Plague.”