Launch of Double Life Novel by Derbyshire Based Novelist Narvel Annable
It is 1995. A long serving history master, a shell of his former self, is alone in an empty classroom in a rough North Nottinghamshire comprehensive school in an ultra conservative colliery town. He is recovering from a severe breakdown which destroyed his credibility and confidence leaving him depressed and disorientated. Some pupils and staff had turned this sad case into an object of fun inflicting humiliating hurtful episodes. A steady torturous drip made his position untenable. He was unable to discharge professional duties. Effectively, gay hate had terminated a teaching career.
This is a ghost story. This is an LGBT history. It covers the cruelty of the Thatcher era examining gay hate of the 1980s and 1990s. The moral panic of AIDS is set against a blighted colliery landscape after the fall of once mighty King Coal.
Narvel Annable draws on his memories from both sides of the Atlantic. He makes comparisons with pit village coal encrusted cousins of the 1950s and the subculture of gay African Americans protecting their secret double lives in the war torn inferno of 1960s Detroit Riots.