Blind author and former mayor Alexander Crombie releases debut novel Become The Wind through TSL Books
A retired solicitor, who lost his sight as a teenager, has put life in the blind community in the spotlight by penning his debut novel.
Alexander Crombie, who lives in the south of Rutland, fulfilled a long-held ambition when he completed Become The Wind last year.
While written to entertain, Alexander was keen to put a blind person at the heart of his story and give them a more rounded character than is often found in literature.
“One objective was to put into words what it’s like to be totally blind, but it's not intended to be any kind of lecture.
“To inform is one objective, but the main objective was to entertain."
Alexander, who is vice-president of the Royal Leicestershire Rutland and Wycliffe Society for the Blind, was awarded an MBE in 2004 for services to the blind community.
"Over the years I have tended to rebel against reputable authors coming up with fairly synthetic characters that are really just props," he added.
"They are certainly not props in my book.
"Only a totally blind person knows what it’s like to be totally blind."
The plot takes the reader around the world, to Algeria, Germany, France and across the Atlantic to the United States.
“It's part-adventure, part-love story," he said.
"It draws on my experiences over the years, some of which have been hairier than others, but it’s definitely not an autobiography - it’s a novel."
Bucking the usual trend for a new writer, his work was picked up by the first publisher he contacted - TSL Books.
And they immediately offered Alexander, 78, a contract for a second book which is now complete.
He hopes it will be published this autumn, and has already started work on a third.
"I have been very lucky," he said.
"Unlike a lot of debut novelists who have to trawl around a lot of publishers, it was first time lucky."
Lockdown, like for so many others, gave Alexander the focus and motivation to start work on long-postponed projects.
From December 2020, it took nine months to write and another three to edit.
“Like a lot of other people I was looking for a distraction and I could do most of my research right here from my own resources," he explained.
“It's probably been an ambition of mine to put something into words for many years, but I had my head down earning a living."
Become The Wind is available digitally from www.lulu.com or in paperback by e-mail tslbooks@outlook.com.
