‘The Trials of Arthur Whitty’ by Tim Walker

My Review (4 stars out of 5)

Retired accountant Arthur Whitty is a fantasist, but his vivid imagination helps him deal with a series of challenging situations. Allowing his alter-ego to take over, he dreams up adventurous settings where he is the hero – Art the Racing Driver, Major Whitty of the Royal Dragons, intrepid explorer Professor Art Whitty, and even Art Whitty the Suburban Strawman (in a version of The Wizard of Oz).

Inspired by James Thurber’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, this is an interesting take on how one man might deal with the worry of a forthcoming operation for skin cancer, as well as the difficulties of dementia. The relationship with his wife Emilia is quite touching and we see how Arthur’s illness impacts on the family. Encouraged by Emilia, Arthur plans a trip to Peru, where his imaginings are allowed full reign. The dream sequences are inventive and delightful, contrasting well with the hero’s actual life.

However – there is one fly in the literary ointment: in his forward to the novella, the author tells us he used AI in one small section of the story (the one set in America). While I applaud any author who experiments with their writing, the inclusion of AI in this book is a bit of a letdown, and for me, spoiled an otherwise delightful read.

Author Profile

Tim Walker is an independent author living near Windsor in the UK. Born in Hong Kong in the Sixties, he grew up in Liverpool where he began his working life as a trainee reporter on a local newspaper. He went on to attain an honours degree in Communication Studies in South Wales before moving to London where he worked in the newspaper publishing industry for ten years.

In the mid-90s he opted to spend a couple of years doing voluntary work in Zambia through VSO, running an educational book publishing development programme. After this, he set up his own marketing and publishing business in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, then managed a mineral exploration company before returning to the UK in 2009.

His creative writing journey began in earnest in 2014, as a therapeutic activity whilst recovering from cancer treatment. In addition to short stories, he researched and wrote a five-book historical fiction series, A Light in the Dark Ages. The series connects the end of Roman Britain to the story of Arthur in an imaginative narrative. It starts with Abandoned, then Ambrosius Last of the Romans; Uther’s Destiny; Arthur Dux Bellorum and Arthur Rex Brittonum, the last two books charting the life of an imagined historical King Arthur.

More recently, he has written a dual timeline historical novel set at Hadrian’s Wall, Guardians at the Wall. His two books of short stories, Thames Valley Tales and London Tales combine contemporary and historical themes and are now available as audiobooks. Somewhere along the way, he co-authored a three-book children’s series with his daughter, Cathy, The Adventures of Charly Holmes.

Links

Tim’s Amazon author page
Goodreads
Tim’s website
Facebook Page
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NB This post first appeared as part of the Blog Tour for The Trials of Arthur Whitty.

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