The Baggage Handler is my first novel. Well, the first one that has been published anyway … there have been others, but they haven’t been all that good. That’s why you’ve never heard of them. You’re welcome.
This one however, I am immensely proud of. I hope you like it too. It’s available on Amazon now (all of them … .com, .co.uk. … all of them …) as a kindle download. Please leave an honest review when you’re done. I’m a big boy; I can take it.
If you like it as much as I hope you will, there is another novel in the works and that should be ready for sale by April. If you don’t, then that particular bit of news probably won’t interest you all that much.
About the book: Martin White, editor of The Shallow Review of Books, likes his life as he likes his work: shallow. Living in purposeful near-isolation in the middle of a crowded city, he keeps his relationships superficial and his life uncomplicated. His deliberate avoidance of social potholes prompts his colleagues to turn to him for assistance handling their own life and relationship baggage, which only strengthens his resolve never to allow any of it into his life. He’s pretty happy, albeit hollow and empty.
But then Kasia turns up. Young, Polish, focused on minding her own business, she neither invites, nor encourages Martin’s flailing attempts at romance, but he can’t help himself. For reasons that defy logic for an isolationist such as he, he falls for her, hard. Years of handling baggage have done nothing to equip him to handle his own however as he realizes with excruciating displays of ineptitude, again and again. He’s way out of his depth …
Faced with a challenge by Rich, his more socially adept colleague, to ask Kasia out within a week or Rich will, Martin has no option but to open the doors to all the complexity of modern life and relationships as he re-emerges from the shadows.
A twisted romantic comedy, written from the male perspective, The Baggage Handler is an acknowledgement that if you’re going to be serious about it, this love stuff is hard.
You can buy The Baggage Handler here for the US and worldwide, and here for the UK
The characters have been well developed through various defined stages and I could see them transitioning from chapter to chapter.
The plot, although simple and basic, is well developed and runs its full course, with a distinct beginning, middle and end, leaving no loose ends or hurried conclusions.
There was just the right amount of humour injected, so that situations remained controlled and focused, yet still left me smiling as I read.
A thoroughly entertaining debut novel … check out my full review