I was given a copy of The Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn by the author in exchange for an honest review.
The Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn by Frank Kelso is the coming-of-age, fictional biography of a young teenage Welsh boy whose missionary parents have taken him to America on a trip to convert the ‘heathen Redmen’ (the author’s terminology spoken by at least one of the main characters in the book).
While crossing the Great Plains to their destination, they are attacked by Comanche. His parents are killed, his sisters kidnapped, probably, and he escapes by hiding. A little while later, he is found and ‘adopted’ by two kindly, but tough muleteers and taken with them on their trading runs. However, they cannot afford to feed him unless he works, and so begins his apprenticeship not only in that line of work, but also in life.
The story, written in the third person, is moving and detailed, and we share the innocent Nigel’s, sometimes tough, experiences. After a while, Pascal, one of the Frenchmen, decides to leave him with friends, so that his education can develop in a different direction. However, his friends are Cheyenne, and the young Nigel feels betrayed, since he still blames all ‘Redmen’ for the attack on his family.
Through further trials and tribulations, Nigel learns to discriminate between friends and true enemies and is not only adopted by his new family, but classes them as his new family too.
The Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn is my kind of book. It is educational, while telling a compelling story. The title is appropriate and so is the cover.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Apprenticeship of Nigel Blackthorn by Frank Kelso, give it full marks, and commend it to you without any compunction. I note that there is a sequel, and look forward to reading it.
Owen Jones, Amazon Best-Selling Author from Barry, Wales, has lived in several countries and travelled in many more. While studying Russian in the USSR in the '70's, he hobnobbed with spies on a regular basis; in Suriname, he got caught up in the 1982 coup; and while a company director, he joined the crew of four as the galley slave to sail from Barry to Gibraltar a home-made concrete yacht, which was almost rammed by a Russian oil tanker and an American aircraft carrier.
“I am a Celt, and we are romantic”, he said when asked about his writing style, “and I firmly believe in reincarnation, Karma and Fate, so, sayings like 'Do unto another...', and 'What goes round comes around' are central to my life and reflected in my work. I write about what I see, or think I see, or dream... and, in the end it is all the same really”. He speaks seven languages and is learning Thai, since he lives in Thailand with his Thai wife of fifteen years.
His first novel, Daddy's Hobby is from the seven-part series 'Behind The Smile: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya', but his largest collection is 'The Megan Series', twenty-three novelettes on the psychic development of a teenage girl, the subtitle of which, 'A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger and One Scary Mother!' sums them up nicely. He has written fifty novels and novelettes, including: Dead Centre; Andropov's Cuckoo; Fate Twister; The Disallowed (a philosophical comedy); Tiger Lily of Bangkok; and A Night in Annwn (Annwn being the ancient Welsh word for Heaven). Many have been translated into foreign languages and narrated into audio books.
Owen Jones writes stories set in Wales, Spain and Thailand, where he now lives. He is a life-long Spiritualist, and this belief is interwoven, in a very realistic way, into many of his books and storylines. If you like a touch of the 'supernatural', try his books
He sums his life up thus: “Born in the Land of Song, Living in the Land of Smiles”.
