Interview With Author Alastair Henry
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am Canadian, live in London, Ontario and I’ve written three memoirs, an autobiography, and a historical fiction novel. I have also narrated two of my books to create audio books for Audible.
I’ve had a very interesting life, especially since I retired when I was 57. I thought I’d play golf and cut grass forever, but I said NO when I asked myself the question “Is This it? Is This all there is?
And that simple response set in motion many diverse paths and adventures for the next twenty years. I became an international development volunteer working in Bangladesh, Jamaica, and Guyana, a backpacker of Central America and S. E. Asia, an entertainer and presenter, and an advocate for the Ontario Health organ and tissue donation program.
In September 2020 I had a double lung transplant.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Soldier and The Orphan is a historical fiction/romance novel about identical twin boys born to an unwed mother in Lancashire, England in 1921 and separated at birth. Neither boy knows he has brother until thirty two years later.
One of the boys is put into an orphanage and is shipped to Canada when he’s thirteen under the Home Children program which saw 120,000 boys and girls under the age of fourteen from Homes and Orphanages in the UK shipped to Canada to work as domestics and farm workers without their consent.
Like the Indian Residential School program, the Home Children program was not taught in schools as part of Canadian history yet it was a major factor in the development of Canada.
One of my reasons for writing this novel was to create greater awareness about this sad chapter in Canada’s history and to acknowledge the multi generational harm it did to its victims and descendants.
The Soldier and The Orphan the result of my desire to write a novel loosely based on my early childhood memories of growing up in a cotton mill town in Lancashire, England and my adult life experiences of emigrating to Canada by myself when I was 19.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have a website www.alastairhenry.com and do a lot of interviews as a guest on podcasts.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write from your heart and gut and be brutally honest with how you feel and think – you can always tone it down later but getting in the mood and the zone is when creative juices flow.
Author Websites and Profiles
Alastair Henry’s Social Media Links