Martin Stewart, renowned mortgage broker and Founder of London Money, is stepping into the literary world with his debut book, Goodbye Morecambe.
Penned during the first lockdown Stewart describes the storyline as Quadraphinia meets Romeo and Juliet.
He says: “Goodbye Morecambe is a love story – albeit one wrapped in barbed wire, held together by violence and tied off with a bow made of jealousy.”
DEAD-END SEASIDE TOWN
In the book Stanton, a disenfranchised skinhead in a dead-end seaside town, has no money and no future but that all changes after a chance encounter with shy, vulnerable Heather.
Over the course of a few days in the summer of 1985 they form an unlikely bond as Stanton tries to stay ahead of his past and Heather tries to run away from hers.
When everything starts to go wrong, those pasts not only start to catch up with them, they begin to merge.
What started as a gentle friendship soon leads them into a game of cat and mouse as they race to make the last train out of town. Miss that train and they may never leave town at all.
ELEVATOR PITCH
Stewart adds about the Quadrophenia meets Romeo & Juliet analogy: “All books need an elevator pitch. If I said ‘boy living in a cupboard finds out he is a wizard’ you don’t need to think too hard about who I am talking about.
“What I am saying with mine is ‘cultural wars rage leading two young kids with nothing in common to find each other’.”
Stewart’s not the first mortgage professional to put pen to paper and follows in the footsteps of former Alexander Hall Chief Executive Andy Pratt who developed his Honza crime trilogy also during the first lockdown and more recently broker Jonathan Burridge, Co-founder of We Are Money who published his first book Order of Draic in February under the pen name JS Aldridge.
BUDDING WRITERS
Pratt, now a full-time writer and financial services consultant living in Prague, Czechia, says: “It’s fantastic news about Martin’s upcoming novel.
“Along with Jonathan Burridge’s book published this year, it shows how many budding writers there are in the mortgage world.
“I know from my own experience with the recently published Honza series that completing a novel takes a lot of commitment, as well as late nights and endless cups of coffee. But the end product is so rewarding – a book in your name forever staring down at you from the bookcase.”
COLD START
And he adds: “They say that everyone has a book in them but it will not come easy, and a cold start is especially difficult.
“I was writing short stories and plays from my teens (all bad!), but you need to find your style, and experience the maze of technical errors with writing fiction or non-fiction, before starting on your big project. The first page is the hardest, but after that you get going and it’s down the time and dedication.
“Congratulations again to Martin, and I’m sure they’ll be many more books to come from the mortgage world.”
Goodbye Morecambe will be published in January 2025. More information HERE.
