RRR presents... DISTORTED DAYS by Louise Worthington - SPOTLIGHT + EXCERPT!

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Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Today, we welcome Rachel's Random Resources as we spotlight a new title, ready and waiting for you to indulge!  The synopsis definitely caught my attention, I mean as suck as the situations sound that the characters find themselves in, admit it...they're real life and it CAN knock you for a loop!  So, get ready...get set...let's read all about today's title in the spotlight...

Distorted Days

by

Louise Worthington

About the book...

If she could speak to them, she would say they have exploded her heart, released firecrackers through her senses. She wishes she could call the police, the ambulance, the fire brigade, to arrest and anaesthetise and waterboard the bastards. 

So what happens when your husband runs off with your best friend? When you discover the dead body of an old man halfway through your delivery round? When your house is burgled and you get beaten up? Doris, Andy and Colleen are about to find out. They’re also about to discover that you can find friendship and support in the oddest of places…

Heart-rending, humorous and above all authentic, Distorted Days is an exquisitely written account of the ways in which life can knock you off our feet – and how you can pick yourself up again. If you’ve experienced the fickleness of fortune, this is a book that you’ll never forget.

AMAZON  US   |   UK   |   LULU

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~~~   EXCERPT   ~~~

Extract Two- Doris gets a job as a librarian in Darwin library. Here she befriends Colleen, her manager, and finds joy and escapism through literature and the people who visit and work at the library. It explores the power of friendship, words and the kinship public places like libraries can bring to many lonely people. (750 words)

Behind the poetry section, a dishevelled-looking man lies prostrate with the deepest and darkest circles under his eyes. At first he looks crestfallen to see someone else in the room but then he notices the name badges. Colleen kneels to take a closer look. He is much younger than her, perhaps only thirty, but his voice and eyes belong to a much older man.

‘I’m looking for a book,’ he murmurs.

His voice has a musical quality with a seesaw of notes: it goes up in the middle, then down at the end.

Doris takes in the coal smudged under his smeary blue eyes and knows she must help in whatever way she can. ‘Do you know the author?’ she asks, in an attempt to be assertive in front of her line manager whom she respects enormously and would like to impress.

‘Author?’

His expression suggests he has no idea or is nonplussed. He remains flat on the floor, his feet pointing to opposite sides of the room, a perfect V-shape. As Colleen is calm and collected, Doris assumes this is a regular occurrence.

‘Or perhaps the genre, topic? Fiction or non-fiction?’

‘Sleep,’ he says, full of sibilance, like the S sound is the sweetest sound on any lips.

Doris spots a pale-blue cotton handkerchief protruding from his pocket and a small cut on his hand that looks like it needs Savlon and a plaster. A familiar maternal feeling sweeps over her. Talking seems to exhaust him further so she steps back to give him more air. His hand reaches for the bookshelf to get himself upright but he is clumsy, misses, reaches too late. He topples, turning into a heap of duffle-coat and loafers, emitting a puff sound as he lands in the same place.

 ’I can search on the computer downstairs, if you like,’ Doris offers helpfully, flapping slightly, turning to Colleen for guidance on what on earth to do next.

‘To sleep. I just want to sleep.’ He still speaks with a musical tone despite the edge of frustration; his sing-song self sounds at odds with the desperation of his sleep-deprived self – only an insomniac is left in the duffle-coat and loafers. 

Colleen asks Doris to open his duffle-coat because he looks hot while she retrieves a book from the shelf. Beneath his stubble and his smudgy eyes, he is a truly handsome man. Her calm, purposeful manner soothes Doris. Perhaps this is an ordinary incident here?

The yellow-bound book is called The Wishing Tale, a slim volume with a gold-leaf title. Colleen kneels beside the heap as if to pray but immediately starts reading from the book. The crucifix around her neck swings forward. She gestures at Doris to keep stroking the man’s brow while she continues to read.

Words begin to fly from the volume in Colleen’s hand, as if they circle his head in worship to make a halo around his crown. The word ‘slumber’ places itself ever so gently on each of his eyelids, and the word ‘lullaby’ whistles into each ear.

Colleen keeps reading. A tremendous surge of letters, words and sounds make a run for his coat and under his collar. His body makes little wave movements and his head turns to one side. Then a hissing sound envelops the three of them, a low fluting hiss, the gentle but certain beats of a Z. The word ‘sleep’ dissects itself as if in pre-rapid eye-movement segments to walk up and down his body. A deep satisfying snore emanates from his nose. It is a giant’s snore. Doris puts her hand to her mouth, in part to stifle a smile. He is fast asleep. Colleen quietly closes the book.

Into each ear, the events of the day, the week, surge into his brain. The sound of a camera clicking fills the space as he processes the memories one by one. A spindle peeks out from his ear and discards an unwanted memory like a small pile of the rejected and the painful.

Colleen puts her finger to her lips and ushers Doris to the exit. They don’t speak until they are back on the first floor. The sight of the check-in desk and the library stamp brings Doris back to normality with a bump. Colleen takes Doris’s hands in hers and looks into her eyes before speaking with such earnestness that Doris feels touched and honoured to be working there with this wonderful woman.

‘Sometimes our visitors just need a bedtime story.



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About the author...

Louise [Worthington] is the author of ‘Distorted Days’ and ‘Rachel’s Garden of Rooms.’ ‘The Entrepreneur’ will be available later in 2020. ‘The Thief’, a short story published by Park Publications, is available to download Louise Worthington's website.

 Before writing full time, Louise worked mainly as an English teacher after getting a degree in Literature and later, studying business and psychology at Masters level.

 Louise grew up in Cheshire and now resides in Shropshire.

“Louise’s characters, without exception, are skillfully wrought which make the reader genuinely care for them.”

SITE   |   TWITTER

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Special thanks to Rachel at Rachel's Random Resources for the chance to bring this tour to you. (THANKS!) For more information on this title, the author, this promotion, or those on the horizon, feel free to click through the links provided above. Be sure to check out the rest of tour for more bookish fun!

Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!