Author tackles abuse in book

Featherston author Mike Ledingham is tackling the difficult topic of abuse in his new book of short stories, Always a Grunt, a sequel to his first book, Once a Grunt.

He said he felt braver about branching out and delving deeper into more sensitive parts of his life which include death of his baby girl and sexual abuse against one of his family members.

"The book is a way of dealing with it."

Mr Ledingham said the stories are based loosely on people and events he's witnessed and he'd taken each episode further in "flights of fancy".

"There are a couple that are closer to the truth than one would ever really want them to be," he says.

"But I'll leave it to the reader to figure out which ones they are."

In the book is a "controversial" short story entitled The Boy, about a priest's abuse of a boy and the impact it has on his family, in the 1950s and 60s.

Mr Ledingham said back then abuse was ignored and children didn't have any power but today, even the Pope recognised it was like "leprosy" infecting the Catholic Church.

He said it could have been a book on its own but that was for another time.

The stories are drawn from his life as a farm worker, soldier, small business operator, real estate agent and armed security guard, to name a few.

Published by BMS Books, director Mike Smith believed the author was among a rare breed of natural-born storytellers.

"Given the raw emotions involved, The Boy was a difficult story for Mike to write but his growing depth as a writer is reflected in the outcome of this and the other stories in this new book.

"Mike's stories will have you crying tears of laughter one minute and weeping in sorrow the next.

"His subjects range from the bawdy comical to the tragically unjust, with plots and characters that are totally believable," he said.

"He describes situations as they are, and he never preaches."

The book is available online at tinyurl.com/Grunt2 and at selected bookstores.