“Push Iron”, a literary novel, tells the story of a young man attempting to come to terms with life after spending seven years in
the grip of an undiagnosed mental illness; of somebody who can never quite be sure if his fears and insecurities concerning new situations
and people are based in reality or in delusion; if they show discernment on his part or act as signposts to a relapse.
Set in
the North of England in the early 1990’s, the novel charts the character’s progress through unemployment schemes, to romance, to college;
and, as the story unfolds and problems emerge, a past unfolds: alcohol abuse; mental illness; religious mania; and potentially dangerous
paranoia. Some of those problems, always on the verge of returning, flood back with the onset of romance; and the character’s blind
search for love and normality is central to the novel.
Word Count: 109, 849 approx.