"This was a endearing tale for me, I liked the flow of the story and the progression of characters as they entered the story and grew... A very good book." - JA Armstrong

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“This book is an eye opening commentary of the morals and standards of the twenty first century.” - Caprice

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Telemachus  was a first place winner in the 4^th Annual Writers Digest Self-Published e-Book Awards.  Here’s what the judge thought:

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Structure, Organisation, and Pacing: 4

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Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar: 5

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Production Quality and Cover Design: 4

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Plot and Story Appeal: 5

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Character Appeal and Development: 5

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Voice and Writing Style: 5

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“I like this cover.  Pretty slick and inventive.  It’s lovely the way it sneaks up on the reader that this is not a human talking, the understatement is a treasure.  Your use of language is refreshingly direct, your everyday vocabulary a pleasant departure from the showoff authors (p.2).

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“The whole sky is talking…” lovely! P.25.  The tightness of your focus is so appreciated, p.26.  And so important in a book of this nature.  “Father never speaks of his work…”  I love these lines that are humorous but not intentionally so, p.44.  The laughs are beautifully unforced, and come out of the characters and the story.

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“The encyclopaedia of useless detail” – fantastic, p.67.  I enjoy your prose, and the crafting that has clearly gone into this, p.98.  Your inner monologues are wise and astute, never boring.  The depth of the allegory is pretty astounding.  This is such a rare quality.  The parallels you draw with issues of divorce, child-rearing, leadership and community are beautifully done, p.126.

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“It makes her think how restricted their world is and how exposed they are when out of it,” p.126.  I also love the role politics plays in the book.  It’s brilliant, and really an achievement.  Congratulations!”

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To judge for yourself, click here to contact us and obtain a review copy of Telemachus

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Telemachus is essentially a love story which explores the meaning of the word ‘love’ to different individuals.

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It’s about pain and joy, illusion and reality. It’s also about the fragility of love and the way it can be destroyed so easily for some, while for others, it’s the immutable spine of their very existence.

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Tom John-Mary has two contradictory anticipations in his early days, both about females who will have a future influence on his life. Daisy, an unwelcome intruder, and Sally, the love of his life...

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Author Bio

Peter Gray was born in Dublin in 1941 to a very large family.  His father was a Commandant of the Irish Army.

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After university, Peter went into veterinary practice in Holsworthy, Devon.  He later developed an equine practice in County Cork and held a UK horseracing permit before returning to practice in Shropshire and then Herefordshire.

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During the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001-2, Peter was working for DEFRA and was a main witness for them in major litigation following the outbreak.

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In addition to Telemachus, which won 1^st place in the 2016 Writers Digest Self Published e-Book Awards, he has also published 12 equestrian books as well as a memoir entitled Premonition – A Story of Ireland.

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Peter has been twice married and has seven children.  He is now, more or less, retired from clinical practice.

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Peter’s explanation of the origins of Telemachus are as endearing as the story itself;

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“Bizarrely, the seed for this idea came one summer’s day, back in the mid Nineties.  I had just said goodbye to mother-in-law when I noticed a blob of jelly at my feet in our garden.  But it was a breathing blob with tiny eyes and a miniature beak; perhaps a hint of some very primitive feathers.  Being an animal person, I couldn’t just let it die, so, with my two daughters, we constructed a nest and wondered about how we might feed this tiny creature, presuming it to be a baby housemartin.

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Anyway, we were successful.  The girls knocked on neighbours’ doors initially asking if they had any flies we could feed to ‘George’ (as it became known) – not that we had any idea of it’s sex, simply decided it was a boy.  It grew into the family, came for drives in the car and, when it got tired of watching TV in the evenings, would climb up under my shirt collar and go to sleep.

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We fed it cat food with surgical forceps – which wasn’t very welcomed by Clouseau, the cat.  Then it started to fly.  But, as it wasn’t growing very well, we had to keep it in the hot press at night for added heat.  As it got stronger, we would take it outside for flying practice.  Then, one day, it spotted an open window in the kitchen – and was gone.

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Bereft, we searched the valley where we lived, but never got a glimpse of it again.

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Telemachus is my attempt to trace its path in life, but it became a lot more than that.

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“This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle, -.”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson”

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Click here to contact us to obtain a review copy of Telemachus

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"Telemachus is an incredible story based on love. The medium is through birds who are projected just as human beings. In fact, the story acts like a moral guide that teaches as many words of wisdom in an entertaining manner...Apart from the story I loved the writing style of the author as it brought to life rich and vivid images of wild life. I highly recommend this book to everyone both for its entertaining value and also for the moral teachings." – Sheryl