Torquay author Steve Honeywill new novel, The Clubs, draws on experiences of a fictionalised Torbay.
The Clubs brings the early eighties of the New Romantic era and the start of the Thatcher years to life, for young people of that time. It’s a work of adult fiction, turning dark in places, with thriller elements.
Steve says, “My book is the story of a group of friends, Luke, Bel, Jimmy, Joanne, Greg, Nicholas, Jo, and Mandi. It’s all about their intense friendships, the euphoria of nightclubbing, night walks ignoring the dawn, the drink and pills, the long conversations, style, sexual awakenings, escaping the nine-to-five, falling in love and experimentation. These friends get involved in events that have lifelong consequences for them down the years - for the ones who stayed the course.”
The novel is a rite of passage story that continues from the eighties through to the decade of the twenty-tens, when the main characters are in late middle age. That’s when early adventures catch up with them with significant consequences.
The story is told by one of the key characters in the book from his perspective, “I was born in Torquay, which is the setting of The Clubs and other writing I have been working on.
"I hope that’s recognisable as are the experiences and influences that young people tend to devour. How the love of the new can knock you off balance, how things you do in the moment at an early age can have longer consequences, how you gained acceptance of these when getting older and in the end, a strange type of redemption appears.
"I don’t want to get specific as that will spoil the plot twists!”
The book is packed with love of pop music throughout, literary and cinema references that are the passions of the characters. The story reflects the feelings of immortality that the young have that can lead into darker consequences.
Local readers may recognise locations, clubs, and pubs of the Bay from the past and more recently. Plus, the environment and culture of the eighties, growing up in the Cold War is the undercurrent as to why the people in the book party, as tomorrow may not come for them.
Steve explained, “When I was growing up, the feeling that the Cold War would inevitably turn hot soon enough seeped into my subconscious of my generation and my friends’ lives. Although this was decades ago the current situation in the world has echoes on those feelings of paranoia and uncertainty about your future, these feel like nervous times once again.”
Through narrative arc of the book into the twenty-tens, the surviving characters become unexpected establishment figures, but they never fully escape their years in The Clubs, the things they did together for friendship and passion ever present.
“Writing for me has become a real absorbing joy and satisfaction. When I was a younger person, I was in a well-known local band called The Walking Wounded, we are featured in John Tomkins recent film “Torbay’s Music Legacy – 5 Decades of Sound”.
Writing has been an excellent way for me of rediscovering that early creativity again after all the years of challenging work, I have been channelling my former self!”
The Clubs is available in paperback from Olympia Publishing’s website, Amazon and other platforms, plus on Kindle and in book shops.
