Chrysalis

Chrysalis is a novel from Jeremy Welch.

Sebastian is a man of his times. He is self-absorbed and works a a financier. He his floating through life, not satisfied with his lot, he seems unable to make any positive decisions following a catastrophic error of judgment when he was a young officer serving in the armed forces in the war in Iraq.

Suddenly he finds himself without a job. He turns to Zoe, his former lover, for advice and assistance.

Zoe believes that Sebastian needs to get back in touch with his passion for writing.

As a result of her advice he leaves Britain for Holland where he lives in Amsterdam and makes an effort to finish off the novel that he started, but abandoned, whilst he was a student.

By this method, he thinks, or rather he hopes, he will be able to rekindle his zest for living.

He becomes friendly with someone called Chrysalis,  the unusual and compelling owner of a travelling spiegeltent (a large tent for entertainment purposes) filled with a cast of some very interesting entertainers.

The spiegeltent cast present to him a glimpse pf a life that he desires for himself. But his old problem, the crippling curse of indecision, is the only thing that is holding him back.

However, his normal air of passivity is thrown to one side when he sees that a prostitute is being assaulted and he rushes in to defend her.

This one out of character incident opens up a portal into the seamy underside of Amsterdam and perhaps, in a someone circuitous route, to the pathway to his redemption?

It's a very well written story that makes sense of PTSD, modern life and sex trafficking.

It's published by Matador at £9.99.