Having been forced into early retirement by his university, psychologist Harold Hake chances upon with the delightful Ms Julia Rivers in the supermarket, whilst buying wine, with the intention of drowning his sorrows that afternoon. Julia takes him back to her house, to keep him company so that he does not get too depressed. Once bottles are opened, one thing leads to another and a highly passionate interlude takes place. Later, back home, Harold is changing his shirt prior to meeting up with his friend Trevor in the pub. Unfortunately, Harold's wife Veronica, searching for a lost pair of socks, pops into the bedroom precisely at this moment. She notices the scratches on Harold's back. This leads to a very nasty altercation, the outcome of which involves Harold being physically kicked out of the house. Thus starts the first day of Harold's new life. The story traces his attempts to become a jobbing psychologist, picking up work wherever possible. Broke and homeless, he begs Julia to gives him a roof over his head. This she agrees to do, but in lieu of rent she makes him pay for his keep by doing the cooking and cleaning. In fact, he becomes her general factotum. Their sexual relationship continues to blossom within the framework of their somewhat asymmetric roles. Oh, yes, you will meet some of Harold's lovely friends, too, in the course of this journey.
About the Author: John Lewis Smith was born in Ipswich, England, in 1945 and grew up in what might be called the period of austerity. After school he worked in the chemical and steel industries, then served some time as a bank teller, before getting himself into university to study psychology at Leicester university, as a so-called mature student. He then won a Medical Research Council scholarship to work on his PhD, which he obtained from Sheffield University in 1976. At that time he started teaching psychology and eventually retired (as a reader in Psychology) from Sunderland University in 2006. During the 1980s he ran a small amateur live music club, called 'The Glebe' which met in a Sunderland pub each Wednesday evening. He writes his own original songs, sings, and plays both acoustic guitar and digital piano. Since retiring, he has streamed approximately 1500 one-hour live music shows to the Internet community known as Second Life (his avatar's name is Fyrm Fouroux). His first novel, 'The Hexington Hex' was published in Amazon as a Kindle e-book in 2013. He also published Part One of his autobiography, 'Autobiographical shards' through Blurb.com in 2012. He peppered this with many of his original sketches and paintings. He likes to take an afternoon nap. When he feels the urge, he sometimes potters in garden or does a bit of cooking in the kitchen. His website can be found at http: //www.lewismusic.co.uk