A former addict has penned a fast-paced fictional novel to highlight that addiction can happen to anyone.
Cheryl Kane’s debut The Jaggy Bunnet, which is launching at Ayr’s Gaiety Theatre tomorrow, tells the story of protagonist Maggie, a functioning addict who falls in love with a guy who hates drug users.
To add to her problems, Maggie is in witness protection and the bad guys are closing in.
With a touch of humour and wit, The Jaggy Bunnet is described as a “moving and authentic eye-opening account of a contemporary female addict in love.”
Author Cheryl turned to Class A drugs after the breakdown of her marriage and being made redundant from her successful events manager job down south.
She moved back to Ayr just before lockdown in 2020, where her recovery from addiction and poor mental health led her to write.
Cheryl, 35, said: “Lockdown was the perfect time to sit down and do it. I thought ‘if I’m ever going to write a book then now’s the time to do it’.
“The book has themes of addiction and is filled with dark humour and near misses, but I’m hoping to show the story of a functioning addict who is searching for connection, and how addiction can happen to anyone, from any walk of life.
“For a long time I was a functioning addict - I worked, had a successful job and people would’ve said from the front of it that I looked like I was doing well.
“I worked in events in the O2 in Birmingham and a lot of that was a party scene.
“My marriage broke down and I had a lot of different things going on, and I ended up getting into more serious drugs.
“So I wanted to write this story to show that it can happen to anyone, regardless of what their background is and what education they’ve got.
“Anyone can fall into that trap if they’re lacking something in their life, because that’s all it really is - is just a hunt for something.
“Addicts are looked down on in society and I want to show deep down we’re all searching for connection.”
Cheryl joined a writing group, run in partnership with Riverside Community Trust, Gaiety Creative Learning and award-winning writer Des Dillon, who wrote the play The Junkie Miracles, which told the hard-hitting experiences of four recovering addicts.
Cheryl said: “Ayr’s got a really good recovery community - there’s a lot going on here and I’ve got involved with groups.
“I had written most of the book before the writing group had started and showed it to Des. He said when he started my book he read it in two nights.
“The Gaiety are supporting me to do this book launch and I’m really grateful to them for that.”
Reserve a spot to Cheryl’s book launch tomorrow night (Thursday) at 7pm here.
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