| Factfile | The Marquis de Sade, who wrote the original “120 Days Of Sodom”, has been reviled down the years for his espousal of sexual sadism (which was named after him). But some academics see him as a great writer and original mind. |
I was born in Staffordshire; in Stoke-on-Trent to be precise, in one of those uninhabitable terraces which are often made reference to in descriptions of Stoke. Stoke is a city of deprivation and sometimes I think this lowers the esteem of the population. While it isn’t fair the way taxes are distributed and that some ex-industrial cities are rejuvenated and others are left to rot, some fantastic things come from the fight to survive. Within Stoke exists some of the most interesting and open-minded people with a great sense of adventure. Some of the characters in my book are inspired by those people. I write because I’m compelled to write, but, what I write is richer because of my experiences and the obstacles I have overcome. Pain and inequality make people fight all the more, thus achieve more. The theme of my book What is more terrifying than death? The dark finality of child sexual abuse.
”121 Days of Urban Sodom” is an examination of lust and sadism. It is the story of a woman who tells her own experiences of incestual abuse, using for reference the writings of the eighteenth-century French writer the Marquis de Sade, and especially his work ‘120 Days of Sodom’, which becomes a portal of exploration. De Sade himself and his writings becomes a metaphor for abuse, and a lever in which to entwine the past with the political commentary of the present, thus linking the eighteenth century, the nineteen-eighties and now. When written in the first person, the narrator projects the agony, wrath and contamination of a survivor using frequent streams of consciousness. Written in the third person the motives of the abuser are explored. Written in the second person the narrator hates and blames you the reader, you the society, you the system - that upholds the abusers and vilifies the child. Like the “de Sade” who reared her; the narrator is a contradiction of rationality and madness, charm and terror. Aims The book is about fighting oppression, every kind of oppression, hunger, cold, homelessness, that empty dread that there is no escape from the grey slates of life, and particularly child abuse. I experienced some of these obstacles and alongside many others in Stoke; I mustered all my strength to climb over them, only to be pushed down by somebody on the other side. Eventually, one by one, I conquered those obstacles, just as many others did. Everything we achieve is greater than those already closer to the top. We are a city of fighters and achievers. ’121 Days of Urban Sodom’ is a disturbing novel, but I hope it gives some people inspiration in the same way many people have given me inspiration throughout the years. I would love to see the esteem of Stoke rise; and that the list which includes Arnold Bennett, Josiah Wedgwood, Stanley Matthews, Robbie Williams, Anthea Turner, Carol Ann Duffy, just get longer and longer. JP ”121 Days of Urban Sodom” is £9.99 and can be ordered from most bookshops, and is considered a book for adults, not children. | 
