Self-Published Book of the Month: The Gift of Looking Closely by Al Brookes

August 6, 2014

(The Guardian) – It takes courage to self-publish one’s first novel at the age of 52. It takes a certain arrogance to write it entirely in the second-person present tense; though whatever your opinion of Al Brookes’s central character, Claire, there’s no escaping her, as within the first page you are commanded to step into her shoes: “You be Claire then, and I’ll watch”.