Wanstead author explores isolation and identity in newly released novel

Drew Davies' The Locked Away Life is his fourth book since 2018, and explores themes around identity in the LGBT+ community.

The Locked Away Life by Drew Davies (Image: Bookouture)

It follows two main characters - an old lady and a young man - who both face their own troubles and have locked parts of themselves away.

Bruno is Drew's first gay protagonist, and the writer was able to draw from his own experience of being gay and growing up in a small town for the story.

Through Bruno, the story touches on the practice of conversion therapy, which the government has recently promised to ban in the UK.

Drew, who grew up in Whanganui, New Zealand, said: “It was really exciting for me to be able to write a character that was close to me…had to play it much more authentically through my experience.”

The Locked Away Life was written during lockdown, and draws upon the emotions felt by many during the pandemic, such as isolation.

“I really wanted to write something about an older person wanting to discover the world but having to learn about the internet to do that, and that is heavily based on my grandmother,” he told this newspaper.

Sadly, his grandmother passed away during lockdown while Drew was penning the book.

"Obviously that was very sad, she was my biggest fan and so losing her in lockdown and not being able to visit her was really tough.

"Now, on the other side, I can see how much of a celebration it is with reviews saying how uplifting and heart-warming it is, but to get to the good bits you have to go through the dark bits too.”

Drew said his first novel, The Shape of Us, came about through his love of writing plays and productions.

“It's like communication, when someone reads a book of mine it's like they get to look into my brain…and I think it's very exciting for writers to feel that connection.”

The Locked Away Life was released at the beginning of August.