Yorkshire tale on saving last whale enjoyed by readers
Added: (Fri Mar 12 2021)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
A one-time Yorkshire drama teacher hopes his debut novel will deliver an environmental shockwave for his mid-teen and older readers.
Eliza’s Whale: The Search for Horo is a powerful adventure that charts the antics of loveable Eliza Armstrong as she reluctantly goes rogue in a mission to reverse the death of a whale.
With the aid of a Horoscope, the obsessed schoolgirl plans to launch herself into the past to recruit the very special powers of a long-dead white whale in the fight to save the world’s wildlife.
Patrick’s gripping novel acts not only an environmental SOS, but also as a thrilling and funny adventure story.
Keen sailor Patrick Dowman inspired and instructed generations of budding actors during a distinguished teaching career.
As well as directing and casting student productions, the grandfather-of-three also wrote several plays for his prodigies to perform. Two of these were staged at London’s National Theatre.
Although the 75-year-old enjoys nothing more than treading the boards of his sailing boat these days, he has adapted one of his scripts to become the first part of a two-book series highlighting the plight of our precious wild animals.
Eliza’s Whale: The Search for Horo has already attracted five-star reviews from captivated readers.
Patrick, who once sailed across the Atlantic, said: “Eliza’s Whale: The Search for Horo was based on a play I wrote for my pupils many years ago.
“I was living in France and wrote a play entitled, The Last Whale in the World.
“The daughter of the family I was staying with was called Lise, and that became the protagonist’s name in my play. For the book, she has been recast as Eliza.
“The play was performed as part of a French/English exchange programme.
“It was performed in French in France with the French kids taking the lead roles and in English in England with the English kids leading.”
He added: “Eliza is a good, thoroughly well-behaved teenager. She is a model student and a delight to her parents. Not at all the sort you'd expect to find lying, cheating, stealing, dodging shotgun bullets, fooling a child psychologist, or throwing a farmer over his very own Yorkshire stone wall.
“But when she needs to save a one-hundred-year-old, dead whale from its hunters in an effort to halt the extinction of planet Earth's wildlife, Eliza discovers that being a good girl just isn’t going to cut it.”
Since the publication of Eliza’s Whale: The Search for Horo it has been described by reviewers as ‘dramatic’, ‘powerful and shocking’, and ‘a great read for teenagers and adults’.
Patrick, who continues to act as a drama consultant in Vienna, spends his time between Yorkshire, Ireland and Greece.
Prior to entering teaching, he worked as a reporter, an advertising copywriter and an apprentice deck officer with the Merchant Navy.
He is currently working on the sequel to Eliza’s Whale: The Search for Horo.
For more details, visit Amazon and search for Patrick Dowman, where the paperback and Kindle formats of Eliza’s Whale: The Search for Horo are both available.
Notes to the Editor
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