Featured Book: Grow up, Rory Rafferty: A Novel, by Bruce W. Bishop (Releases Oct. 31)
I discovered author Bruce W. Bishop’s terrific historical fiction a few years ago, including Unconventional Daughters, Uncommon Sons, and Undeniable Relations: A Novel, all books in his Families Storytelling series. His research is as impeccable as his writing, and he has the gift of bringing readers into a book’s world so completely you may find yourself startled to be back in your own when you turn the final page. I also had the great pleasure of meeting Bruce when I was on a cruise that stopped in Halifax. He’s as delightful in person as he is talented with a keyboard.
His new book, ‘Grow Up, Rory Rafferty‘ is both a coming-of-age story and a coming out story, told from the perspective of young Rory Rafferty. It takes place in 1979 in Toronto, a city and time the author knows well. It shows in his vivid details and his in-the-moment narrative. As with his other books, I feel as if I’m on those Toronto streets and in those restaurants, eavesdropping on a cast of characters I won’t soon forget – if I ever do. This is a heartwarming and poignant journey to youth on the cusp of adulthood, in what may seem like a simpler time but is as complicated as growing up can be.
About ‘Grow Up, Rory Rafferty’
Publisher: Icarus Press Publishing in association with Bruce W. Bishop (October 31, 2024)
Publication date: October 31, 2024 (pre-order before)
Print length: 286 pages
Learning to be your own best friend
In 1979, when an introverted young man with culinary aspirations comes of age in Toronto after taking his first job at a private women’s club, he risks being devoured by the city’s elite.
Rory Rafferty embarks on a journey that will shape not only his future, but his very identity. A shy twenty-year-old from a Nova Scotian coastal town, Rory dreams of owning a seafood restaurant, but first he must navigate the glittering maze of Canada’s largest city.
When he lands a job as a busboy at an exclusive women’s club, he enters a world brimming with culinary delights, eccentric friends, and the pulse of the city’s nightlife. But amidst the glamour, Rory grapples with identifying and accepting his sexual orientation after assuming he didn’t have one during his teenage years…
In Grow Up, Rory Rafferty, follow our main character’s tumultuous journey to self-acceptance—a tale woven with misadventures, personal revelations, and the heady rush of first love.
Set against a backdrop twenty years before the Internet changed our lives, this heartwarming novel about young adulthood dives deep into the joys and challenges of youth. It offers a poignant reminder of the timeless quest to find oneself in a world filled with social biases and unexpected romance.
Whether you’ve grown up in a Gen Z world, or if you fondly recall the vibrant tapestry of the late seventies and early eighties, step into Rory Rafferty’s captivating universe.
Like many authors, I began writing stories from a young age. I was lucky to pursue a career in travel writing from the mid-1990s to the mid-2010s, both online and in print. Those assignments literally and figuratively opened the world to me, but it wasn’t until the Covid19 pandemic that I began to take fiction writing seriously.
Oddly enough, having to stay at home for a prolonged period sparked some creative juices to flow. I devoured online instruction about the business of self-publishing.
Now that I have three novels and another about to be published in late 2024, I can’t see a return to non-fiction writing.
(But never say never, eh?)