Newtonmore hoteliers are inspiration for son’s first comedy novel
A Badenoch author has not had to look too far for inspiration for his first novel with his own family and their hotel business providing a rich seam of material.
Jamie Coyle has just published ‘Who’s Looking After Who?’ and many locals will recognise his name in connection with Newtonmore’s Balavil Hotel.
Under his pen name Jamie C McNeish, he has drawn upon growing up in the hospitality trade in the Badenoch village for the family comedy novel.
Who’s looking after who? is set in the West Coast town of Millport - where Jamie was born - on The Isle of Cumbrae in Scotland.
The Coyle family’s life spirals into chaos after the birth of their baby on the kitchen floor of their tea shop, delivered by their naive four-year-old son.
The extraordinary baby possesses the mind of an adult, unleashing a torrent of dark wit and critiques upon his family in the romp set in the carefree 1970s.
After a brief stint as an actor, Jamie owned catering businesses but has discovered his true calling in writing screenplays and novels.
Following his mother Helen’s death, he’s written the fictional novel delving into the chaotic world of his own family in the hospitality industry.
Jamie explains: “The book is a very personal, imaginative and a funny depiction of exaggerated real life in the 1970s based on real characters during a time when life was very different.
Then kids had more freedom and there weren’t so many rules. The scenarios are outrageous but based on (parents) Jim and Helen Coyle and our family.”
Jamie describes the book ‘as the madness of Fawlty Towers mixed with the weirdness of Hotel New Hampshire’.
He will be holding a book launch with cheese and win at the Balavil Hotel in Newtonmore this Sunday. It is an open event and all are invited along.
The book can be purchased at https://troubador.co.uk/bookshop/contemporary/who-s-looking-after-who
