The Froggitt Chain

Storyline

Milkman Peter Froggitt is stressed out and when life overwhelms him he always runs. Now he is terrified. In his new stealth camper he heads north, running from the memory of a dead woman, his fear of the Watcher on the scrubland, and from his own interminable loneliness. He carries the heavy gold chain he has kept since his childhood; the chain he took from the ‘Blackened Man.’ At 4.30am he tosses his ‘past life’ off the M6; a bag containing the chain, letters from his father and his ex-wife, his phone, some keys and a mysterious photo of a pale, scruffy child. But from a hotel balcony, the enigmatic Hugo Quin is watching. And when Hugo is watching, anything is possible…

Background

The name ‘Froggitt’ was inspired by graffiti: ‘Mark Froggitt 1778’ is etched into a stone arch of Skerton Bridge which spans the River Lune in Lancaster. Set in Lancaster, Preston and Scotland, ‘The Froggitt Chain’ is a story of lonely people in a technologically-connected Britain. It highlights complicated, broken links between three generations, how traumatic childhood events affect adult behaviour, and the human yearning for permanent relationships.

Themes

– 21st century loneliness

– brokenness of family link between grandparent and grandchild

– how childhood trauma can affect adult behaviour