Stephen Anthony Brotherton now lives in Shropshire but grew up in the West Midlands. A social worker for nearly thirty years, he currently works for the NHS and is a member of the Bridgnorth Writers’ Group and the Shrewsbury Writers’ Lab. His first book, Fractures, Dreams and Second Chances, was released by the Book Guild in 2021. Watching the Wheels is his first collection of short stories.

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An autobiographical story from the heart

This is my story of first love, but it is told through the eyes of two fictional characters, Freddie and Jo-Jo. My life, like Freddie’s, was fractured by my dad’s death when I was seven years of age. As a teenager, at the end of the 1970s, I had a first love relationship that I dreamed would last a lifetime. My partner, like Jo-Jo, was strong, independent and had her perfect world dreams, but she was haunted by her own fractures. In 1980 a heart-breaking event killed our love and, for us, there has been no reunion. But I’ve always wondered, what if? This book explores that possibility. It tells the story of Freddie and Jo-Jo’s fractures, their teenage romance, their lives apart and their attempt to reignite their love after being separated for over three decades. Their story is a love story, but it also asks questions about the impact of early life trauma, the degree to which this travels with us down the years and the impact it can have on our relationship with others and the wider world.

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Exposed. Vulnerable. Isolated.

A collection of short stories – a killer created from abuse, a teenager in search of answers from his older brother who committed suicide ten years earlier, a woman trapped in a persistent vegetative state, a ghost hunter afraid of ghosts, a bullied police officer, a man in a care home wanting a great adventure, and other fractured human beings looking for answers, trying to survive. 

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What would you do in their place?