It’s the novel setting (From Haringey Independent)

It’s the novel setting

2:14pm Thursday 16th February 2006

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by LUCY DAWSON

Standing on the southbound platform at Highgate Tube station on the first day of his new job, Rob Saunders sees a young Japanese student throw herself into the path of an oncoming train.

Unfortunately for Rob the central character of an experimental new book his day does not get much better.

Rob is the brain child of Crouch End author Roger Morris, 46, who felt Highgate station was the ideal setting for the first chapter of his uncompromising novel, Taking Comfort.

The story is packed with references to the Haringey area, where Manchester-born Mr Morris has lived for the past ten years.

Taking inspiration from Crouch End's ever-changing shops and restaurants and the relatively unknown parks of Muswell Hill, the married father-of-two chose the busy borough as the backdrop for his latest work of fiction.

His character Rob makes a frightening discovery' while jogging in Queens Wood, a relatively untouched spot in Muswell Hill Road, Muswell Hill, that Mr Morris and his children enjoy.

As a part-time copywriter in Soho Square, the author, who lives in Lynton Road, Crouch End, often catches the Northern Line from Highgate station.

"Highgate Tube station is part of my daily routine and is therefore part of me," he said. "By knowing the places I was writing about, I think it made the story more real.

"Crouch End, where I live, is always changing and renewing, and that's why I love it there. One of the Indian restaurants which I name in my book has closed and been replaced with a food shop in a matter of months."

Taking Comfort is the story of a man consumed by tragedy but comforted but material objects. It explores the anxieties of a post-September 11 world and delves beneath the surface of our consumer society.

"I really just wanted to capture what it feels like to live in London in this relatively insecure time of terror attacks," said Mr Morris.

"The novel is structured around a series of objects which have some kind of importance or significance to the characters. The inclusion of branding in the book was an attempt to identify the characters in a way that had not been done before. In today's society we tend to live through our brand choices."

Mr Morris produced the novel in just six weeks, often waking early in the morning to get an hour's writing in before his young children got up.

"I work as a copywriter three days a week so the other two I could focus completely on the book," he said.

"I first wrote it as a screenplay so I could see the characters and action in my head, but decided it would be better as a novel.

"It was quite an intense time. I became almost obsessive about finishing it."

Mr Morris has previously had short stories published, including The Devil's Drum, which wasmade into an opera and performed in the Purcell Room on London's South Bank.

Taking Comfort, published by Macmillan, will be on sale from April 7.

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