Durban North author finds comfort in penning words
The author's characters are inspired by his childhood friends.
DURBAN North author Sven Axelrad has launched his second book, God’s Pocket, which hit shelves and online stores a few months ago.
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Very few people, about five, he says, actually knew that he has been writing books for about 15 years.
“I have been writing books for about 15 years now, but only about five people in the world knew that. After Buried Treasure hit the shelves in 2023, and then God’s Pocket this year, all of that changed. My world opened up, and I opened up, too, as I found myself talking in bookstores and theatres around the country about my life and my love of literature – quite often brought to tears while doing so,” he said.
A professional accountant by trade, Axelrad said he has truly felt alive these last two years, which were both fun and a little painful.
“Overall, I see these years for what they are – a gift,” he said.
God’s Pocket is about a young man who, when faced with studying accounting at university, chooses to run away to an abandoned quarry where he plans to live and write a novel. It’s a novel about nostalgia, friendship and the cost of getting what you want.
“In real life, I used to work as an accountant in an office that overlooked a quarry, and I suppose I started to imagine what it would be like if I had made different choices. This book is primarily about five friends – ‘not adults or children but those who inhabit the strange and exciting middle ground between the two, where life itself, via a conspiracy of hormones and nerve endings, is louder, brighter and generally more painful’,” quoted the author.
The characters are Filo, a young writer and an anti-accountant. His best friend is a strong, young woman named Liv. These two have started to feel something more than friendship, but neither has acknowledged this yet.
The inspiration for the characters, he says, comes from the magical group of friends he had growing up.
“We used to break into swimming pools at night and all fall in and out of love with each other. We were inseparable – until we weren’t,” he said.
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