Billy Butcher and the Open Door is the often funny story of a man released from prison after serving ten years for murder. The story deals with the difficulties of starting again after coming out of prison. Although the story is set in the seventies and courage, imagination and of course some luck were needed for Billy to start again, the same challenges still face 'ex cons'. Indeed the internet has made it almost impossible to hide anywhere. The story takes Billy to the north of England and the abandoned building sites following a recent financial crash. He has a number of adventures with some very funny characters until he starts his own Insurance Brokerage and property company. In the boom that follows the recession Billy and others become paper millionairs, ' But pride comes before a fall' as Billy's mum would have said and another economic crisis brings ruin to many and Billy also faces not only financial ruin, but possible criminal charges.
About the Author: David Barnato lives in South Africa, not far from Capetown. His books cover the period from the nineteen forties until the present. They are not autobiographies, but many stories are based on the author's own life experiences. David left school at fifteen and trained to become an estate agent. When he was seventeen he travelled across Europe and ended up as a junior manager on a farm in Catalonia. At eighteen he lived in Barcelonan at the time of General Franco, the dictator. He worked at the Berlitz School in Barcelona as a teacher of English language and literature. Later travels took him through Italy and he lived in Sicily for six month and began writing.. He continued writing for several years with no success in publishing his work, although the BBC did seriously consider a play for television. David mostly worked for himself and his first serious and successful business was an Insurance Brokerage specialising in motor insurance. After several years he sold the business and launched the first internet motor insurance quotation service for brokers. After the sale of this business David and his wife moved to Scotland and they launched the first free newspaper in Dundee. Then came a sojourn in France for several years and then for several years they lived in Dublin and then Belfast where they built up a property business. .Whilst building up the property company David and a partner bought cars in Northern Ireland where they were considerably cheaper and drove them over the border and into the Republic of Ireland where they were sold at a substantial profit. David and his wife Jan then became very interested in the insolvency business and moved back to Scotland where they ran a debt advisory service from a Scottish castle. This was a great success, but their restless natures lured them to South Africa where they bought a farm. They planted ten thousand olive trees and lived very happily until Jan had her first stroke and died two years later. Apart from property David was also a dealer in gold and diamonds, but he is now retired and writes full time. He has married again to Julian Wang the dress designer and they live happily with several dogs and two children in a modest house with a beautiful garden. Although David has Alzheimer's disease and his memory is going slowly like a dripping tap he is still writing and campaigns to help other sufferers of the disease for which there is currently no cure.