New Audiobook April Skies, with voiceover narration by Karl Jenkinson has just been released on Audible.
The novel a sequel to the critically acclaimed Abide With Me by Ian Ayris, has been some years in the making. In fact, it all started in 2012 when author Ian Ayris was returning from a trip to the Supermarket with his children, when a voice popped into his head.
It was the voice of a distinctly East End working class character, and once Ian arrived home, he immediately began to write it down.
Fast forward to 2017 and Ian has two novels, ‘Abide With Me‘ and its sequel ‘April Skies’, with a third already underway and a fourth instalment planned to follow on.
Ian channelled his personal pain into April Skies, which is grittier and darker than the first. The main character ‘John Sissons, is a street-wise lad with a heart of gold, he puts on a big front, but when it comes down to it – he wouldn’t hurt a fly’. Ian says ” I was chuffed when Karl agreed to narrate the second book. He did such a brilliant job on the first book, that I had every trust that he’d deliver again and he has. It is a vivid reading of the book, which easily matches Abide With Me.”
Likewise, Karl was more than happy with the finished article – “It’s all in the writing. As an actor or voice actor, you have no words until the writer puts them there. I’ve come to know John very well now, having narrated the best part of 13 hours of his and Ian’s words. Strangely, during the recording sessions I would sometimes look up from the page and even if I couldn’t immediately see the script, would often finish his dialogue with the same words. I guess you could say that me and John have gotten pretty close over the years.”
Karl Jenkinson provides the voiceover narration for the audio format, which is available through iTunes, Amazon and Audible.