AUTHOR INTERVIEW

George R Martin tells Caroline Spencer about his sequel to the classic children’s tale, Peter Pan

George R Mitchell has gone on a brave adventure by writing a sequel to the beloved story of Peter Pan. The Aberdeen-born journalist has gone from reporting in the some of the most dangerous regions in the world to writing a sequel to the classic children’s tale.

An Awfully Big Adventure asks the question of what happens to the characters of Peter, Wendy, Tinkerbell, et al and how they grapple with life after leaving Neverland.

George first fell in love with the classic tale as a child growing up in Aberdeen. Now aged 51, he has added to JM Barrie’s story.

“I’ve always loved the story, my dad read it to me when I was a kid.”

Peter Pan was first published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1902. It became a wildly popular play in 1904, and has been an enduring classic ever since.

“I think JM Barrie is a genius,” George says of the Angus-born author. “I mean, who has the brain, the capacity to come up with the concept of Treasure Island, the fairies, the adventures?”

George first began writing the book nearly 15 years ago, while working as a travel journalist. He wanted to explore what happens in a fantastical world after the initial excitement ends.

“I had this fascination with ‘what would happen next?’ I always thought ‘nah, that can’t be the end of it, there’s got to be something more.”

During this time he also reported from places affected by war and conflict like Israel, Russia and Ukraine. He picked it up again in 2019, after a difficult time in Gaza.

“Before the first lockdown, I had just got back from Gaza and it was heavy, heavy stuff.

“I found it in the drawer and thought what’s this? ABBA?” he says, looking at his own title’s acronym.

During the Covid-19 pandemic George was unable to travel for work, so he hunkered down and started

writing the book again. He found it a pleasurable escape during the isolation of lockdown.

“I started to work on it and it was escapism from the harsh realities of life,” he says.

George second book is a world away from his last, Mankind’s Great Divides, which are firsthand accounts of conflict from the Crimea, Palestine and Northern Ireland.

The brutal Putin-led war in Ukraine has confirmed for George the backward nature of Russian policy and attitudes. “I had been going for almost 30 years, what’s happening now is just appalling,” he says.

He has had to cut off former friends in Russia over the dangerous disinformation spouted by Russian state media, namely the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine.

“I’ve got friends (in Russia) that I can’t speak to anymore, because they’ve bought into this ‘Nazi’ nonsense, it’s so sad,” he says.

Despite the dark realities of the world, George hopes to give readers of all ages a piece of escapism through his book. If there’s one piece of wisdom he’d like to impart, it to not lose touch with their own inner child. “Growing old is mandatory….but growing up is optional,” he says.

An Awfully Big Adventure by George R Mitchell is released on Amazon on June 4.

Journalist and author George R Mitchell.