An elementary teacher in School District 43 (SD43) who’s had a diverse professional background will have another title on his résumé next month: author.
On Feb. 2, Port Moody resident Nick Perry will release his inaugural book, Broken Water, via his publisher Chicken House Press. The story centres on an atheist named Declan Murphy who attempts to become a Catholic priest.
In an interview with the Tri-City News at Nestor Elementary in Coquitlam, where Perry is a teacher and librarian, the 29-year-old man said he’s wanted to write a book for years and he credits his former English teacher at Heritage Woods Secondary for charting his path and helping him appreciate writing and literature.
Still, after graduating in 2013, Perry forged a different route by taking on various jobs — as a mascot, baker, Taekwondo instructor, labourer, mover, craft brewery assistant and the RCMP, the latter of which he withdrew after an injury — before clamping down to write his first novel in 2020, while in the UBC teacher training program.
Perry finished his first draft of Broken Water during the pandemic in the summer of 2021.
He said the book is for Millennial-aged readers who, like him, are questioning the idea of belief and faith, and for their parents who may have traditional views.
Edited by Alanna Rusnak, Broken Water can be bought via the publisher’s website, Amazon.ca and Indigo.ca, as well as at independent local bookstores.
And Perry said he’s already writing his next work, where the plot zeros in on a jilted fiancé who flies to Mexico and is offered a stand-in spouse for his vacation.
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