A.D. CRITCHLEY
A.D. Critchley
Author of the four books displayed on this website
International Business advisor
Bio on the bottom of this page
BOOKS
Hells Keys : A Powerful & Gripping Story of Survival.
On eBook & Paperback
Arthur's WAR & PEACE : An Enthralling True Story Of Family Post WW2. On eBook & Paperback.
Art is a young boy, only ten years old. He is a proactive child, happy and engaging, humorous and a glass half full by nature.
As he and his family are living in difficult times struggling through the ‘Great Depression’, his cheerful nature and his willingness to please his elders is all the more remarkable. Due to the Great Depression he leaves school and starts work at the age of eleven, impressing his boss and his customers with hard work and charm.
His father, who fought in the Great War, died unexpectedly of ‘unknown causes’ a few short years after his demob.
This is the first of the tragic deaths he encounters. With World War II looming, he and some of his contemporaries – with their glass half full attitudes – enlist in the army two years before war is a reality.
They join for the adventure, a better life, and for King and country. Art finds those first two years a doddle and excels in all he does. But what happens to him through the war changes his happy go lucky demeanour, and he finds life after his war experiences debilitating.
In his civilian life he doesn’t cope as he should. His easy come easy go nature is absent without leave.
He wrestles with internal demons, and his emotions affect all around him. This is a story that many families endure in different ways. It captures the pain of war and the repercussions. The emotions in Art’s story are palpable. This story could represent any military family struggling with the conflicts of war.
This is Art’s personal story.
It has been described as a terrific story, powerful, dramatic and a story of family. In equal parts harrowing and emotional.
A voyage into the early nineteenth century where convicts existed inhumanly. Lady Lucy Island is fictional but based on true events, on the worst convict Island in the world. The history describes the vilest of conditions that convicts endured in the untamed wilderness of Van Diemen’s Land (Australia).
Convicts transported were from the poorest background of the British Empire, shipped to different Australian penal colonies. Escapee’s from those various mainland garrisons if captured were then sent to Lady Lucy Island. This became their everlasting punishment.
This small, desolate, windswept island inside Macquarie Sound in Van Diemen’s Land became the home to three hundred and twenty convicts, thirty-two guards and a despicable governor. In 1825 the first convict ship arrived at the entrance to Hells Channel also referred to as “The Needle.” Feared by Captains and crews as many ships before had broken up on rocks while trying to navigate the reckless swirling tide into the expansive inlet and their new home.
The convict’s motivation on this unlucky Island was to either kill the governor or escape but escape normally meant death. Many died of malnutrition and disease, some were that despondent they attacked the guards knowing they would be killed instantly or flogged and die in the correctional pit!
The governor hated being in this god forsaken isolated backwash. He took his anger and resentment out on the convicts. They were flogged daily, 1,970 lashes given out during the first year.
This is their story.
Only The Willing : Set in Kings Cross, Sydney. Mike's in the thick of corruption and vice. On eBook & Paperback.
During the 1970’s in Kings Cross, famously known as The Cross in Sydney, Australia, money, gambling, sex and corruption create a slippery code of conduct. American soldiers from the Vietnam War are arriving in Sydney on their Rest and Recreation, making The Cross pulsate with desire.Mike Yankovich has deserted the Royal Australian Navy and become involved in this seedy world. A web of corruption, unnoticeable at first, gradually ensnares him in an invisible mesh, which tightens fast around him. He becomes a hardened enforcer with two bosses Jack and Kev. They are up to their necks in prostitution, gambling, strip joints and violence.The Police Detective Division (the D’s) are hard-nosed and often bent cops. Three of them operate and control most of the action in The Cross with Mike, Jack and Kev at the heart of the activities.Don't miss this unforgettable glimpse inside the violent, sexy underworld of Sydney, Australia.
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Hexagon Boys : A Story Of Survival. On eBook & Paperback.
What would you do?
No one wants to be abused. And some of the abused want retribution.
The Hexagon Boys are eight suffering personalities, who pledge support for one another. But one of their number hides his dysfunction as the unfairness and cruelty of what happened eats into his soul.
Two months before their annual meeting he plans to make two priests pay for their abusive behaviour while he was in their care. He becomes engrossed in his plot.
Oh yes, it is a plot, devious too, but if it comes off, it will rock the priesthood, the church and the world. The plan makes him ecstatic, beyond anything he’s experienced in his twenty-eight years.
It’s a blueprint for retaliation, a blueprint clear and precise. Ecstasy fills his heart, as he imagines the priest’s punishment.
It’s a perfect plot too, involving golden haired boys. A delicious treat for two priests.
And now it’s time for the plot to begin.
A.D. Critchley - BIO
About the author (A fortunate life)
Born in Stockton on Tees UK and immigrated with his family to Australia.
Anthony D Critchley joined the Royal Australian Navy as a boy and served in the Vietnam conflict. He then joined the submarine service serving on five submarines his first HMS Oracle in Faslane Scotland.
Returning to Australia he served on four Australian submarines Oxley, Otway, Ovens and Onslow. After leaving the Navy he worked in Powerhouses and large Industrial plants.
Anthony then created his own successful business over a 25 year period. During this time he became an Advocate for Submariners and Vietnam veteran’s and a member of Lions International and various Australian volunteering organisations.
A life time ambition came to fruition and with his wife they walked the famous Camino de Santiago in 2011. 800Kms via France to Santiago.
In 2009 he joined Australian Business Volunteers (ABV) and has completed 7 international business assignments around the world.
He’s written in regional newspapers and technical articles over a thirty year period. Completing three book novels and is working on a fourth.
Anthony resides in Western Australia, happily with his wife and has three children and four small grandchildren.