The family of a Keswick care home owner mark a bittersweet moment this month – the publication of his second novel just weeks after his death.
Vijay Daswani, who operated the Millfield home, wrote under the name of DA Swain and his novel, Tom Spicer: A Still Small Voice, is published later this month.
His family said it was a fitting tribute to the talented man, who has left a literary legacy.
They added: “Sadly, our wonderful Vijay won’t see the publication of his second novel, he was suddenly, tragically taken from us while spending time in the country of his birth, India.
“Vijay came to the UK aged 11, rejoining his family who had come on ahead, leaving him in the care of his grandmother and auntie, who became his second mother for the rest of her life.
“Vijay’s great passion was literature and he trained as an English teacher, transmitting his love of Shakespeare to his students alongside more contemporary heroes.
“Latterly, Vijay was proud to be entrusted with providing the highest standards of care and respect for the elderly, and during his career as a care home owner, he felt privileged to be able to live and work in the Lake District, which he loved.
“You can see the settings around our home in Keswick used in his exciting second novel, as Tom Spicer’s birthplace and the lake where he was orphaned, with echoes of this imaginative, talented man’s life in the relationships and locations throughout the book.”
Tom Spicer: A Still Small Voice is an expansive novel which takes the Oliver Twist narrative and reverses it – skilfully transporting readers to a bygone era.
Set against the backdrop of 1920s colonial India are the mysteries that follow little Stephen Crow when he is smuggled from England, by his corrupt uncle Jeremy, into a wealthy Indian household. Why is he hastily renamed Tom Spicer? And why are his origins, an heir to a vast fortune, hidden from them?
A widow in the native Indian compound lovingly adopts Tom as her own. But the dangers that forced Tom’s removal from England soon catch up with him here, far from his birthplace.
Prior to the book’s publication, Vijay said: “The Lake District has been a treasured place for me since childhood. My imagination had visited it countless times long before I actually went there.
“It was always the setting in the back of my mind whenever I read one of my favourite poems, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, first as a schoolboy, then as a university undergraduate, and later, out loud, as a teacher of English literature.
“I would visualise the fells and lakes beyond the banqueting hall in front of which sat the Ancient Mariner, as he “stoppeth one of three” wedding guests who were trying to enter to join in the feasting.
“Imagination turned into equally enchanting reality during the numerous times I visited. On one trip, in 2007, after staying in a charming hotel between Windermere and Ambleside, I decided to make a counter-intuitive return journey to London, by heading not south, but north to Keswick first.
“It was one of the most momentous decisions of my life. I was smitten by this user-friendly-sized market town, one of the most “real” places in the entire Lake District, with an identity and history beyond its attractions as a tourist hotspot.
“Among the soaring fells surrounding it, and the Lake District’s third largest lake – Derwentwater – at its southern end, evidence is found everywhere of the town’s origins as a site for graphite mining and slate quarrying.
“Together with many trades, and much agriculture all around which provides valuable employment, Keswick retains its persona as a working town.
“A few months after discovering Keswick’s surprising delights, I was alerted to a business opportunity in the town. The Millfield retirement home was up for sale. I already had other care homes that lay along the M6 corridor, and was instantly interested in the prospect of owning this one. This despite its distance from London and my other homes.
“I acquired the Millfield in 2008 and, so keen was I to have a place for myself to stay in, I bought nearby Easedale House B&B a year later.
“Latterly, I upgraded Easedale into seven holiday apartments, with an eighth exclusively for me to stay in whenever I’m in Keswick. It is very much my second home.
“Though I visit all the residential care homes in my group regularly, I always find reasons and excuses to stay on for as long as possible in Keswick.
“My wife and I love walking to and around the lakeside crags on Derwentwater, the nearby villages, and we also regularly drive to hostelries all around the Northern Lake District for walks, lunches and teas. The landscapes wear many varying and beautiful coats during the different seasons, with spring having a particular charm.
“We love watching the baby lambs emerge in April, and the swathes of blues spread across Rannerdale in May are an exhilarating sight to behold.
“When arriving from and returning to the south, we usually take the “lake road” (the A591) rather than the faster M6. Our trip along this road takes us past some of the most beautiful lakes in the area: Windermere, Rydal Water, Grasmere, Thirlmere and Derwentwater.
“This route also gives us panoramic views over Bassenthwaite Lake. Another drive we love doing is around nearby Ullswater – the second largest and arguably the most beautiful of the lakes – on a journey that takes us over the Kirkstone Pass (and the second highest pub in England) to the picturesque town of Ambleside.
“Thirlmere on the A591 is a lake that we drive literally alongside for much of its length, and on a clear windless day it’s like driving past a vast mirror, reflecting the banks and tree-lined fells all around.
“The fictional lake Burrowmere in the novel is based on this lake; I had to change its name because fictional activities take place on and around this body of water that couldn’t happen in real history.
“There are, though, some true reference points in the story. One of these is the landing of a biplane on Helvellyn on December 23 1926, witnessed by a Professor ER Dodds.
“I love recounting tales like this one, and facts such as Thirlmere having being the main reservoir for all the water supplies of Manchester, over 90 miles away, for more than a century.”
