Jason Drake's <i>Atlas Bloom: A Nurses Requiem</i> is now available as an ebook on Amazon. Photo / Supplied
Jason Drake's <i>Atlas Bloom: A Nurses Requiem</i> is now available as an ebook on Amazon. Photo / Supplied
After delaying putting pen to paper for most of his life, Northland District Health Board nurse Jason Drake has published his first book – a thriller/murder mystery – to distract his colleagues and others from Covid-19 stress.
His work on Ward 16 at Whangārei Hospital puts him in the redzone of the Covid-19 pandemic, which he said had initially raised staff anxiety to a level he had never seen before.
"Sure, we've nursed patients with TB, and we went through the whole norovirus outbreak a few years ago. Then, more recently, the measles outbreak - but this was different.
"I think that's one important thing to remember – that although we are nurses and caring for patients with infectious diseases is what we do, we are also members of the public too, sharing the same concerns they do."
He said there were some staff "really stressed" at work and he thought of a novel as a way of diverting their attention.
Drake explained how he had always wanted to write a story, but life seemed too busy to justify the self-indulgence of squirrelling away somewhere quiet to get on with it.
Growing up in Cornwall in the UK, he was surrounded by myths and legends which inspired his love for dark thrillers.
His literary talents were spotted early by his English teacher who encouraged him to submit work to the local paper – but he never did.
Then, at age 50, he decided if he didn't start writing, he never would. Spurred on by wife, Vonney, he started his book in April 2016 and finished it three years later.
Atlas Bloom: A Nurse's Requiem is a story of murder and the supernatural in small-town New Zealand.
It is a mix of Drake's own experiences working in hospitals, which he says are always full of drama, and an idea that came to him in a dream.
The main character, a nurse called Atlas Bloom, is suspected of committing murder. The novel pings back and forth between centuries in its telling, exploring and testing the facade of respectability, and dipping into the dark side of medicine.
