The Authors lounge

I feel overjoyed to have been approached by “The Authors Lounge” to write this article on my debut novel, “A Darker Shade of Giemsa,” published on 8th December 2022. I have always loved writing since childhood, which all disappeared into the background for many years owing to life and work taking precedence. However, at the end of 2021, I did a cleanout and found an old exercise book with short stories I had written many years ago. I felt a sudden inspiration to start writing again; it was my ambition to write and finish a book.

I wanted the story to include my work in the NHS, Biomedical Science, and haematology

It needs to be better recognised, and there needs to be more awareness of our role in providing diagnostic care, which is essential for diagnosing disease.The idea for this story and the characters within followed soon afterward. The main characters are Sami and Victoria. Sami is a Consultant haematologist, and Victoria is a new registrar who comes to work in the department under his supervision. They share an office, his sanctuary, and he loathes that he has to share his space with a woman. He is cold, abrupt, and brusque and does not socialise with people, coming to work to do his job and then leaving. After a difficult divorce, he has been very single for several years, but suddenly, he finds himself developing feelings he had forgotten existed. Victoria is happy, energetic, and kind, a real social butterfly, and her unwanted chatter irritates him. In time, he enjoys their conversations and opens up to her. He fights his feelings initially as he doesn’t want to get hurt again. However, once he discovers her sad past, he takes her to a bonfire display, and after a minor setback, their romance begins to blossom soon afterward.

Carol, Victoria’s mother, and Jenny are the Biomedical scientist characters who perform the diagnostic testing for the couple.

Sami’s father, Imran wants Sami married and will stop at nothing to get what he wants, and unbeknown to Sami, he arranges for a friend’s daughter to visit. When Imran meets Victoria, he is irritated by her as she stands in the way of his plans. As a female registrar, she is a career woman, not family material, and he is insulting whenever she visits, much to the disgust of Sami and his mother (who is also unaware of his plan). Much to his horror, Sami and Victoria arrange a holiday together, and upon his return, he drops his bombshell. This leads to a family crisis which later causes them to separate. From here, things go downhill, and they embark on a journey of many misunderstandings, other love interests, trials, and tribulations in the hope of eventually finding a happy ending.

I am A. J. Donovan. I was born and raised in Sunderland, United Kingdom.

I have a long-term partner, one daughter, and two grandsons. In my youth, I was a competitive ice skater, British Junior champion in 1977, Senior silver medallist in 1982, and an international and world representative. I began working life as an ice skating coach but soon discovered it wouldn’t be my “forever” profession. I began to study Biomedical Science at the University of Sunderland and graduated in 1999 with a 2:1 degree. I became a qualified Biomedical Scientist in 2000 and continue to practice in this field. After my inspiration to begin writing again, this book was written and published within a year. I also have an idea for my second book, which is in its early stages and is a work in progress. “Blades of Steel” will be a fictional story about all the ups and downs in the life of an ice skater.

My book is available from my website

nd also from Amazon in paperback and Kindle format.

You can follow me on

Facebook: A J Donovan

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Donovan3Casper

Instagram: Ihatehousework1304