The Lost Boy, the Doodlebug and the Mysterious Number 80

‘This book can be interpreted on many different levels. On one it is a murder-mystery, on another an allegorical tale of spiritual transformation, on a third, a complex tale of two gay men’s individual journeys into adulthood and on a fourth, a simple and beautiful love story,’ observes it’s author, Stevie Henden. In fact The Lost Boy, the Doodlebug and the Mysterious Number 80 is a eclectic and thought-provoking book, best defined as a modern day fairy tale in which the dreams and lives of four people are inexorably linked together across time, bound by love and friendship, heartache and fate.

‘I was heavily influenced in writing the book by my own experiences of being a gay man in London, and whilst it is not autographical it references the colourful, eclectic life that I have had,’ says Stevie. ‘I also wanted to reflect on what the affects of time travel would be on very ordinary people, not science fiction heroes.’

About the Book:

During the London Blitz a young woman has a vision while reading Tarot cards of two lovers in great peril and knows it will be her destiny to help them. Meanwhile Robert, a wounded and repressed Battle of Britain pilot, dreams of happiness and of a love he believes he can never have.

In another time, Charlie, a troubled little boy growing up in the repressed suburbs of 1950s South London, dreams repeatedly of the number ‘80’ and knows only that it means something terrible and evil. Elsewhere, a dark, disturbed man dreams repeatedly of Charlie and knows it is his destiny to kill him.

This time-travelling tale moves between present day Dulwich, WW2 London, the gay bars of the 1970s, Eva Peron’s Buenos Aires and Glastonbury Tor in 1989. It is a tale of great love and loss, destiny, tragedy and spiritual transformation.