A lament for the loss of a young woman and a savage critique of the institutions that failed her.

Tania Blair was a young mother of two boys leading an unremarkable life in Peterlee, County Durham until social services took a hand. Once a front-line social worker himself, Rod Madocks uses his own experience to explore the faulty rationale and inept practices of child protection teams. This memoir casts an unforgiving eye on health and social care agencies in general and on the fate of the English working class as they are tipped down the maw of a globalised future. Our Tan is a book that had to be written because no other avenues of help were left.

A transgressive writer, undauntedly hostile to liberal orthodoxy, Rod Madocks is the author of two novels that explore themes of crime, guilt and loss. He has written a book of short stories that cover his experiences working in the mental health field. He has also published a memoir of the WW2 poet Sidney Keyes.  His work has been shortlisted for a 2009 Crime Writing Association Dagger award. A full time writer, he lives in Nottingham, England.

The front cover of my latest book ‘Our Tan: Memoir of a Destroyed Life’ is based on the painting ‘The Lonely Girl’ by the excellent Italian artist Valentina Ceraso. Valentina has also designed the logo for my ebook imprint Damocles Press.