Ramblings From The Converse

Prison memoirs hold a fascination for most of us - even those of us who’ve undergone the experience ourselves. It’s as if the human spirit can only really be appreciated when viewed in situations of extremis. The British prison system might not be as brutal as its counterpart in other parts of the world, but it’s certainly not the ‘holiday camp’ the tabloids are so fond of describing it as. Richard Valintine experienced it in all its soul-numbing glory and managed to transcend it. This is an account of his day-to-day struggles with the prison system and his own personal demons. “If you pick through the bones of this rotting corpse of literary nonsense, you may find some nuggets of truth, heartfelt anguish and soul searching intimacy that ignite some emotional fires within you... but you might not. There’s certainly some random poetry involved and pictures of the personal notes and sketches made through a time of incarceration.” from the introduction