Northeast native and independent author Christopher Tait, a graduate of Father Judge High School (1996) and Holy Family University (2000), has released his fifth self-published novel, Three Days in West Chester, through Amazon.com. He has also previously self-published three short story collections. He has also written and directed six short films since 2016, all available on YouTube, and has had short plays produced as part of festivals by local theater companies.
Three Days in West Chester begins in 1995, when high school junior and drummer Derek Mooney unexpectedly learns that he is the only student from his school to earn a spot on a prestigious band made up of the top high school musicians in Philadelphia. Over a three-day rehearsal period at a school in West Chester, he’ll deal with a conductor who takes an instant dislike to him, fellow musicians who don’t think he belongs there, a crush on a bandmate whom he knows he can never be with and a homemade spaghetti and meatball dinner that violently disagrees with him. He will also play the best he’s ever played, make friends with students from a rival school and fall in love with someone he’d never truly noticed before.
The novel’s inspiration comes from the author’s own experience of playing in the All-Catholic Band when he was a junior at Father Judge (represented in the novel by its fictional counterpart, St. Francis De Sales Catholic High School). The author played drums for many years, taking lessons at Howard Herbert’s Music, formerly on Frankford Avenue, with revered drum teacher Justin “Jay” Bruno.
An excerpt from the novel can be found at https://taitdog.wordpress.com/. The novel can be purchased on Amazon.com at this link: Three Days in West Chester: Tait, Christopher: 9798323435135: Amazon.com: Books ••
