FROM FASHION WEEK TO FICTION FREAK
Photographer and writer PP Hartnett has fashioned a book that is full of the kind of drama that court rooms rarely get to hear the details of. If the idea of child sex abuse disturbs you, look away now…
<< deletion >> is a fictional television documentary set in 2016 that considers the history of a Catholic Church career paedophile who has skipped bail, just days after having been arrested on multiples charges of alleged child sexual abuse.
‘The piece is a moral work about immoral acts, allegations of historic child sex abuse on a national and international scale. As with other works within my body of writing over the last two decades, the long-term effects of both negligence and abuse by Catholic priests are in sharp focus,’ says Irish photographer and author PP Hartnett.
Hartnett, who was once described as ‘…possibly the most uncompromising, provocative and downright shocking author presently writing in Britain’ and whose novel Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide (Sceptre) hit BOOK OF THE WEEK in The Times upon publication, began writing this new work soon after an interview he gave to Paraic O’Brien for the BBC that did not get broadcast, with no explanation provided as to why.
‘So much hits the trash bin in the debris of modern life. From collective amnesia re Catholic Church failings to the strategic disposal of dusty files, the skilful deletion of digital photographs, the cunning mislaying of interview footage, entire case histories… decades of evidence buried,’ says Hartnett. ‘In terms of impact, damage, only so much is ever stated during a police investigation, arrest, trial and jail sentence of a systematic abuser or institutional paedo ring. That’s why I wanted to give a voice to what is invariably silenced. The whole story, the truth and nothing but the truth.’
The fictional television documentary that features four ‘survivors’ of many years of systematic abuse within a fictional London faith school had been entitled child rape photos until online distributor lulu.com was bombarded with complaints about the cover which resembled a battered bible.
Similarly, the band that Hartnett formed to mirror the punk band within this new work, also named child rape photos, was subjected to ‘Content Removed’ by Tunercore due to the name of the band and the song titles. As a result, Hartnett selected to change both the title of this challenging new work and the name of his punk band to << deletion >>.
‘Shit happens, shit happened, at a certain school in Ealing, London W5. I was a young lad aged thirteen, an altar boy. The monk who attempted molestation, a Benedictine old enough to know better.’
<< deletion >> is dedicated to Pope Francis and John Lydon, formerly known as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols.
<< deletion >> by PP Hartnett is published by Autopsy and available in EPUB3 format via Apple, Barnes & Noble (inc Nook UK), EBSCO, eSentral, Goodreads, Google Play, Kobo, Magzter, OverDrive (inc Waterstone’s) and Storytel. Also available as a PDF from lulu.com.
