THE author of a well-received new novel will be the special guest at Malvern Book Coop on Friday, July 14.

Keith Stuart’s debut novel, A Boy Made of Blocks, is the story of a father searching for an understanding of his autistic son and finding it in the world of Minecraft.

Mr Stuart is games editor for the Guardian newspaper, and in 2012 one of his two sons was diagnosed on the autistic spectrum. His experiences formed the inspiration for his novel.

The book has been hailed as “the most uplifting novel of 2017”, and has been selected for the Richard and Judy Book Group.

At the event, the author will be reading from the novel, explaining its background, and discussing the book and autism.

Mr Stuart said: “When I started writing A Boy Made of Blocks, there were lots of experiences I had as the parent of an autistic son that I wanted to communicate to other parents who may have children on the autism spectrum.”

Tom Padfield of the shop said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be welcoming Keith to the coop. Keith knows Malvern well and is very fond of the area as his wife grew up here and his in-laws still live locally. Once I'd found that out it was a simple case of sending him an invite via Twitter.

"His book is a fantastic novel: extremely readable, funny and profoundly moving. But it also has many important things to say not only about autism, but about family, technology and communication."

"We’re sure this is going to be a very popular evening, so we recommend booking your tickets soon.”

Tickets, at £8, are available from the coop in St Ann’s Road.