Former deputy leader of Aberdeenshire Council publishes first novel

Peter Argyle's first novel, The Artist's Apprentice, is out now.

Peter Argyle, who was Chair of the Infrastructure Services Committee and also served as Deputy Leader of Aberdeenshire Council until the elections in May 2022, has published his first novel.

He was also the Donside Correspondent for the Deeside Piper through most of the 1990s.

The Artist's Apprentice is the story of a talented painter with a haunted past and is partly set in Aberdeenshire, drawing on the author's years in the North East and his love and knowledge pf the area.

Peter Argyle said: "Losing office after 23 years as a councillor was something of a shock to the system and writing this novel helped to fill the gap.

"Whilst a large part of the story is set in Aberdeenshire, it also takes the reader to Shropshire, Paris and Italy.

"The painter recounts his own story, reluctantly remembering past events, emotions and places in an attempt to lay the ghosts which have never left him.

"In many ways, the story wrote itself, with a little help from me.

"It grew on the pages with me almost like a gardener, undertaking a labour of love to ensure everything is at it should be.

"It was a story I had to write and, like the best gardens, it holds within it different rooms, different spaces and different colours which, I hope, make one harmonious whole."

The Artist's Apprentice is available as a paperback and for Kindle on Amazon.

For more about the novel and the author, please see www.peterargyle.com