Ashley Blake: Shining Bright Lights in Dark Places

Synopsis

As one of the friendliest faces on TV, Ashley Blake was loving his fame spreading into so many areas of the media, Holiday programmes, Watchdog, local news, and his first step onto the big screen in the film ‘Nativity’. A man of such enthusiasm and energy he decided a venture with his girlfriend into the restaurant business was a sound and exciting idea. So it was, The Place 2B became a real success within a short time. Six years later with the business well-established a fight broke out in the car park between youths. The subsequent hours led Ashley along a bizarre turn of events which eventually saw him sentenced to 2 years for defending himself, his staff and his property. The book, Shining Bright Lights in Dark Places is a faithful replication of the handwritten diaries he compiled during his stay in some of the most notorious prisons in the UK. The reader learns the detail of what happened at the restaurant and is led to make their own decision as to the rights or wrongs of it all. The diaries, however, are the focus of the book and detail the grim, dark recesses of the physical place and Ashley’s mind as a consequence. The book holds one gripped until the final sentence, never once letting up on the reality, and absurdity of the modern prison system. If you read one book this year, read this one, but ask yourself this; what would I have done in the same position?