Daniel Christopher Betts

The Idiot of Lord Nelson Daniel Christopher Betts

Sometimes you need to read things from a different perspective, even when the storytellers are autistic... The story begins with 18 year old Arnold Holt, an unemployed teenager from Orpington who suffers from a form of mild autism, or Aspergers Syndrome. After an unexpected incident after a routinely visit to his late friend from the cemetery, Arnold is advised by his father to change his visit to another date which seems a simple idea, but for Arnold it involves rewriting the mental diary inside his head which he has used to survive the gruelling experience of being "on the dole". But after a bizarre accident in the garden with his pet rabbit, things turn into a much darker scenario and Arnold turns to a certain novel given to him by his former helper Mrs Leslie and uses it to help determine his next step in life. It soon turns into a whole new adventure for Arnold and his family, especially for his father Geoffrey who goes into a complete mental breakdown once he realises what his son had done. Sooner or later Geoffrey would have to take centre stage, even if it would mean changing Arnold's ways, which for an autistic person is extremely difficult to do.