Local Author To Hold Booksigning

Villanova-raised author Richard Drayton will hold a book signing for his first novel, Strawberry Siren, at in Bryn Mawr tonight.

Released in July, Strawberry Siren has been considered a psychological thriller by critics, but Drayton describes it differently.

"It's more philosophical—there's developing characters, and one particular character deals with a mental illness. It's interesting, it's unique, and it uses a lot of dialogue," the 55-year-old author said. "… This book is not John Grisham, it's not Stephen King, and it's certainly not [James] Patterson."

The novel follows Jackson, a speechwriter, and the mysterious Dr. Katsumi. Katsumi makes Jackson an offer he can't refuse, but Jackson's acceptance puts his life at risk.

Though the towns aren't mentioned by name, the novel takes place in the Haverford-Bryn Mawr area.

"That's where the story came to my mind, and that's where I live," Drayton explained. "It was a really easy way to set the scene, but it's fairly innocuous. There are places where characters situate themselves to talk about something, like the football stadiums of Haverford, but they're not mentioned by name. … I wanted it to be in the reader's imagination."

Raised in Villanova, Drayton has lived all over the East Coast and came back to the area three years ago. His mother's family are the Ludingtons—as in the . Drayton's great-grandfather donated the money for the original building's construction.

His father provided inspiration for the book. 

"I wanted a platform," Drayton said. "My father died of dementia. I didn't use that in the novel, I used a different mental illness, paranoid schizophrenia, for my character. … The person that has a mental illness typically doesn't know it. They're healthy as a clam but doing huge amounts of damage to every around them, and they don't know it. And that's the problem: you have to recognize it, and most people aren't trained to do that."

Drayton has written stories and poetry all his life, but Strawberry Siren is his first novel.

"It's something that's been bubbling up in me my whole life, and suddenly I just ran into a story. … It flowed out of me. I wrote from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. seven days a week for six months, without taking a day off," said the author, who is now working on a sequel.

He writes for his two daughters, 16 and 18, to preserve his stories for them.

"That's the incentive behind why I write, not the money and or fame."

Drayton will sign copies of his book Strawberry Siren ($16.95) at today, Nov. 17, from 5 to 7 p.m.