Doncaster miner and police officer combines 1984 strike and Auschwitz for new novel

Mark Huntington, aged 60, penned The Whisperer of Auschwitz inspired by people he met while working in Brodsworth Colliery between 1976 and 1984.

It follows the intertwined lives of young apprentice Jud and a mysterious older miner, Mike, who has experienced the horrors of the concentration camps during World War Two.

As they face the injustice of the strikes together, Mike reveals his agenda was to guide Jud in discovering his real purpose - to be the next tzadikim, a person who is considered righteous in Judaism.

Mark, who has now retired from South Yorkshire Police and lives in Conisbrough, said: “I could relate to the apprentice because I have been a young apprentice and at Brodsworth there was an interesting stranger there who had nothing to do with anyone.

“I tried to befriend him but failed miserably.

“The word about his history was that he had come from concentration camps so he had got what we could now call PTSD, we just didn’t know it in those days.

“I often thought about him and his story.

“I have had the story of The Whisperer of Auschwitz in my head for years so during Covid I thought I might as well write it.”

Mark used the lockdowns to write his book, which is around 330 pages long and is now available to buy on Amazon Kindle.

Incredibly, he initially wrote it longhand, then taught himself how to use a computer so it could be published.

Mark added: “The reviews that I am getting are very positive - it seems to be mainly five star reviews.

“It is a very unusual story.

“I wrote it completely longhand because I am old school, I didn’t know how to do anything on a computer.

“I am dyslexic as well so I wrote it all freehand, then used a dictaphone programme which wrote it while I read it out, then I decided to get myself up to speed.”

The Whisperer of Auschwitz costs £3.99 to download from Amazon Kindle.