Author Sells Son's Story
Writer Julie Myerson angers her son by publishing a book about his drug use.
LONDON, March 11, 2009 -- Nearly every teenager has a run-in with their parents at some point while growing up, even one whose mother happens to be an award-winning writer.
Jake Myerson had a typical middle-class upbringing in the suburbs of London. As a young teen, however, he started smoking skunk, a potent form of cannabis, and that's when the trouble began.
He became increasingly violent and unmanageable, according to his mother, leaving his parents so frightened they'd lock their bedroom door at night. When he tried to supply drugs to his younger siblings, according to his mother, she and his father decided they couldn't cope anymore. They threw him out at age 17, changing the locks on the door and telling him he wasn't welcome anymore.
About two years have passed, and Myerson will soon be able to read about his difficult years as a teenager in a book written by his mother, author and journalist Julie Myerson.
"The Lost Child" documents how Myerson, who had once been "a bright, sweet, good-humored boy," became violent and withdrawn, bringing chaos on the family, according to his mother's account. The book interweaves his story with that of young artist Mary Yelloly, who died from tuberculosis at age 21 in the 1820s.
But "the lost child" is fighting back and Julie Myerson is now embroiled in a bitter row with her son that has been rapidly unfolding in front of the media glare. There has been a barrage of claim and counterclaim spats in a string of national newspapers, leaving people wondering who is telling the truth and opinions divided about whether the book should have ever been written.
Jake Myerson has branded his parents '"insane" in the British media, denying he's an addict and accusing his mother of "overacting and being naïve."
He also claims he tried to stop the book from being published. He sold his story to the Daily Mail newspaper, telling the paper in an exclusive interview, "After reading it[the manuscript], I said: 'There is no way to stop you publishing this, is there?' I even consulted a lawyer to try and stop it but was told there wasn't much I could do."
