AN author who last visited Teesside as a teenage runaway, returned for a book signing on Sunday.
When he was 16, Edinburgh-born Neil Shaw-Larkman, whose book The Great London Adventure is set to become a Christmas best-seller, stopped off in Middlesbrough en route to the capital, where he lived rough.
Now 39, Mr Shaw-Larkman has received a £50,000 advance from his publishers for the children's fantasy he dreamed up to fill his darkest hours.
The book features two comical ravens, as well as elf-like creatures called Gronkiedoddles, who live in disused Tube tunnels and fight evil.
To date, 20,000 copies have been sold and Mr Shaw-Larkman has earned comparisons with Harry Potter author, JK Rowling.
He signed books at WH Smith, which has made an unprecedented initial order of 5,000 copies, and at the town's branch of Waterstones
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