Blog | Tom Gaisford

Brook House

Formerly a UK immigration lawyer, I wrote a story called SANCTUARY. For novelistic purposes, it contained some fantastical details that went beyond the abuses in the system I wanted to document. Then I learnt that actually, a very large amount of it was true... https://tomgaisford.substack.com/p/we-need-to-talk-about-brook-house

tgaisford

2 days ago1 min read

My review of FOLLOW HER by Anna Stothard: a mesmeric, visceral and compelling tale about the alchemy of subjugation.

‘B elieving in Frida was like that grey area in childhood where you want to believe in Father Christmas. I didn’t believe in ghosts or psychics, but I wanted to believe in Frida.’ As a reader with a longstanding interest in the pernicious, covert, and destructive nature of mind control (or “brainwashing,” as it used to be called), what I found immediately refreshing about FOLLOW HER was its focus on how it’s done: how, that is, disingenuous, damaged, and deluded people are

tgaisford

Jan 193 min read

V. touched by this thoughtful, generous and entertaining review

https://open.substack.com/pub/tomgaisford/p/lovely-review-of-sanctuary-by-an?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=post%20viewer

tgaisford

Dec 15, 20251 min read

3-2-1 SANCTUARY Launches in Paperback!

Total treat to celebrate the paperback launch of Sanctuary in Good Rebel , the place I wrote the final draft. Huge thanks to owner Steve Hopkins for hosting us and for his generous idea to stick a QR code on ‘my’ table 10, linking to this short piece . Or was it a hint? On reflection, it might be time to let someone else sit there… Equally big thanks to the ridiculously kind broadcaster and journalist Jim Delbridge of BBC Guernsey for interviewing me and for all his sup

tgaisford

Nov 19, 20252 min read

Brief Reflections on Promoting My Little Orange Trojan Horse

Promoting one’s own work is inherently uncomfortable, even for a barrister versed in the art of the humblebrag. But seeing the most unspeakable abuses in my novel play out in real life has made me keener to shout about it. From the undercover exposé of abuse inside Brook House Immigration Removal Centre to the UK’s unlawful Rwanda policy, for years every immigration story that broke seemed to mirror my plot in some way. Each time, I felt obliged to revise my manuscript to ma

tgaisford

Oct 24, 20252 min read