Great Yarmouth man publishing children's book for late son

Tim Hills, from Great Yarmouth, came up with the tale ‘Why Do Crabs Walk Sideways?’ more than 20 years ago when his son, Karl, was a child.  

Mr Hills, 60, said: “Karl used to always tell me to send the stories out and try to get them published, but I never did.” 

Last year, Karl, who lived with his father in Cobholm, died of an embolism related to Covid. He was 28-years-old. 

Karl Hills used to urge his father to submit his children's stories to publishers. (Image: Supplied by Tim Hills)

"He had been complaining about one of his legs aching, and he went to the doctors to get it checked," Mr Hills said. 

"They arranged for him to have a blood test but Karl caught Covid so couldn't get the blood test."

He said that if his son had taken the blood test, the embolism might have been discovered. 

After his son's death, Mr Hills was clearing out the spare room in their house when he found one of those old bedtime stories, which he had typed up. 

“I thought, I owe it to Karl to at least try to get it published. So this is really for him.” 

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'Why Do Crabs Walk Sideways?' will be published on October 13. (Image: Supplied by Tim Hills)

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The book will be published on October 13 under the name Timmy Hilly. 

It is a picture book which tells the story of a colony of crabs that is being terrorised by a seagull named Simon.

Mr Hills, who now lives in Lowestoft and works at the James Paget hospital, started making up children's stories when Karl was around six-years-old.

"I would borrow books from the library but I would start elaborating on them, exagerrating some of the characters. Then I started writing a few just for him," he said. 

"When the book is published, it will be tinged with sadness because Karl is not there to see it," he said.