In 1990, at twenty-three years old, Mark Francis O’Sullivan was drinking himself toward an early grave. Vodka for breakfast, blackouts that erased entire weekends, and a growing certainty that if he didn’t stop, alcohol would kill him. So he quit—cold turkey. No rehab, no Alcoholics Anonymous, no professional help. Just fear, isolation, and determination. That was thirty-five years ago. He hasn’t had a drink since.

Coventry to Comber is a raw, honest account of addiction and long-term recovery told from a working-class perspective rarely seen in traditional sobriety books. Born in Coventry to Irish parents, O’Sullivan grew up feeling overwhelmed, out of step, and unable to explain why life felt harder for him than for others. Years later, he would discover the reason: undiagnosed autism and ADHD, and a brain that never switched off. Alcohol wasn’t about pleasure—it was self-medication.

This book follows his journey from chaotic drinking and lost potential through the hardest early days of sobriety and into the long, ongoing work of rebuilding a life without alcohol. It explores identity, shame, temptation, grief, and the challenge of staying sober in a culture where drinking is normal and expected.

Each chapter blends lived experience with reflection and practical insight, offering tools readers can use whether they are newly sober, struggling after years without drink, or still trying to find the courage to stop. There are no slogans, no preaching, and no claim that there is only one right way to recover.

This book is for those who never quite fitted the recovery mould—for people who tried AA and felt like outsiders, for neurodivergent readers who drank to cope with overload, and for anyone who knows their drinking can’t continue but doesn’t know where to begin.

Coventry to Comber doesn’t promise miracles. It offers something better: understanding, honesty, and proof that sobriety is possible—even when it doesn’t feel like it.

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We first started out as ?The Paperback Exchange,? a chain of physical bookstores where we would part exchange your beloved books for new stories to transport you to faraway places. However, as shopping started to evolve to online shops and marketplaces, we bid our stores goodbye to become ?PBShop.? This transition has only allowed us to blossom as we now ship thousands of titles to book lovers across the globe. We pride ourselves in being a community of local book lovers which allows our passion and devotion to shine in everything we do. In 2020 we not only celebrated our 20th birthday but our 1st birthday as being completely employee owned after becoming an E.O.T in September 2019. We are proud to be different and embrace standing apart on a book mountain by working from a virtual inventory which allows us to provide thousands of books that may be difficult to get for your bookshelf or your studies. Working with a number of different suppliers allows us to explore other avenues such as puzzles, sheet music and even stationery so we really do have something for everyone. Life is about being versatile in all realms of existence. If this is your first visit or you are a returning customer, we would like to welcome you to the PBShop family, for there is no friend as loyal as a book. We are a company who put our customers at the centre of everything we do as we understand the importance of reading because once you learn to read, you will forever be free. There are a whole lot of things in this world of ours that we are yet to explore, which is why we will forever inspire curious minds.

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We ask all customers to contact us for authorisation should they wish to return their order. Orders returned without authorisation may not be credited.
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If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.

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