Is Gareth Thompson the next JK Rowling?

Denim clad, he's polite, well spoken, and articulate, and explains to me how he loves Cumbria, but fears that the growing number of second-home owners will force - and price - young people away from their childhood landscapes.

Gareth is one of the rising stars of the literary world.

A gifted author, comparisons with J.K. Rowling surfaced when his first novel was published in 2007 - The Great Harlequin Grim.

However, they didn't go down particularly well with Gareth.

"It was misleading. I don't write fantasy."

Although he respects the talent of the creator of Harry Potter, Gareth's interest lies purely and simply in realism.

He quotes Wordsworth: "To capture human passions, human character and human incidents that might be found in every town or village.

"That's kinda my template as well."

Gareth's second novel Sunshine to the Sunless has just been published.

I found it hard to put down.

After a grim start where the circling seabirds and nine-year-old Andrew Kindness witness a double tragedy on the treacherous sands around the Millom estuary, the story opens up like a brilliant shaft of light piercing through black storm clouds.

Gareth paints a detailed picture of Andrew, a young man who blossoms into youth, ducking and diving through the challenges that life throws at him and his family.

Central to the story is Andrew's crush on brainy, leggy sixth former Angie Hutchinson.

As far as Andrew's concerned his head says she's out of his league.

But try telling your heart that!

"At that age you always fall for the girls you can't have," smiles Gareth.

"In fact, at any age it happens."

As you read Sunless, you're willing Andrew to get together with Angie.

And I admit you feel his deep disappointment when she doesn't give him attention he definitely deserves.

With each chapter you want her to show him some glimmer of affection.

It almost becomes a teenage version of the Assumpta and Father Peter Clifford relationship from the BBC television series Ballykissangel.

You know the - will they or won't they?

Although, to start with Angie hardly notices Andrew, much to his bleeding heart.

Gareth has a wonderful turn of phrase and brings to life a glorious supporting cast of characters.

There's The Razzler, Andrew's colourful dad, window cleaner extraordinaire, who has a brush with cancer, which Gareth portrays vividly.

Mum is organic to a tee.

Also included is menacing Malky, a dodgy character, who brings a dark side to the heart-warming story.

Undoubtedly, one of the amazing aspects of the tale is the way Gareth has woven growing daffodils into the mix in such a believable way.

Using his Granddad's scutcher to plant the bulbs, at times you can feel the texture of the soil between Andrew fingers, such is the clarity with which Gareth writes.

So where did the interest in one of the nation's best known blooms, grow, so to speak: "It came from my paternal granddad from Leeds," Gareth informs me.

"He crossbred daffs for many years, award-winning ones as well.

"He left all his diaries, diagrams and books.

"My dad inherited the love and knowledge and passed it on to me."

He enthusiastically instructs me in the life cycle of a daffodil: "Six years is the life cycle of a daffodil from seed to flower.

"From bulb to flower is a year."

Really, Andrew and Angie's story is of unrequited love.

And there are many modern day issues neatly places within the fabric of the story.

Sunshine to the Sunless is not a thriller but a cracking page-turner even so.

It is a life-affirming tale doused in stark reality.

"Once you have experienced lower depths of life it can give you the right to a positive outlook," Gareth points out.

Gareth's maternal grandfather was from Kirkby-in-Furness and the Kendal-based writer has a soft spot for Millom, the area where Sunless is focused.

"Millom is a place that since the iron mines closed in the late 1960s has closed in on itself," he adds.

"It has a great sense of social and industrial history.

"When the last of the mines closed they flooded them and turned them into nature reserves.

"So many writers have written about Cumbria historically.

"Places such as Buttermere and Grasmere, but I wanted to get away from those places and shine a spotlight on some of the tremendous and fascinating sites around Cumbria.

"To use the landscape as almost as a character in its own right and not some kind of slushy backdrop."

Gareth loves his music, particularly what he describes as the artistic reinvention of REM - and The Smiths: "Northern poets for thoughtful souls," he waxes.

(He even finds a place in the book for upwardly bound Lakeland rock band Seven Seals).

As far as reading is concerned: "I like stories of coming of age, whether written for adults or children - or both."

David Almond is a favourite.

He also mentions our own (Cumbrian) Melvyn (Lord) Bragg: "He writes, good, gutsy stuff."

Originally, Gareth trained as a journalist in the 1980s at the London College of Printmakers and worked for the trade magazine Music Week: "Later, I travelled abroad, working with sea turtles on Crete and performing street music in Cuba.

"I also worked for MENCAP, directing arts for adults with learning difficulties."

He also took a job with the Press Association on the television and film pages.

Eventually he returned to Cumbria, working on a novel while helping at the local junior school with reading and drama groups.

His talent for prose was spotted through a Cumbria/ North West Arts new writers scheme by Booker-listed novelist John Murray, who helped to develop his work.

Peters Fraser Dunlop became Gareth's agent and soon after he signed up with Random House Children's Books.

"I fitted into the young adult bracket as I've always liked books, movies and such that deal with coming of age in interesting ways."

Which brings us nicely to the marketing term crossover fiction.' Basically, it means appealing to adults and youngsters - and Sunless should, to both.

"No other writer portrays Cumbria as I do," continues Gareth.

"Most authors from this region draw on nostalgia, and a more historical perspective.

"My works are set in the present, rural communities, backed by dramatic and sometimes hostile landscapes.

Gareth claims that too many have written about the Lakes, or what he describes as "rustic England", from a sentimental angle.

"Having grown up among these places, I don't share the blind sentiment displayed by others.

"I like lifting the lid off certain realities that the tourist board would rather forget.

"I explore the kind of unusual scenic sites that are ignored for being less chocolate box.' "There's often an industrial connection within the landscapes I choose.

"Disused slate quarries, quicksand bays, old mining towns, remote passes.

"I would feel dishonest portraying a region I know so well as purely a Beatrix Potter playground for the retired gentry, where everyone wears bonnets and buckles.

"A century ago ninety per cent of people in rural areas were employed in farming.

"Today it's two per cent.

"Low wage economy, family traumas, rural isolation - all these aspects feed into my dramatic storylines."

Sunshine to the Sunless is a story of coming of age, underpinned with a rich vein of carefully crafted characters.

If anything will break Gareth Thompson into the big league - this will.