Roi Barnard

Continued from Page 39

Beginning in 2018, Barnard, then 80, began arriving at the bar at Eclipse Bistro on Union Street in Wilmington on Saturday nights, and started writing in a notebook. At first his entries were the scribbled and scattering of memories, but they eventually formed the basis for what became Mister, Are You a Lady?

“I met Roi in the fall of 2018 at Eclipse Bistro, and at the time, he was really into writing his book,” said Andrew Charlton, a bartender at the restaurant who partnered with Barnard in forming Roi and His Boi Productions, and now produces audio versions of Barnard’s writing. “Bartending can often be a very challenging business, and it was Roi who became my very first cheerleader at that bar, and eventually, I got him to sign a copy of the book for me.

“I’ve seen a lot of the darker sides of life, and when I read Roi’s book, it blew me away. It reminded me of the little towns I grew up in, and the way that people in those town aren’t always accepting.”

Every other week, Barnard is driven to the Wilmington

Train Station, where he travels to the new Salon Roi in Chevy Chase, Md. for three-day periods, where he takes care of his clients, some of whom he has known for several decades. There is a documentary currently in production based on Mister, Are You a Lady? He is about to publish Willie Tales about his life with his father, and also has a third memoir he is now writing. In his Hockessin home, Roi Barnard presses his long fingers along the polished surface of the Baby Grand, and pauses.

“When I look back on my life, the losses I have experienced eventually become gratitude, in terms of my survival,” he said. “How grateful I am that I am going to be 85 and I am still needed and loved and wanted, and that I was able each time when I thought emotionally and financially that I would be knocked down to bring it back again and to have this life and that still be able to walk and dream in beauty.”

Barnard said he wrote his first book for a particular audience.

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“This book is for that 12 or 13-year-old boy or girl who turns off the light at the end of the light and asks, ‘What in the hell is wrong with me?’” he said. “This book is about forgiveness – forgiveness of others and forgiveness for who we are. Once we accept ourselves, our entry in the world will become a far more gentle one.”

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@ chestercounty.com.

Mister, Are You a Lady? is now available online at amazon.com., barnesandnoble.com, and goodreads.com. Willie Tales is now available on Amazon.com. For an audio version of Mister, Are You a Lady? read by Andrew Charlton, visit www.audible.com or iTunes.

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