Whispers Through Time

This historical drama, part true, part fiction, is based on the mysterious lives of the author’s maternal grandparents’, Walter and Winifred, spanning most of the twentieth century.

Encompassing the Boer Wars, the end of the Victorian era and the Titanic tragedy, the characters not only travel onwards through these times but also to the colonial outposts of the British Empire.

As the first book of a trilogy, Whispers Through Time introduces the personalities, dreams and motivations of Winifred and her family. The mysteries that surrounded her life in the past intrigue her real-life grand-daughter, Heady, who tries to unravel them in the present day.

Why did young Winifred leave London alone on a ship to travel to Australia?

Why especially in June 1912, just months after the Titanic tragedy? Where did her brother, Oscar, disappear to without a trace? And what happened to her beautiful younger sister, Francesca, after her tragic love affair?

Time is an ever-present theme that waxes and wanes like a tide throughout lives. There are the what-if moments, the only if moments and the sad reality that past and present generations can never meet, forever separated by time.

We Brothers

Daniel wants to become a lawyer to right the wrongs he believes have been inflicted on his people by the white colonisers. His schoolteacher convinces him that he can arrange a university education. Instead, he is abducted and is trained as a terrorist. He returns to his country and uses his skills to fight the invaders of his land.Peter fulfils his ambition to be a pilot, flying a combat helicopter against the country’s enemies who are seeking to overthrow the government. Often flying into action with only a Perspex windscreen to protect him, he has to learn to control his fear.This is the story of boys forced into different sides of a war, pawns of the architects of the conflict, Cecil Rhodes, Robert Mugabe and other nationalists, Ian Smith the Rhodesian Prime Minister, and his nemesis, British PM Harold Wilson.As the two become men and seek their destinies, they become adversaries in an unconventional conflict that causes significant loss of life and injuries, untold misery, and results in the devastation of a country once described as ‘Africa’s bread basket,’ and which became ‘Africa’s basket case.’The terrorist and the pilot meet several times on opposing sides of the Rhodesian Bush War determined to prevail.On one side, a terrorist skilled in terrorising the population using hit and run tactics. On the other, a highly skilled pilot flying a highly manoeuvrable aircraft with significant speed, armament, and height advantages.Can there be any winners in this conflict?

Under the Whispering Filaos

In October 1957, Jeremy left his island paradise to become a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm, leaving behind, Maureen, the young girl he intended to marry as soon as he had completed his training. Unbeknown to him, family quarrels instigated by his controlling mother caused a breakdown in communication as their letters went undelivered, leaving the young couple to think that the other had broken the vow. Finding herself pregnant, Maureen leaves the island to live with her married sister in South Africa so as not to bring shame to her family.The Cold War is in full swing and the “Wind of Change” about to sweep the continent, soon bringing with it some of the toughest battles since WW2, on the borders of the country. Maureen, married and now widowed, returns to her island with her married son and small family. What had become of him, she often wonders. Did he ever think about her and their child? Had time erased his love for her? 

Trevelyan

It is the end of the 18^th century and the end of schooling for four Cornish youngsters. They share their aspirations for the future, not realising there is a price to be paid.

Cornwall is the land of mystery, legends, folktale and myths. Tiny villages with narrow winding streets nestle around rocky cover ideal for landing and distributing contraband. The fishermen are dependent upon the sea in all its moods and are forced to subsidise their catch with smuggled French brandy, tobacco, tea, and silk. The only other possible occupations, the tin mines and the farmed estates, are in the hands of the wealthy few, like Lord Trevelyan. For most Cornishmen life is harsh.

To fulfil her own hopes of a better life, one young girl Karenza, discovers there are secrets to be concealed and seemingly impossible promises to be honoured, played out against an austere and merciless Cornish landscape and the ongoing hostility of the French.

Trampled Grass

This novel is based on a historical account, going back to early 19th century when Great Britain defeated Napoleon Bonaparte, expanding the empire. That led to the need for considerable manpower. The captain of a ship is not only responsible for navigating the vessel skilfully, but should be a leader to all the naval trainees and junior officers. He should make right decisions which can be harsh, without emotions, for all. This novel tells a story of the kind-hearted Captain Fraser who led his ship to near-disaster on the Thames. After abolition of slavery, the need for farm labourers was filled by a 'new system of slavery' called 'indentured labourers from India'. This novel describes their suffering and what happened to them, which the world hardly knows about.

To Have and To Hold

In 19th Century England, two small girls are ripped from their families and sold into cotton mill slavery. Lost, confused and alone, Emma and Susie find solace in each other's company. They search for freedom and identity as they battle the cold and miserable conditions and their place of nonentity in the mill. How will their dreams of freedom be achieved?

When not working in the Hell on earth that is the spinning-room, they are locked in the mill garret. Their owners recognize them as 'hands', implements of labour, rather than living, breathing people. Then, one night changes the course of each girl's life. After this one night of freedom Susie's restless nature cannot be calmed, and the two must learn how to survive their newfound freedom, and to discover who they are truly are.

Time to Move On

It’s the end of the 1950s, Mary, an Irish girl, is nearly 16 years old, struggling with her bleak and lonely life in Western Australia, missing Ireland. Mary grasps at the opportunity of happiness and a different future without foreseeing the dire consequences that follow.

In 1970s, Harry, as a teenager, loses his parents in a car crash. Now homeless and jobless, he finds love while he is struggling with others’ expectations of him.

Each of them finding resolution of their situations – a story that carries you with the narrative, exploring the difficulties of life, infused with issues of culture, religion and identity.

Thirty Pieces of Silver

The Roman Empire and the world is about to change and over the next several hundred years, millions will die as a result.

In the Middle East a child has been born – a child who will grow into a man who will eventually change the way the world is run. He is a man destined to fulfil a prophecy. A man who will start a global revolution. A man who will shake the very foundations of society. A man whose philosophy will be misinterpreted and twisted to give power to what will become one of the richest organisations on Earth. A man whose name will be used to justify the most horrific deeds this world has ever known.

Caught between the rule of mighty Rome and the power of the High Priests, this man wants to free his people and bring them closer to God. This man will become a legend.

This man is called Jesus.

The Spirit of Badenoch

This book covers the environmental, historical and cultural changes to the land and inhabitants of a little valley in the Highlands of Scotland, Badenoch, stretching from pre-history to the cessation of World War 1. Bounded by the Monadhliath and Grampian ranges, with River Spey flowing through to the sea, the topography, environment and climate dictated the number of people the valley could support. Control over land and resources was fundamental in maintaining social relationships and the folk from Badenoch did it well. Australia and New Zealand provided an opportunity and a lifestyle that they could only dream of in far-off Badenoch. Land was the key. Some returned to Badenoch, having made their fortune, whilst others settled into their new homes; this book tells their stories and the story of the land they left behind.

The Price of Pearls

During the Napoleonic Wars, England sent many soldiers and spies to France. Many soldiers and sailors had been captured and imprisoned for years, incurring wounds and disablement, even in prison. They could only hope their wives, lovers and other members of the family were well. They just hoped that when families heard they had been captured, it did not cause any problems, but it often did cause broken hearts and aristocratic titles to go to distant relatives, who were not always wealthy enough to maintain properties that had been in the family for generations. Thieving and murder became common. Estates were sold. Many families did not know if their sons were alive or not. Should their daughter marry someone else as they thought her fiancé was possibly dead? It wasn’t until after Napoleon Bonaparte was captured and sent to Elba that life settled down but many hearts were already broken.

The Wolves of the Radfan

War is not a pleasant business. People die, cut to ribbons by bullets, limbs blown off by mines and roadside bombs. Not just the soldiers, but the non-combatants: young women, the elderly and children. 1963 to 1967 saw Britain fighting in a hostile and arid country, trying to stem the expansion of communism in the Middle East. On the ground, the ordinary soldiers, infantry, gunners, engineers and armoured regiments did what the British soldier always does – getting on with the job come hell or high water! Bomber’s story is written from real-life experience. Although Bomber, the main character, is fictitious, he is based on a combination of many soldiers. Many of the events took place as described but with the storyteller’s licence when melting them together. The Wolves of the Radfan, the largest tribe that straddled the then-border between North and South Yemen, started the war and the British soldiers put paid to the Wolves in 1964, but then came the push by the communists from North Yemen and it was then the contest started in all the brutality that war produces. Many acts of great courage have not been mentioned in the book, especially in the period from 1963 to the end of 1964, perhaps someone else will write about that. Fact and fiction, fiction or fact? This is a story of a normal British infantryman who faced combat and it was nothing like he had ever imagined.

The Wind in the Grass

Life in the village of Hammerwell, situated in a remote part of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, would appear, on the surface, to be a peaceful rural existence. Set in the period between the two world wars, the order of things is still very much as it has been for hundreds of years. But for Arthur Lever, life suddenly takes a dramatic turn. Set against a background of rural life, seed time, harvest, ploughing and lambing, The Wind in the Grass has lust, romance, cruelty, violence and sudden death. But worst is yet to come for the inhabitants of Hammerwell, insulated from the outside world by the grandeur of The Plain, they are unaware that their lives are about to be devastatingly changed forever.