A Gem of a Reading Spot in Suffolk.

It was a grey November day on the way home from Aldeburgh and being desperate for a coffee and there being no Starbucks in sight ( definitely not the place for one) we dropped into Walberswick. Well, in reality you can't just drop in, you have to go down a long and windy road and… Continue reading A Gem of a Reading Spot in Suffolk.

The Perfect Tree

There's a tree I see maybe twice a year in Ilmington in the Cotswolds. To my mind it has a certain symmetry that I find visually most appealing. It's in the centre of the village opposite The Howard Arms. (We were there on our honeymoon last week, but we didn't tell them!) https://howardarms.com There's a… Continue reading The Perfect Tree

Colville’s Bastion

My debut novel. For over six months the emigrants were cooped up on the Princess Rose, a three masted barque that had carried them from Liverpool to Canada. In Victoria they were transferred to The Beaver a steam powered side wheeler. They approach Colville, their new home. "To be charitable, the settlement looked promising, if… Continue reading Colville’s Bastion

Leaving Liverpool

My debut novel It's 1854 and my heroine is standing on the quay with colliers from Whitehaven and Brierley Hill who have signed up with the Hudson's Bay Company to open the mines on Vancouver Island in Colville. "The first thing Kate McAvoy registered when she and her family stepped out of the brougham onto… Continue reading Leaving Liverpool