Children Sent into Danger

Beginning in 1910, this story follows two brothers, Michael, a baby, and Ronald, a seven-year-old, who suddenly lose both parents. Their mother dies in childbirth, and their father perishes in the worst coal mining disaster in Lancashire’s history: the Pretoria Pit explosion at Hulton Colliery near Westhoughton, Bolton, which claimed 344 lives.

Taken to a local orphanage, the baby is fostered by a local mill owner and his wife. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, the mill owner’s intentions are far from benevolent; he wants a compliant son to fulfill his wishes. Meanwhile, the traumatized and unruly Ronald is deemed too difficult to adopt and is sent to Australia under Britain’s Child Migrant Program, where he initially suffers much abuse.

Despite their harsh beginnings, both brothers eventually join the medical profession. During World War II, they encounter each other several times while working in field hospitals, completely unaware of their true relationship.

Is it possible that they will one day discover the bonds of brotherhood and reunite?

Flies to Wanton Boys

Set in the final years of Queen Victoria’s reign, at the beginning of the end of Empire in India, Flies to Wanton Boys records the life of Marian Chase as she defies convention to cross continents. Ignoring repeated advice that ‘this is no place for a woman’, she travels through India in search of experiences and relationships more extraordinary than she could ever have expected from her comfortable middle-class upbringing in London and on the South coast.

Intoxicated by India; its colours, its sights, its people, she survives landslides and bandit tribesmen in the mountains of the Northwest Frontier, running aground on the mighty Brahmaputra River and devastating monsoon floods in the tea plantations of Upper Assam.

And on her journey, she marries, gives birth to a daughter, is widowed, and then marries again to a man whose power and ego finally leave her abandoned and homeless.

Her eventual return to England, to the family she left behind fifteen years earlier, is not enough to relieve the grief she feels at having squandered the life she once had.

Marian was a remarkable woman who kept meticulous diaries, revealing with unique honesty not just the places and peoples she embraced but her emotions, her doubts, and her fears until eventually she had no energy left.

The Song of the Minstrel

Edmund Carpenter is born on the lowest rung of society in late 15th century England, and yet his mother has told him that his father was an Earl. His confusion is compounded by having had a privileged, lonely childhood growing up in a monastery, learning to read and write.

As he reaches his twentieth birthday, he leaves the monastery to team up with two minstrels that he had met on his first journey to nearby Bristol. The new trio are invited to join the household of Sir Reynold Bray, the close friend and chief minister of King Henry VII. There, at Eaton Manor in Bedfordshire, he enters a world of intrigue, mystery and romance revolving around Bray, the King and Queen and their two sons, Princes Arthur and Henry.

What Edmund discovers at Eaton, while revealing his true identity, will, for better or for worse, dictate his life’s course and potentially change the future of the realm.

Two Hearts, One War

Against the haunting backdrop of World War I, Two Hearts One War weaves a stirring narrative of Esad, a Bosnian soldier, and Charlotte, a French nurse. Though separated by the arbitrary divisions of war, they are united through shared suffering and losses. As each endures the relentless horrors of battle and privation, their improbable bond reveals both the bestial face of warfare and the beating heart of human compassion.

This poignant tale bears witness not only to the trials that pitted army against army, but also war’s devastating toll on innocent civilians caught in the maelstrom. It is a reminder to those embroiled in today’s conflicts must break the cycle of violence and pursue peace, lest we relive the tragedies of the past.

Ana Kelly: A Saga of Love and Courage

The captivating story of Ana Ludovina Teixeira de Aguilar unfolds against the backdrop of the French invasions of Portugal and the military aid provided by the English, commanded by the Duke of Wellington, who also played a pivotal role in her marriage to Waldron Kelly, an Irish lieutenant.

Discover how Ana Kelly’s love for Waldron remained steadfast until her death. Delve into her family’s connection to the Portuguese royal family and the support Queen Victoria provided in the final phase of her life. This is a tale of love and remarkable resilience, intertwined with an intimate yet rigorous historical account.

Gripping until the last page, this narrative comes highly recommended by Timeout Magazine as one of 28 must-read European literature books about romance and treason.

Shakespeare in Virginia

In February 1616, William Shakespeare finds himself on the brink of financial ruin and trapped in an unhappy marriage. Desperate for a way out, he agrees to resume his clandestine work for the English secret service. His mission: to report on the Virginia Company and their activities in the Virginia Colony. To maintain his cover, Shakespeare must fake his own death and assume a new identity.

As he embarks on this dangerous journey, Shakespeare befriends John Rolfe and his wife Matoaka (Pocahontas), who are visiting England. The couple provides invaluable insights into Virginia, Powhatan society, and the complex situation unfolding in the Colony. Following Mataoka’s tragic death, Shakespeare accompanies Rolfe to Virginia, taking on the guise of a tobacco planter.

In this new world, Shakespeare must navigate the treacherous waters between the avaricious English colonists and the hostile, embittered Powhatans. Can his experience as a renowned actor and playwright help him survive and thrive in the Colony? And how will the most famous life in history come to an end?

The Unknown Warriors

The Unknown Warriors is based on a true story set in the beauty and tragedy of Europe in the years just before the Second World War. Abrienda de Soza, inheritor of a fortune stolen from the coffers of Imperial Russia during the last days of the Russian Civil War, fights to keep her country out of the hands of both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia and preserve a culture threatened by both through any means possible. Nika Molnar, an agent working for Hungarian Intelligence’s Special Unit, seeks to exact vengeance on the man who murdered her father when she was a child. Impeccably researched, The Unknown Warriors captures the feel and nuance of a world soon to be destroyed forever—a uniquely told and deeply compelling story of war, intrigue and betrayal, but also of love and sacrifice played out against the backdrop of a world heading inexorably towards war.

The title is taken from a speech by Winston Churchill. “This is a War of Unknown Warriors, but let all strive without failing in faith or duty…”

Rolling Stock

This novel, Rolling Stock, is a meta-fiction juxtaposing excerpts from several of the author Stephen Crane’s works with invented lives of his characters. Stephen Crane died at the age of 29 in 1900, having lived a full life of advocacy for poor and disenfranchised American. Ernest Hemingway once said that had Crane not died so young, he quite possibly would have been the greatest American writer. His depth of characters inspired this author to create more life for them, from Ireland to New York, on to Nebraska, and finally in England. The story includes Crane’s philanthropic notions toward poverty and prostitution in 19^th-century America. This work is a historical study as well as a creative interpretation of who Stephen Crane was.

The Lascar Mysteries: A Fate Unwritten

Set against the backdrop of imperial Britain’s zenith, The Lascar Mysteries: A Fate Unwritten is a riveting narrative that plunges into the depths of the 1856 maritime world, where the East India Company reigned with an iron fist over the azure expanses. This is a world where lascars—the backbone of the British maritime leviathan—are wrenched from their homes and compelled to fuel the perpetual engines of empire, enduring the relentless assault of the sea and the biting cold of foreign climes.

In the thick of these toiling masses is Arun Varma, who seems to be but a humble cook aboard the HMS Bengal. Yet, his is a tale of a sharp-witted, educated man, pulled from a life of intellectual pursuit by tragedy. Dreams of scholarly achievements and poetic endeavours are dashed when he is catapulted into the role of sole provider for his bereaved family after his father’s sudden demise. It is this vulnerability that Kabir Khan exploits, luring Arun with the veneer of opportunity, only to shackle him to the grim reality of servitude under the East India Company.

As the story unfolds, Arun’s ordinary existence is swept up into the sinister undercurrents of Victorian London, where he inadvertently becomes embroiled in a menacing conspiracy of murder and deception. His unexpected collaboration with a Scotland Yard Inspector takes the reader through a maze of intrigue, leading to the dark heart of the empire where justice is a rare commodity. It’s a journey that will test his mettle, his intellect, and his courage as he becomes an unwitting detective, navigating through the enigmatic and perilous lanes of the city, determined to untangle the mysteries that threaten not only his life but the very fabric of the society he has come to know.

The Lascar Mysteries: A Fate Unwritten promises an exhilarating adventure of historical suspense, exploring the resilience of the human spirit against the vast and oppressive forces of colonial power.

Star of Destiny

Flavius Septimus, the commander of the Sepphoris garrison in Galilee, harbors a dark secret that casts a shadow over the lives of his son, Linus Flavian, and Maria of Magdala. In these novels, Linus, Maria, and Joshua, the Biblical Jesus, are born under a mysterious star in a world steeped in superstition and intrigue. As the Jewish Temple hierarchy, the Herodian dynasty, and the Romans vie for power in tumultuous first-century Judea, their adolescent lives unfold, intertwined with personal destinies shaped by the beliefs surrounding their births under that enigmatic star.

“In providing historical, economic, and religious details, Peter Longley builds a bridge between spiritual divinity and traditional Christianity. Finally, it’s a relief to find a theologian that makes sense of the Bible and its many translations!”
– Jeanette Parker, USA

“Longley blends a fantastic mixture of historical and fictional figures and events to narrate the early lives of Joshua, (also known as Jesus of Nazareth,) Maria, (also known as Mary Magdalene,) and Linus Flavius, (the fictitious son of a high-ranking Roman official.) Using simple, effective prose, Longley tells an engaging tale that offers plausible explanations of those well-known stories of the miraculous, such as the virgin birth and the turning of water into wine. Longley tells an intriguing story in a setting that is both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.”
– Sacramento and San Francisco Book Reviews, USA

“Longley’s feeling for the Roman and Jewish point of view is superb.”
– Dorothy Thompson, Scotland

“I very much enjoy your interpretation of the life of Jesus and feel it is much more logical than the accepted version. I have always had a fascination with Mary Magdalene and her life as well. I found this book to be very interesting. Nothing I have read on Mary Magdalene has had the same sort of story line including that of her mother.”
– Cheryl Huffman, USA

The Mount of Frogs

COVID-19 saw the death of normalcy. At which point, perspective and proportion evaporated only to reveal the dawn of a new reality. However, outdoor exercise was prescribed during lockdowns and nature eased the transition of feral spirits. By comparison, during the year of this tale, 1651, Thomas Hobbes stated in his societal doctrine, Leviathan, “Life in the state of nature is solitary, nasty, brutish and short”. However, the England of the seventeenth century suffered from a lethal mixture of religious extremism, civil wars and the ensuing societal uncertainty. Such toxic factors became intertwined and spawned an era of hysteria driven Witch Hunts.

Therefore, contrary to Hobbes’ theory, nature would have conceivably been the safest option to eschew the societal catastrophes woven into the 17th Century. Further, 1651 suffered the ongoing effects of a mini-ice-age, which attributed to the occurrence of famine and disease. These ingredients made for a cauldron, filled to the brim with diabolical misery for the British population at this time.

This tale discovers a young native of Somersetshire, Tizzy Greenham and her response to the aforementioned conditions. Although, it should be observed, this is not a children’s story but a story about a child, made concise within a day. Ultimately, Tizzy ascends the discombobulation attributed to such disastrous societal and planetary influences. The Prologue and Epilogue highlight the blights to humanity within the sixteen hundreds are still alarmingly prevalent on an international scale today. Furthermore, Witch Hunts still occur within less progressive countries. However, the Western culture is also guilty of savaging those who have fallen from grace, exemplified by the Cancel Culture. Whereas, to date, within rural East Asia, those accused of witchcraft are cancelled much in the same way.

Bearing these factors in mind, it was our ancestors who withstood the brunt of progression in this country, upon their knees if necessary. However, there are alarming similarities between the 17th and 21st Centuries, both at home and abroad. It is a reassurance to note, we have advanced as a nation to the point, we can tell the truth in this country, express its diversities and this is not only encouraged but valued. Freedom of mind is a given, whilst unfortunately, more dogmatic cultures still indoctrinate, persecute and barbarously execute perceived societal dissenters.

Those Hidden Monsters

Mona seems to have it all: youth, beauty, intelligence, and a privileged place in Germany’s elite Aryan society. At fifteen, she lives a life where power and wealth seem to affirm her family’s deeply ingrained beliefs. But as she uncovers the disturbing truths lurking behind the façade of her ‘perfect’ world, everything she has been taught begins to unravel.

Those Hidden Monsters is a haunting journey through the dark corners of human nature, exploring themes of fear, flawed ideology, friendship turned betrayal, and the transformative power of love and loss. Although a work of fiction, the novel provides an emotionally charged window into the harrowing years of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, as seen through the shattered innocence of its young characters.

While they start as fervent supporters of Hitler’s regime, a series of betrayals eventually opens their eyes to its horrifying collapse. Masterfully crafted by author Trevor Ripley, the story delves into the complex emotional landscapes of its characters, revealing how evil can flourish in the most ordinary of homes, and how courage can emerge from the most unexpected places. A compelling tale of bravery and tragedy, Those Hidden Monsters forces us to confront the darkest and most hidden aspects of human history.