A British War Dance

James Ashfield is a young man from Birmingham, sent to Germany to fight alongside his brother in WW2. The events that took place led to his return home with haunting memories he could not erase.

His mind in turmoil, James was left feeling hopeless, until he is given a life-changing opportunity to pursue a dream that had remained his secret since childhood.

Life finally seems to start getting better for James until forbidden love, heartache and a pursuit for revenge turn his whole world upside down once more.

A Mere Shepherd Boy – Book 1

The year was 1,000 BC. Life was fraught with danger. Drought, famine, and sickness were a constant threat. At any moment an enemy could invade.

In a little hilltop village, a child was born, the youngest of a tribe of brothers. He was destined to become one of the best-known names in human history. As a child he knew nothing of this. Yet he dreamed! And as he led his father’s sheep through the wild pastures he looked to the heavens, played his harp, and lifted his voice in spontaneous song. There were predators in those hills, but he was unafraid and full of courage, as if protected from all harm.

A natural leader, he won the loyalty and admiration of the other boys in town. He drilled them in war-games, and they shared many adventures. These childhood companions remained faithful to him throughout all the seasons of his life. Through thick and thin they followed him, because of... that special something... that capacity to inspire and to lead, which seemed to come so naturally to him.

This is the story of his early years. It lays the foundation - culturally, socially and geographically - for the epic life-journey which lay ahead. His legacy would last forever.

A Quest to Get Home Bound

It is the midst of the Second World War and rationing is tightening everyone’s belts. Yet down the dark alleyways of the French capital Paris, you would find a man who could get you anything on the underground market.

When a captured American ranger receives news from home, he knows he must escape from the Nazi prison camp in East Germany and embark on a quest to get to a neutral land, so he may return to his wife in America. Unexpectedly the ranger finds himself becoming mixed up in the Paris black-market syndicate. Can he survive long enough to afford his escape? Can he be homebound once again?

A Small Tale of the Great Circle

While the First World War is regularly depicted by the nature of its horror, it was also a period whereby the excitement of inventions and the suggestion of an exciting time to come churned up the aspirations of some. Add to this the imagining of a treasure hunt in an exotic location and the excitement squashed fear.

All you had to do was survive, to learn how to sail. But there was the small matter of the interloper who could make the enterprise so much easier to accomplish. But that man was self-evidently unscrupulous, not to say demonic; it could all be sunk so easily by antagonism so hard to suppress. They all relied on the other and no one was being completely frank. They all lied, as we do.

A Soldier's Conscience

When a soldier has trouble accepting the acts of the regime he serves, how much can his conscience take? What should he do? Could he betray his comrades? These are the questions that faced a young Wehrmacht soldier, after being posted to a top secret base in France. After helping the civilian French resistance, the former soldier must reinvent himself and join the Italian partisans. If these resistance members found out his true identity, he could forfeit his life. With potential enemies all around him, can he betray his fellow countrymen and survive the war unscathed?

Against the Rising Sun

An Age of War and Tea

2021 HFC Gold Medal Winner for Historical Fiction

An epic tale of intrigue, betrayal, and revenge, set in the turbulent era of sixteenth-century Japan. Sakichi is a provincial Samurai boy who reluctantly becomes ensnared in a conspiracy by a Shogun determined to reclaim his power. It is within this developing turmoil that events emerge to forever shape Sakichi’s life. With his life now shattered, Sakichi discovers that he is adopted, and his biological mother is a ruthless assassin, who is determined to prevent him from discovering the true identity of his father.

With such high stakes at play, Sakichi’s life is placed in grave danger. Rival factions compete with each other to assassinate him and his mother before he discovers the truth. Should the identity of Sakichi’s father become common knowledge it would not only threaten the rule of a powerful war lord but plunge the nation into greater turmoil and bloodshed.

Acclaim for An Age of War and Tea

“This book is one for the ages and ranks right up there with Shogun by James Clavell. For anyone who loves an immersive story, full of power struggles, life-changing secrets, and the full richness of the ancient exotic history of Japan, then this is must-read.” 

-HFC Awards/Book Reviews

Angel

In Angel, the life of a slave owner and his family, as well as their slaves, is explored through the story of a genius slave named Angel. Appointed as overseer of the plantation in her teenage years, Angel’s ideas bring great success to the slave owner and turn him into a multimillionaire. However, when the Civil War sweeps through the plantation, the owner and his family are killed. After the war, Angel uses the owner’s gold to support 116 former slave families until law and order is restored in Mississippi. She builds a school for the slaves and attends to their medical and dental needs, eventually purchasing land for them to become sharecroppers. Follow Angel’s journey as she works to create a thriving utopia at the plantation, called Richmond Crest, and see what the future holds for her and the community she has built.

Blessed is He

Towards the end of the American Civil War in 1863, Sergeant Zack Jackson, a black Confederate soldier, wakes up after a battle in Virginia, in a field full of his dead comrades, and he sees a hand held up in the middle of all the dead bodies. On further investigation, a dying soldier hands him a wallet, with both monies, his home address, and the deeds of a map of his claim to a gold mine. He requests, with his dying wish, that Zack takes the contents to his wife and family and to eventually go and find the gold mine. He then dies of his wounds. Zack, also gravely wounded, sets off to find the dead soldier’s home but collapses along the way. Isaac, a young 11-year-old Jewish boy, finds him and manages to take him back to his parents’ home where they look after him until he is fully recovered. Zack, fully refreshed, goes to find the dead soldier’s wife and hands her the wallet. She thanks him for his courage and honesty and agrees for him to search for the mine. Together with Isaac and his dog, they begin their journey through the dangerous terrain of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Unknown to them, they were being followed by an outlawed gang of Chinese immigrants, who had overheard their plans. They eventually manage to find the mine, but it is not what they expected. Ancient settlers from various Red Indian tribes appear and create havoc, and the two heroes are tasked with unbelievable struggles to save their own lives.

Blowing Away the Bura

In this novel, by October 1991 war in western Croatia between Croats and Serbs is daily and deadly. Navenka Berik, a wimpy 25-year-old Serb mother of two has had her Serb parents and her Croat husband make decisions for her. During the next few months:

- Her father is taken and presumed killed,

- Navenka is raped,

- Her husband is arrested and probably is killed,

- Her mother becomes crippled,

- From the rape, another child is born,

- Remaining family members are on the run as internally displaced persons in the dissolving Yugoslavia,

- The hassled Navenka has to step up and lead.

Unwelcome anywhere, the family languishes with temporary protection visas in Germany. In 1996, they are accepted as refugees in Australia. Peace, the English language and Australia’s very multicultural society bring many new problems. Navenka’s ongoing memories of her husband keep her wishing that he might be alive. Thoughts of moving back to Croatia or to Bosnia end when, briefly, Navenka attends the trial of those accused of murdering her father. There, poverty and the old ethnic prejudices live on. Back in Australia, her long “lost” husband finds her. However, after the initial joy wears off, the terms of his demand, at gunpoint, that his family go and live in Croatia with him are unacceptable. Navenka’s daughter Srebrenka, too young to be burdened by bad memories of Yugoslavia, cleverly resolves the impasse.

People react differently to war. Some think. Some “just feel”.

Crossroads in Time Philby and Angleton A Story of Treachery

A never-before-told account of the infamous relationship between the notorious British spy and Soviet agent Harold “Kim” Philby and the CIA’s Associate Director of Operations for Counter Intelligence, James Jesus Angleton. Readers will be drawn into the plot and story line of this historical thriller and real-life spy story. It’s an exciting and fast-paced retelling that promises to shine a light on this major moment in the Cold War. Readers are invited to draw their own conclusions about the events revealed in this book.

Devils are Dancing

Devils are Dancing is a coming-of-age story about heroism, a dysfunctional family, determination and enduring love. It is the story about the importance of mateship in adverse times as a boy becomes a man. Paul is a young man in search of his identity and the love he has lost. From the battlefields of the Iberian Peninsula in 1811 to the battle of Waterloo in 1815, Paul struggles to navigate the impact of war. However, a chance meeting with a fellow officer changes his life and helps him to grow and flourish despite his past struggles.