Fiction
Secrets
It’s fascinating to discover your family history or is it? What if you find out something you’d rather not know? Of course it doesn’t need to be a bad secret, it could be something good. Maybe it wasn’t really a secret, but just something that was
kept quiet because of guilt or out of habit. But what if it doesn’t come out for many years or it’s a secret that is never told? And of course it’s not just people who have secrets, countries do too. ‘Secrets’ is just that – a book of six short stories about secrets. Free to download for Amazon Prime Members.
The Cat & The Nightingale Saga
The Cat & The Nightingale Saga is the docu-drama version of ‘The Weekend Trippers’. Written in several volumes, The Cat & The Nightingale Saga is based on the diaries and conversations of both Ted and Brenda, and continues throughout the war. They are available as eBooks and in print. All volumes have 5***** reviews See Reviews.
A Week in May 1940
When Ted asked Brenda to marry him during his Christmas 1939 leave he had no way of knowing how long it would be before the wedding would actually take place. Sent to France as part of Calais Force Ted endures some of the heaviest fighting of the war before finally being taken prisoner. But that is just the beginning of his ordeal as the Germans force march them across Europe with little food and water, casual brutality never far from the surface.
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Meanwhile Brenda has no idea Ted has even left the country until she begins treating wounded wearing the same regimental insignia as Ted. Frantic with worry she has no way of knowing if he has survived the heroic last stand in Calais.
Realising Brenda has no idea whether he is alive or dead Ted hatches a plan to let her know he has survived.
Marcel’s world is turned upside down when his mother urges him to escape to England. Joining the growing numbers of refugees fleeing to the channel coasts he narrowly misses being strafed by the Stukas of the advancing Germans. But this close shave changes his life in more ways than he could have imagined.
The paths of these three people are united by war and their lives will never be the same again.
The first volume, ‘A Week in May 1940′ is now available to download to eBook readers, iPad, etc or PDF or straight to your PC and a sample is available to read first before you decide to buy. Or you can download to kindle. Current price on Amazon 77p!
‘The Pencilled Message’
Still not knowing whether Ted is alive or dead Brenda buries herself in work. The hospitals are full of wounded from Dunkirk and other evacuations from Europe and the threat of invasion is never far from the surface of all their thoughts.
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Life for Ted has grown steadily worse as the forced march across Europe continues. However Ted is still determined to let Brenda know he is alive so he hatches a plan. Now all he needs is some help.
By now Marcel and his friends are on the outskirts of Calais, but are they too late? Or is he just in time to provide Ted with the help he needs?
Whilst the details of Ted’s plan are real, the circumstances and story of how it succeeded are unknown and can only be guessed. The romantic in me would love to think it was someone like Marcel who came to his aid.
‘The Pencilled Message’ is the second volume and is also now available to download to eBook readers, iPad, etc PDF or straight to your PC and a sample is available to read first before you decide to buy. Or you can download to kindle.
The first two parts of The Cat & The Nightingale Saga, A Week in May 1940 and The Pencilled Message are now available in print in one volume.
‘Though Worlds May Change’
For Brenda the relief that Ted was alive and had survived the Defence of Calais was soon replaced by terror as the Germans began bombing London. Night after terrifying night, bombs fell and fires raged as the Blitz became her life, her days spent nursing the victims and her nights avoiding the death from the skies.
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For Ted life as a POW in Poland was like living in a nightmare from which he couldn’t wake up. As the weather worsened so did his living conditions and the lack of news from England only served to add to his sense of isolation. The casual brutality of his guards continued unabated, their arrogance and lack of compassion only hardening his own resolve to survive.
But for Brenda’s friend, Pam, life at last began to find meaning. After struggling for months to find something worthwhile to help the war effort an opportunity presented itself that was both unexpected and exhilarating.
‘Though Worlds May Change’ is volume 3 in The Cat & The Nightingale Saga and is now available on to download to eBook readers, iPad, etc or PDF or straight to your PC and a sample is available to read first before you decide to buy. Or you can download to kindle. It covers the period from July to December 1940. The title, taken from ‘They’ll always be an England’ reflects not only the havoc and chaos that WW2 wrought on innocent lives, but also the stubborn determination to make the best of it and to survive against all the
odds.
Though Worlds May Change is also available in print
The Tricolore Divided 
The Tricolore Divided is the fourth volume of The Cat & The Nightingale Saga. Having left Marcel and his friends and family at the end of The Pencilled Message I thought I should really continue with their story as I wanted to know what happened next! So I began writing The Tricolore Divided.
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Marcel has now joined the Free French in London and together with his new friends is sent to Africa. Although he still misses Jeanne and Angel his main concern now is whether he will be a good soldier. As he settles into his new life he suddenly receives a letter that completely threatens to destroy any chance he had of future happiness.
Jeanne has a new job in Toulouse where she meets the dashing deputy Chief of Police, Michel. She has no idea where Marcel is or whether she will ever see him again and gradually her priorities change. But just how safe is it for a Jewish family in Vichy France, especially one who is about to make a powerful enemy.
Marie gradually recovers from her husband’s death, helped in part by having Louis home. But Louis is determined to do his bit to aid escaping British soldiers and airmen. Will he be able to keep out of trouble or will his reckless nature bring the wrath of the Nazis down on them?
The Tricolore Divided brings together life in Vichy France, Occupied France and the embryonic Free French Forces and shows just how divided France really was during those turbulent years. It is now available to download in various formats or to kindle and in print.
As 1941 begins Ted hopes it will bring a British victory so that he can finally go home. But the new year doesn’t bring happiness. Instead he is reunited with an old foe and moved from Stalag XXA to Stalag XXB. When Germany invades Russia 
he dares to hope it will be a quick end to the war, but as the year draws to a close he realises his hopes were premature.
For Brenda months of heavy bombing are beginning to take their toll, but things are about to get worse when the hospital takes a direct hit. At home Annie is still hiding from her father but is she looking in the wrong direction? Jane longs for the return of her husband, Pete, but the war is heating up in Libya, news is scarce and she fears the worst.
Pam’s life is about to change beyond recognition and she has made some surprising discoveries about herself. Having survived one mission she can’t wait for the next. But should she have listened to that warning voice?
1941 – The Lowest Ebb is the 5th book in The Cat & The Nightingale Saga and is available to download in a variety of formats or to kindle. Paperback version will be available soon.
A Second in Time
It was only a second in time, but that second changed the course of Rob and Annie Davies’ life forever. For Rob it meant a living hell in Nazi occupied Europe whilst Annie struggled painfully on without him.
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As war ended and the men went home Rob’s life took a savage new twist and this time it was Felcia’s turn to wait and struggle on. But the split second decision that had brought so much heartache and suffering eventually brought Rob, Annie and Felcia a much greater happiness.
A Second in Time takes the reader on a roller coaster of emotion from the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s to the austerity of Cold War 1950s. An epic odyssey of love, obsession, jealousy, hatred and betrayal as the lives of three ordinary people are changed by decisions and events beyond their control.
The inspiration for A Second in Time came out of the research into The Weekend Trippers. Making Rob a member of the Queen Victoria Rifles allowed me to explore more fully their role in the defence of Calais and the strange disappearance of so many allied POWs from Eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War made me wonder what if………..
For a review of this book click here, to you can write your own review on askDavid.com. A Second in Time is now available to download to eBook readers, iPad, etc, or PDF or straight to your PC and a sample is available to read first before you decide to buy. Or you can download to kindle. It is also available in print.
