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fiction

Isolde, Lady de Audley: The Mortimer Myth
Fran Norton

Against a backdrop of wars and dissension, Isolde, faces a challenge that no child should have to face. Barely out of childhood, she is to marry a man old enough to be her grand-sire. Dismayed and defiant, she realizes she has no other option but to obey, and thus begins her journey from childhood.
However, Isolde's elderly husband dies not long after the wedding but that is not the end of her troubles. She successfully defies her brother-in-law, who tries to seize control of the household and claims her rights as a widow, aided by her loyal companion Ela. The following year, Isolde marries Hugh de Audley, the youngest son of James de Audley and Ela Longespé. She believes her circumstances to be much improved but her hopes are dashed. She soon discovers that Hugh is a spoilt, selfish young man and her dreams of a loving marriage founder. Disappointed and despairing, she meets her new brother-in-law, Nicolas - and at last finds a man whom she both trusts and admires. Her emotions threaten to rule her head.
Published:September 2018
Paperback:188 pages
Price:£9.99
ISBN:9-781912-419500
£9.99 (+ £2 postage)

Number of copies:



Available from Amazon
In Fran Norton's new book, we return to an age when knights rode into tournaments and wars bedecked in colourful plumes on prancing, powerful destriers, and ladies in magnificent gowns fought their own, more subtle, battles. We follow Isolde’s eventful life, through the trials and tribulations of marriage and motherhood, and watch as her husband claims his place as a loyal and respected member of the royal court through his valiant actions in Scotland. Finally we witness how, for the sake of her children, Isolde buries her pride when she discovers her husband’s infidelity.


Books by Fran Norton...
The Twisted Legacy of Maud de Braose

Isolde, Lady de Audley: The Mortimer Myth

The Secret, The Sword and the Seal
Reader Reviews...

Dr Alison Harrop
Fran Norton knows her period intimately, so we are in safe hands here.
Isolde is a bastard child who is nonetheless brought up by Lady Maud Mortimer, the subject of Ms Norton’s (stand-alone) earlier book: The Twisted Legacy of Maud de Braose. She has inherited the strength and quick temper of her baronial father and consequently has lessons to learn to master herself. She might have become unlikeable as a result, but we are skilfully led to understand her struggles. Like most mediaeval gentlewomen, she must accept loveless marriages but still manages to assert herself to survive.
The book is set against a background of war and authentic Scottish politics but never loses sight of its human aspect and strong central character. An enjoyable read with the hint of another tale to come as Eve is introduced in its final chapters. So I suspect we may look forward to a third book with keen anticipation!


belief

A Warwickshire Gospel
Malcolm Monkhouse

A Warwickshire Gospel
Malcolm Monkhouse
MILLIONS OF WORDS and thousands of books have been written about Jesus of Nazareth. Most of his life story took place 2,000 years ago in Galilee, a rural province north of Jerusalem, rural but on the main trade route from Egypt to the whole Middle East.

Galilee was looked down upon by the political and religious establishment in Jerusalem who enjoyed a comfortable modus vivendi with the occupying Romans. The culture and setup were very different from Britain today, which is one reason why many cannot see the point of reading about Jesus.

Suppose now that what Jesus did and said in the Gospel story of Mark takes place instead in England today in a rural provincial county, Warwickshire, and culminates in the centre of power, in London.

Who would the main characters be and how would their words and deeds convey afresh the meaning of the life of Josh - his real name - for our troubled world? Read on....
Published: May 2020
Paperback: 48 pages
Price: £3.99
ISBN: 9-781913-425043

UK Only
£3.99 (+ £2.50 postage)
Number of copies:

Available on Amazon
Malcolm was born and lived in Altrincham, Cheshire until he moved for family reasons to rural Warwickshire in 2000. He graduated in P. and E. at Durham and worked in manufacturing, travelling extensively in Europe and North America. He has worked many years as a church warden, having met Christ at the age of fourteen in Germany, which he visited many times for reconciliation. This is also a distinguishing feature of Coventry’s peace making mission to the world.

He believes that the gospel stories, not ‘isms’, provide the best guide we have for life here and hereafter.

Reviews...
fiction, YouCaxton

The Secret, the Sword and the Seal
Fran Norton

On a bleak November day in the year of Our Lord, 1307, Eve de Clavering rode away from the Staffordshire Castle of Heleigh into an uncertain future. Wracked by grief at losing her young husband, Thomas de Audley, Eve carries a guilty secret, one which will affect the rest of her life. When she arrives back in Essex, the home of her dominating father, Sir John de Clavering, Eve discovers her future has already been decided. No time for grief, Eve reluctantly meets Sir Thomas de Ufford, the second son of a kinsman to the Earl of Suffolk. Infuriated by her father's insensitive behaviour, it sparks a rift between father and daughter which will never be resolved. However, against all odds, Eve discovers an ally in her second husband but will the chance of happiness be overshadowed by her secret? Meantime, Thomas introduces her to court life where she meets the powerful and colourful characters surrounding the Edward II and his queen Isabella of France, but Eve hates the hypocrisy and underlying tensions. In 1314, Thomas joins the knights and earls of the king to face the Scots at the fateful Battle of Bannockburn where the English suffer an ignominious defeat and where the king even loses the Great Seal of State.
Published:September 2020
Paperback:227 pages
Price:£9.99
ISBN:9781913425487
£9.99 (+ £2 postage)

Number of copies:



Available from Amazon
Once again Eve finds herself a widow but this time, she has three young sons to protect. A proposal of marriage from James de Audley throws her into a quandary, beset by guilt, Eve refuses. How will she overcome her emotions and will she now seize the chance to marry her girlhood love? When her brother-in-law, Hugh de Audley escapes from Nottingham Castle, Eve finds herself in danger as the king's treacherous favourite, Hugh Despenser the Younger, sends troops to search her home at Stratton. Set against the dysfunctional reign of Edward II, Eve's destiny unfolds against a backdrop of civil wars, through a time of desperate poverty and the unending struggle with the Scots, in a period of history which is filled with treachery, intrigue, and controversy. Come, let us accompany Eve through the years of her eventful life; meet the four men who play a intrinsic role in her destiny and watch, as the terrible fate of a king's favourites unfolds. These are the years of 'The Secret, the Sword and the Seal'.

Books by Fran Norton...
The Twisted Legacy of Maud de Braose

Isolde, Lady de Audley: The Mortimer Myth

The Secret, The Sword and the Seal
Reader Reviews...





travel

Born to Run: the Story of Hector & Jason
C J Hill

The fascinating adventures of two extraordinary brothers - Golden Retrievers - and their human carers. Hector is the cleverest and craziest of his race; his twin, Jason, is the loveliest and, bizarrely, fastest dog on the planet. Together, they are in the vanguard of mischief and mayhem. Beginning in Wordsley in the West Midlands, and in rural Staffordshire, Born to Run: the Story of Hector & Jason tells the story of Hector and Jason’s mad-cap adventures throughout England and Wales and beyond. The ‘boys’ were amongst the First recipients of ‘Pet Passports’ and we follow the intrepid duo from their home in France’s ‘Suisse Normande’ in a gallop through the French countryside – exploring the delights and riches of Normandy, Brittany and the Loire Valley. Above all, this is the story of the author’s struggle to come to terms with the revelation that his ‘boys’ are endowed with special, indeed unique, ‘gifts’. In Hector’s case, happiness lies in his heart’s desire: to seek, to chase. Jason’s passion is pure and simple: he is, joyously, ‘born to run...’. In accepting and embracing his boys’ natural genius, the author gives Hector and Jason full-rein to attain their true potential - and to fulfil their destiny.
Published: May 2020
Paperback: 528 pages
Price: £18.00
ISBN: 9-781913-425098

UK Only
£18.00 (+ £3.50 postage)
Number of copies:

Available on Amazon
This wonderful book explores the intense relationship between Man and his favourite four-legged friend. The book is a paean to the special bond – the deep love – that can develop between two species – Man and ‘Dog’. By turns amusing, powerful and poignant, this is a ‘must read’ for anyone who enjoys the English – and French – countryside. And for everyone who loves, or who has ever loved, a canine companion.
Reviews...
fiction

The Twisted Legacy of Maud de Braose
Fran Norton

9781911175360 In 1230 William de Braose , Lord of Abergavenny, is hanged on the orders of Llywelyn ap Iowerth, Prince of Wales for adultery with his wife. William’s widow, Eva Marshal, daughter of the legendary knight, William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, decides to keep the true facts of his death from his favourite daughter, Maud. Nonetheless, the little girl finds her life has changed forever, due to the sin of her father. Subsequently she inherits the twisted legacy of pride and shame; a legacy from which there is no escape. As Maud grows towards adulthood she falls in love, but her forbidden love only complicates her efforts to fulfil her family duty as she faces the fact she is expected to marry the young Roger Mortimer, heir to the Marcher barony of Wigmore.
Published:September 2016
Paperback:432 pages
Price:£13.99
ISBN:9-781911-175360
£13.99 (+ £2 postage)

Number of copies:



Available from Amazon
Maud, feisty, fearless and shrewd, plays a unique role in the history of England during the disastrous reign of Henry III: a period, riven by wars and dissent. Troubles in Wales and Gascony, and eventually civil war, see the nation fall into poverty and unrest. The loyalties of the magnates are tested when the charismatic leader of the Barons’ party, Simon de Montfort, challenges the authority of the king. It is a time when friends become enemies and families are divided by their loyalties, as warring factions fight for democracy. Roger Mortimer is immortalised for slaying de Montfort on the bloody field at Evesham, a place where honour and friendships are sacrificed and where the future king, Edward Plantagenet, gives the fateful order of ‘no quarter’, heralding death to anyone who dares oppose him. Edward orders de Montfort’s head to be sent to Maud at Wigmore Castle in recognition of her part in his victory. Factual events are woven with fiction to bring the eventful life of this extraordinary woman to the reader. Now let us step back into the thirteenth century and meet Lady Maud de Braose, daughter of the March.

Books by Fran Norton...
The Twisted Legacy of Maud de Braose

Isolde, Lady de Audley: The Mortimer Myth

The Secret, The Sword and the Seal
Reader Reviews...




poetry

Broken will always be Broken
James S M Parker

9781911175858 We live our lives through reflections, see our guilt mirrored in glass eyes and shatter into tiny pieces impossible to glue back together. But we try. I tried. The death of my mother made me question love, suicide, life, death and sanity. On the way, I studied words in my own personal hell before realising that above everything else, I failed her. And so, I end my inferno with an answer to a question none of us are brave enough to ask… …broken will always be broken.  
Published: Sept 2017
Paperback: 248 pages
Price: £12.99
ISBN: 9-781911-175858

£12.99 (+ £2 postage)
Number of copies:
Reader Reviews...    

poetry

The Hungry Crow
James S M Parker

The Hungry Crow

The Hungry Crow devours and feasts, it pecks away at Love, claws over Madness, consumes Death and digests Truth.
Through poetry and a mid-section collection of short stories, James S M Parker attempts to make sense of broken relationships, unrequited love and the absolute loneliness life has now brought him.
Harsh, uncompromising and as always, honest, The Hungry Crow speaks from the heart, weeps from the soul and revels in something lost never to be found again.
Published: Feb 2020
Paperback: 204 pages
Price: £7.99
ISBN: 9-781913-425135

£7.99 (+ £2 postage)
Number of copies:



Available from Amazon
Reader Reviews...

poetry, YouCaxton

Policeman’s Prose
Tim Grace

Policeman's Prose
Tim Grace

 This is a collection of poems written over the last forty-five years: from childhood memories to life in Cyprus as a teenager in the 1970’s, to policing in London during the 1980s and 1990s and time with Customs and Excise.
Tim is still in law enforcement.
His current role is as an investigator with The Illegal Money Lending Team.
He writes about mums and dads and daughters and discusses the question what is love? Homelessness is close to his heart, as the poem about the YMCA and The Tramp illustrates. Then there are his beloved pets, Captain and Brenda, both immortalised in verse.
The author shares his raw emotions about Depression and thoughts of suicide and talks about tragedies such as Dunblane and the Twin Tower attacks.
Published: May 2020
Paperback: 56 pages
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 9-781913-425227

£4.99 (+ £2 P&P)
Number of copies:



Available from Amazon
Tim was born in Germany and lived in Aden and Cyprus before settling down as a Metropolitan policeman in 1979. After twenty years' service he was medically retired. Later he joined Customs & Excise looking at counterfeit goods. He became an expert on the subject and lectured around the world to his counterparts.
In 2011 he reconnected with his childhood sweetheart Michelle and they married. They moved in together in 2013 when Tim moved to Birmingham where they currently live. He has one son and two married daughters, two sons-in-law, three granddaughters and a grandson on his way.
Reader Reviews...