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Mistress Whiddon -The Memoirs of Nora Basset of Umberleigh
Joanne McShane

Mistress Whiddon
The Memoirs of Nora Basset of Umberleigh
Young Nora Basset has no memory of her father, John, as he died when she was very young. Her first years are spent at Umberleigh in Devon with her family. When she is three years old, she meets her grandmother, Honora Lisle, who has returned from imprisonment in Calais and has been tragically widowed. Nora and her grandmother form a close bond, as the child unwittingly assists the older woman to come to terms with her loss. The following year, Nora’s mother, Frances Plantagenet, remarries. Her new husband is Thomas Monk of Potheridge and the family leaves Umberleigh to begin their new life.

Nora spends a mostly happy childhood at Potheridge until she is called away at the age of eighteen to become a companion for her grandmother who has once again been visited by sadness. The bond between the two women becomes stronger than ever.
Published: Dec 2019
Paperback: 378 pages
Price: £14.99
ISBN: 9-781913-425050

UK Only
£14.99 (+ £3 postage)
Number of copies:

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When she is twenty-seven Nora meets William Whiddon, the love of her life. They marry and the next years are blissful ones for the two soulmates.v When tragedy strikes, Nora must find a way to move forward in her life. The story is set against the backdrop of life in Elizabethan England and the continuing saga of the Basset family.

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Healing Hearts and Apple Tarts
Annie Beaumont

Healing Hearts and Apple Tarts
and a totally demented dalmatian
 When Hetti returns home to discover that the locks have been changed she soon realises that her boyfriend, Daniel has absconded with one hundred-thousand pounds of trust fund money left to her by her parents.
Hetti isn’t the sort to let him get away with it and sets about trying to find him and recover her money. She turns to her gay godfather, Oscar, for emotional support. Oscar’s go-to comfort food and remedy for all ills is homemade apple tart.
Hetti finds a housesitting job and moves to Wisteria Cottage, in the Norfolk countryside. What she doesn’t realise is that the job involves taking responsibility for Tosca, a totally demented adolescent Dalmatian. Hetti has no experience of dogs, especially crazy ones.
Nathan runs a smallholding in Norfolk, close to Wisteria Cottage. He has been nursing a broken heart following a tragedy five years earlier.
Will Hetti find Daniel and retrieve her money? And will Nathan’s heart ever heal? Can Hetti and Nathan learn to trust again? Annie Beaumont takes us through a rollercoaster of emotions, dramas and comedic situations before we find the answers to these questions.

Published:Nov 2019
Paperback:282 pages
Price:£9.99
ISBN:9-781913-425005
Paperback edition (UK only)
£9.99 (+ £2.50 postage)
Number of copies:


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Annie Beaumont was born in Scotland and left before her first birthday. She was brought up in various places around England and the Far East. At 47, she began her Bachelor’s degree at Sussex University and went on to complete a Master’s at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and a PhD at Essex. She has taught sociology at Essex University and social sciences at The Open University. Annie is currently a student at the Unthank School of Writing in Norwich. Set in Wymondham, Norfolk, the county she made her own, Daughters of Hamilton Hall is Annie Beaumont’s first novel.
Reader Reviews

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 Healing Hearts and Apple Tarts is set in Wymondham, Norfolk, and is Annie Beaumont’s second novel.
Her first novel, Daughters of Hamilton Hall is also set in Wymondham and has received five-star reviews.

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In Support of Butterfly Conservation
Stephen Lewis

Postcard from the Common
A tale of conservation and romance in rural Shropshire
spanning World War II and the present day.

A lowland heathland Common is used as an airfield in World War Two. A plane crashes and a series of events begins as, seven years later, two friends, Luke and Alina, try to unravel the truth about what happened.
As they seek answers they are faced with increasingly urgent questions about the background to their own lives, as well as the need to act as the Common itself, its heritage, landscape and wildlife, is threatened with destruction.


All royalties from the sale of this book will go to
support the work of Butterfly Conservation.
Published: October 2019
Paperback: 176 pages
Price: £8.99
ISBN: 9781912419883

8.99 (+ £2.50 postage)
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The most awful loss imaginable…
Nick Jones

The most awful loss imaginable…

 Two English couples, holidaying in Andalusia with their daughters, experience the nightmare that every parent dreads – one of the girls (Lucy) disappears.

Despite an extensive police search no trace of her is found and her distraught parents return to England.

But within a secretive convent beside Lake Lucerne, Lucy is being groomed for adulthood, soon to travel to England to live with the man described as her adoptive-father – the shadowy Aamir Kashani – in a luxury apartment in the City of London.

Lucy determines to trace her real parents and devises an ingenious escape plan, to free her from her captor’s grasp.
Published: Sept 2019
Paperback: 192 pages
Price: £8.50
ISBN: 9-781912-419807

£8.50 (+ £2 postage)
Number of copies:


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Honora and Arthur – the Last Plantagenets
Joanne McShane

Honora and Arthur - the Last Plantagenets
At the age of 18, Honora Grenville, daughter of a wealthy Cornish landowner, is swept off her feet by Arthur Plantagenet, the handsome, illegitimate uncle of Henry VIII. Since childhood, her dreams have been of a handsome gentleman who would whisk her away to live in far-off palaces and to wear fine clothes. Now, in Arthur Plantagenet, it seems that her dreams are about to come true.
Alas, it is not to be. Henry VIII orders Arthur to marry Elizabeth Dudley Grey, Viscountess Lisle, and poor Honora is cast into an abyss of despair.
Whilst still trying to put Arthur from her mind, she reluctantly marries John Basset, a Devonshire widower twenty-eight years her senior.
After thirteen years of what turns out to be a tranquil and fruitful marriage, John Basset dies and Arthur Plantagenet, also recently widowed, re-enters Honora’s life. The passion, which has never died for either of them, is rekindled in an instant. They marry, and she leaves Devon to begin her new life as a grand lady at the court of Henry VIII.
Published: July 2019
Paperback: 428 pages
Price: £14.99
ISBN: 9-781912-419838

UK Only
£14.99 (+ £3 postage)
Number of copies:

Available on Amazon

For Australia and USA, order from Amazon.com
But the times are changing as Henry seeks to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn.
When King Henry orders Arthur to take on the role of Governor at Calais, the couple find themselves at the centre of the fast-changing and tumultuous political climate of the English Reformation.
That which began as a dream turns into a terrifying battle for survival.

Hi Jo - Just finished your book, it is brilliant, I have so enjoyed it and looking forward with great anticipation to the next one.

Reviews...

 Chris McShane
5 Stars - And they said history was boring. You will not be able to put this book down.
What an amazing book. A superbly entertaining historical novel, that brings the characters and the era to life.
I found it very difficult to put this book down.
It is very difficult not to become emotionally involved with the fortunes of the many characters portrayed.

Katrin Schlattmeier
5 Stars - A thrilling read about a fascinating person, full of historical facts and information.
I have devoured the novel. I bought it in a rush, and thought nothing at all about it being written in English.
The story is, however, written so grippingly that one really forgets the language in the reading of this exciting family story.
I have at the same time, learned very much about British history. I can warmly recommend this book and look forward to another book by Joanne.

London-Nanny - (Amazon reader)
5 Stars - Superb research, I could not put this down...when is the next book?
Nothing to dislike, the like was in the content of the book, well researched in immaculate detail. If you are a fan of phillipa Gregory, this book fills in the details of many characters in her books, once you have read Joanna’s book, lady lisle comes to life in a way that this does not happen in pg books.

LEO EVANS - (Amazon reader)
5 Stars - A good read
A good story, based on actual events. Well-written, and holds the reader's interest throughout. The writer has obviously done a lot of research into Tudor times, and the characters and their lives really 'come alive'.

David Hartland - (Amazon reader)
5 stars - A great read, i didn't want to put it down.
It brought that period of history alive from a different perspective.
I have always loved the Tudor period, but this book brought the real problems of living in those difficult times to life.
I am looking forward to Joanne McShane's next book.

Amazon reader
4 Stars - A pacy read, this book tells the story of the life of a woman who lived through tumultuous times.
Obviously well researched and based on fact, the book is a personal interpretation of the life of Honora who was close to and sometimes drawn into the dangerous machinations of the royal courts in and around the reign of Henry VIII.

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My Parent’s Darkroom
Reinhard Tenberg

Jonas inherits an old cigar box from his parents containing relics which transport him back to his childhood.
However, it also contains some sinister items – a page torn out of his mother’s 1945 war diary, as well as his father’s 1939 ciné film and an undeveloped film roll.
What will these sources reveal? And where is the rest of the diary? Who has hidden it all these years and why?
Librarian Bettina reluctantly helps Jonas to discover the shocking truth about his parents’ role under the Nazis.
But what secret is she hiding from Jonas?
Will their love affair endure?
Published: April 2019
Paperback: 250 pages
Price: £9.99
ISBN: 9-781912-419715

£9.99 (+ £2 postage)
Number of copies:


Available on Amazon



Sales@youcaxton.co.uk
Reinhard studied English Literature, Linguistics and Politics and taught at the universities of Bristol, Palmerston North (NZ), Middlesex and Cambridge before joining the Foreign & Commonwealth Office where he spent the latter half of his career. Reinhard writes full-time now. He also writes short stories and poetry and has now embarked on his second novel. He continues to live in Cambridge.
Online Bookclub - Official Review:
My Parents' Darkroom by Reinhard Tenberg
4 out of 4 stars

"I don't know what you did in the war, Dad. I was always afraid to ask--all of us were--and now it's too late. However, I'm certain the war left deep scars on you--not just physically, but it changed who you once were. And, since you are a part of my history, I need to find out more about you."

After his mother is placed into a care home, Jonas inherits a wooden cigar box containing relics from his parents' past. The box includes some trinkets that trigger memories from his childhood, but when he discovers a 1945 page from his mother's war diary, an undeveloped film canister, and 1939 ciné film, Jonas realizes how little he knows about his parents' history. In the suspenseful historical fiction, My Parents' Darkroom: Developing the Past, by Reinhard Tenberg, Jonas tries to unravel the family secrets surrounding his parents' involvement under the Nazis during the war. In his search for answers and the rest of his mother's missing diary, he falls in love with Bettina, who seems to have her own secrets. Can their love survive the shocking truth?

Not only is the 189-page book well written and flawlessly edited, the author skillfully pairs strong characterization and a suspenseful plot. The page-turner is written in the first-person narrative from the perspective of Jonas, a professor at a London university, who teaches post-war German history. As is often the case with brothers, Jonas and Helmut are polar opposites. Jonas is compelled to find out the truth about the degree of his parents' involvement with the Nazi Party, while Helmut prefers to let sleeping dogs lie. However, both brothers are relatably flawed and believable. When Bettina enters the story, the author reveals layers of her character over the course of the story.

I most liked the suspenseful aspect; Jonas was so driven to find out the truth about his parents that it elevated the plot to a mystery that was hard to put down. Each time a question was answered; another took its place. Why was the page torn from his mother's diary, and where is the rest of it? Who are the people in the photograph with his father? Does Bettina know more than she is letting on?

There honestly isn't anything I disliked about the book. Although I tend to prefer mysteries with tidy endings wrapped in a bow, I found the not-so-wrapped-up ending satisfying, as it prompted the hope of a sequel. I'm pleased to rate the book 4 out of 4 stars. I recommend it to both fans of historical fiction and suspense lovers. However, I caution sensitive readers regarding references to the Holocaust, although they are not graphic in nature. Due to the subject matter, profanity, and a few sexual scenes, the book is intended for a mature audience.

Posted by Cecilia_L (Member of the Month) 08 Jul 2019

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Women Misbehaving – Five women, too many lies, and gossip that rocks a community
Victoria Bullimore

Women Misbehaving
Five friends, too many lies, and gossip that rocks a community
All Minty wants is an easy life but it seems that’s too much to ask. With the shadow of her baby’s death darkening her days and a growing dependence on alcohol she is spiralling out of control. Who can help her to get her life back on track? Carol is too immersed in her own struggles after a humiliating divorce, and the lovely Bridie is just too naïve and innocent to know what’s really going on. Sarah can’t help, she’s obsessed by sex and her longing to have a baby. Jules, the cleaner who comes and goes with the stealth of a cat, thinks she knows all the town’s secrets but it turns out she’s not as smart as she thinks she is.
In a small town little lies can grow out of control, and when secrets are revealed friendships and lives can be changed forever.
Published: June 2019
Paperback: 254 pages
Price: £6.99
ISBN: 9-781912-419777

£6.99 (+ £2 postage)
Number of copies:


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The Smuggler’s Fingers
Paul Webb

The Smuggler's Fingers
The Smugglers’ Fingers, a satire, which often descends into farce and outrage tells the story of the village of Plompley and its population of eccentrics who suddenly find themselves under siege from ‘Green’ energy developers who, in cahoots with a local landowner and corrupt council officials decide they’re going to build a giant wind farm in the heart of the community. The villagers mobilise but when egos and grudges tear apart the campaign groups and it becomes clear whose side the council is on, the hapless local anarchist takes the law into his own hands and the whole village resorts to ever more desperate methods, from the unorthodox to the downright dangerous. Meanwhile the wind farm developers, eager to jump on the subsidy gravy train, use every legal trick in the book to get their way, and a few not so legal, employing violence and vandalism when they deem it necessary. As the battle rages on through a wet and dismal summer the strain starts to tell on both sides and the services of the local Magistrate’s Court and general hospital find themselves increasingly in demand. Observing and commenting wryly from the wings are an ambitious local reporter and a disgraced city banker, both in pursuit of the same story. Meanwhile Mother Nature broods in the background poised to finally reveal the real secret of The Smugglers’ Fingers.
Published: April 2019
Paperback: 304 pages
Price: £11.99
ISBN: 9-781912-419081

£11.99 (+ £2 postage)
Number of copies:


Available on Amazon
Paul Webb was born in 1959 in Berkshire. A somewhat rebellious grammar school boy and university refusenik he went straight from school into the property business where he spent most of the next 25 years running his own company in south London. During this time he also got involved in the rough and tumble of local politics, at one point attracting a libel writ from one of the major parties. In 2000, after re-marrying and embarking on a round the world sailing race - jumping ship in The Philippines with ‘...better things to do.’ - he and his wife, Ruth decided on a radical lifestyle change and early retirement. Never comfortable in the south-east they started edging north via a series of farmhouse ‘projects’ firstly in Shropshire and then the Welsh Marches before settling on the edge of the Lake District. They travel regularly, particularly to East Africa and southern Spain, while in Cumbria life revolves around the ‘3Bs’: boots, boats and books. Both Paul and his wife are keen fell and long distance walkers, they keep and sail a small homemade boat on the lakes and are avid readers and book collectors. They have three grown up children between them scattered round the world. The Smugglers’ Fingers is Paul’s first book and with tongue firmly in cheek it draws on his personal experience of the property business, the internal workings of local councils and the wiles of would-be wind farm developers. It is of course a work of fiction and all the usual disclaimers apply. Paul Webb is currently seeking an agent to represent him and promote his second book.
Reviews...

Martyn Amazon Reader - 5th August 2019
5 Stars - Hilarious read
What a refreshing change from the usual crime/detective novels.
A right rip roaring yarn that had me laughing out loud!
Thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t recommend it highly enough.

MRS ROSEMARIE D GUILOR Amazon Reader - 22 July 2019
5 Stars - An absolutely hilarious adventure
A hilarious satire of rural life, planning authorities and modern politicians that had me laughing out loud as I read this book - a sensation not experienced since reading Tom Sharpes early novels about Wilt. Unnervingly plausible and realistic, and most sceptic of current politicians, landowners and developers its storey line moves quickly with hilarious results. I will keep this on my bookshelf to be reread. Let’s hope for a sequel This is a book I will keep on my shelf to read again.

***** Nellie - 29 May 2019
5 Stars - Hysterically funny
Grab yourself a glass of wine, turn off your phone sit back and read this book. You will giggle knowingly and laugh out loud.
Following the shenanigans of country life as a village tries to stop the development of a wind farm.
Although the book is funny it relates a very important message about the tensions for sustainable energy, local corruption (allegedly!) and business.

***** Amazon Reader - 25 May 2019
5 Stars - Eccentric villagers cause hilarity and chaos in this wonderfully observed satire.
I loved this book! If you are looking for a rollicking ride and plenty of laughs , then I would thoroughly recommend this book - a great holiday read. The plot moves quickly, and the antics of the villagers of Plompley are hilarious as they band together to foil plans of a local wind farm.