Reparation Entwined Victorian Lives and Cotswold Gypsies
Set in rural Victorian Cotswolds, we follow the intrigue of a fleeting love affair, mistaken identity and the tragic repercussions of jealousy.
Albert’s combustible temper together with Peggy’s secret past, lead their twin children into an adult life of risky adventure and heartache.
Truth will out but not without personal torment and devastating consequences.
Gail Fulton has recently moved to the Cotswolds with her husband and Border Collie, Monty. Their two daughters and a future son-in-law have also relocated to the area and they look forward to many hours of dog walks, dining out and laughter.
Gail is now retired from teaching but has also always been passionate about interior design and floral art is also. Another passion is people watching! Gail gained an M.A. in Psychology, focusing her interest on personality development and she is intrigued by body language. She so loves her visits to coffee shops and observing behaviour.
A new novel about double dealing in the murky world of international football. Snouts are in the trough and fortunes are to be made from World Cup campaigning and presidential patronage.
Who will host the Global Football Organisation’s World Cup 2003? Six countries are bidding but Russia and Germany have a gentleman’s agreement that will fix the result to suit them both. Or so it seems...
Meanwhile, the GFO’s President is up for re-election. He and his confidants – including the sinister ‘Laundryman’ – are desperate to hang onto their golden tickets. And they don’t care how they get the support they need.
Bumbling onto the international stage comes England’s credulous football chief. He begins to unravel a web of corruption, some of it closer to home than he ever imagined. But how can an elderly Cornishman bring down this monstrous organisation? Or will he get blown away by ruthless men with too much to lose?
Sometimes this is a world of farce. Where a drunken former footballer is slow to unravel the mysteries of Bangkok. And where a GFO Board member happily offers his World Cup vote in exchange for naming rights to a royal baby.
Then suddenly it all becomes a matter of life and death...
Alec McGivan
Alec was born and brought up in Bristol, the son of Welsh parents.
In 1981 he was appointed National Organiser of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the new party’s first member of staff. He quickly established a reputation as a formidable campaigner in a series of high-profile parliamentary by-election victories.
A decade later Alec was recruited by The Football Association to be part of its management team established to plan and stage manage the highly acclaimed Euro 96 tournament. He then became Director of a bid to stage the World Cup in 2006. Following the bid Alec joined the BBC, working first on the project to renew the BBC’s Charter, and then as Head of BBC Outreach.
Hugh Roderick
By a strange coincidence, Hugh Roderick was also born in Bristol to Welsh parents. But the authors first met much later, while living in the same village in Oxfordshire.
After university he became a journalist, specialising in education. He went on to write speeches for Government Ministers (including Shirley Williams…coincidentally one of the SDP ‘Gang of Four’ that Alec was working with shortly afterwards) and IBM UK’s chairman and CEO. Hugh later headed marketing and communications at the Science Museum, and then became director of a corporate marketing agency.
The Harp Quartet
Book Three of the Beethoven Trilogy
Reunited with her family in Rowanbridge after twelve years’ estrangement, Cathy Fitzgerald is forced to reconcile herself to the shocking secrets revealed to her by her mother, Hannah. She must reassess many of the people who featured so vividly in her childhood, the secretive, the sinister and the sinful. But making up for lost time and rebuilding family life with her three siblings is joyful.
Cathy helps her young son, Johnny, discover his place within both his Irish family and that of his English father. But where does she belong herself? The Maple Academy in Dalkey is her home but the lure of Connemara proves irresistible; there are many people there waiting for her to rescue them after their brutal experiences at Letterfrack School. Cathy creates a new life for herself as a professional healer, where music plays a central role, while Ireland continues to struggle with its own painful past. Cathy realises that true healing depends not only on love and kindness, which she has in abundance, but also on justice, which is a much harder goal to pursue.
For Australia and USA, please order from Amazon.com
Tess Alps has written all her adult life, from educational plays from her time in theatre-in-education to regular columns on advertising for The Guardian. She read English at Durham and her long career in advertising has required many forms of writing. But this is her first published novel.
Inspired by a photograph of her grandmother at a finishing school in Dublin, and using snippets of memories from her mother, The Harp Quartet is the first of three novels about Hannah McDermott and her family. The second is The Moonlight Sonata, and the final part is The Pastoral Symphony. It is fitting that this ‘Beethoven trilogy’ is making its first appearance in the 250th anniversary year of Beethoven’s birth.
Although the book is inspired by Tess’s grandmother and mother, the characters are totally fictional and bear no resemblance to any real person, living or dead.
Tess lives in the Chilterns with her husband. She edits the village magazine and is an avid gardener, competing fiercely in the village-garden club shows.
The Moonlight Sonata
Book Two of the Beethoven Trilogy
Cathy Fitzgerald, the longed-for daughter of Hannah and John, enjoys a charmed childhood in Rowanbridge until the harsh realities of life in 1930s Ireland bring the idyll to a shocking end. Cathy’s life changes forever.
Escaping all the demons lurking in her home village and armed with everything her parents have taught her, she finds a new home in Dublin before moving on to England to train as a nurse just as the Second World War is looming. The world needs her kindness, intelligence and industry more than ever and Cathy has more than enough love to heal every wounded soul.
But finding long-lasting love in return proves elusive until Cathy returns to Connemara, where her father had taken her as a child and where she had been so happy by the sea, skimming stones, in the shadow of the dreaded Letterfrack Industrial school.
Eventually, Cathy is drawn back to her family in Rowanbridge where the many secrets that have lain buried so long - and have shaped her family so profoundly - begin to emerge.
For Australia and USA, please order from Amazon.com
Tess Alps has written all her adult life from educational plays from her time in theatre-in-education to regular columns on advertising for The Guardian.
She read English at Durham and her long career in advertising has required many forms of writing. This is her second published novel.
Inspired by a photograph of her grandmother at a finishing school in Dublin and using snippets of memories from her mother Kay, The Moonlight Sonata is the second of three novels about Hannah McDermott and her family.
The first, The Harp Quintet, was published in April 2020 and the final part, The Pastoral Symphony, appearing in 2021, all being well.
It is fitting that this ‘Beethoven trilogy’ is making its first appearance in the 250th anniversary year of Beethoven’s birth.
Tess lives in the Chilterns with her husband; she edits the village magazine and is an avid gardener, competing fiercely in the village garden club shows.
The Harp Quartet
Book One of the Beethoven Trilogy
While Ireland fights for its independence, sixteen year-old Hannah McDermott is fighting for her own. And what Hannah sets her heart on she usually gets, much to the frustration of her strait-laced sister Stasia.
After being expelled from her school for disgracing herself in front of the new priest, she finds herself freed from the tedium of village life, from nuns, suitors and her annoying sister, and becomes the latest student at the exclusive Maple Academy, near Dublin. There she meets the formidable but impressive Mrs Fitzgerald, its principal, who recognises and nurtures her extraordinary skill as a violinist. Hannah’s life is transformed at the Academy and she finds soul-mates and makes friends for life while Dublin offers her artistic inspiration, excitement and a perfect stage for her musical talents.
But Hannah’s greatest discovery is the power of music to touch and awaken hearts.
Although, when too many hearts are woken, some are likely to be broken.
For Australia and USA, please order from Amazon.com
Tess Alps has written all her adult life from educational plays from her time in theatre-in-education to regular columns on advertising for The Guardian.
She read English at Durham and her long career in advertising has required many forms of writing. But this is her first published novel.
Inspired by a photograph of her grandmother at a finishing school in Dublin and using snippets of memories from her mother Kay, The Harp Quartet is the first of three novels about Hannah McDermott and her family.
The second, The Moonlight Sonata, will be published later in 2020 with the final part, The Pastoral Symphony, appearing in 2021, all being well.
It is fitting that this ‘Beethoven trilogy’ is making its first appearance in the 250th anniversary year of Beethoven’s birth.
Tess lives in the Chilterns with her husband; she edits the village magazine and is an avid gardener, competing fiercely in the village garden club shows.
Cotswold Crime and Corruption
A gripping tale of inequality and the search for justice at a time just prior to the establishment of Dr. Barnardo’s revolutionary homes.
Lord Dorchester omits to prepare his daughter for the question of a lifetime but Tobias’s proposal is not about marriage and his introduction to Lady Louise is clumsy and calamitous. Serendipity however, plays a hand in enforcing their proximity and ultimately leads him to the very man he most wishes to haul into court. His path to justice has many challenges and he must first survive all that threatens his success as he encounters mystery, guilt and secrecy. Determined to protect innocent victims, Tobias witnesses chillingly gruesome discoveries, whilst a grieving Lady Louise moves to the Cotswolds in search of inner serenity but destiny sends further complication in her life.
An intriguing story that sees love in all its different guises.
Gail Fulton has recently moved to the Cotswolds with her husband and Border Collie, Monty. Their two daughters and a future son-in-law have also relocated to the area and they look forward to many hours of dog walks, dining out and laughter.
Gail is now retired from teaching but has also always been passionate about interior design and floral art is also. Another passion is people watching! Gail gained an M.A. in Psychology, focusing her interest on personality development and she is intrigued by body language. She so loves her visits to coffee shops and observing behaviour.
This is her first publication but she hopes not her last!
Amazon review. Highly recommend. 18th March 2021
5 Stars - Such a great read! Thoroughly enjoyed it, would definitely recommend!
Amazon review. An enjoyable read. 23rd March 2021
5 Stars - A thoroughly enjoyable, well researched and descriptively written book. A great first book from this author. I look forward with anticipation to the next.
Gripping story. 8th April 2021
5 Stars - Couldn’t put it down, great page turner with so many twists and turns it keeps you on your seat all the way through. Make a great tv drama!
In 1983 Fergus Pryng, an idealistic young naturalist, was sent to survey Lanna, remotest of all the Scottish islands, which had never been surveyed before, and discovered there something so remarkable that it would have caused a global sensation – had he disclosed it. But Fergus did not tell the world of his discovery. Instead, he devoted his life to keeping it a secret, for 17 years, sacrificing his career, his marriage and his happiness – until the threat of nearby deep-sea oil development forced the astonishing truth out into the open, with ultimately catastrophic results.
What made Fergus keep his secret, and whether or not he was right to do so, are the questions Michael McCarthy makes central to this extraordinary story, because they go to the heart of one of the key issues of our time – the increasingly tragic nature of the human relationship with the Earth. Fergus The Silent highlights this issue in a particularly acute way, in the story of one singular and solitary individual with an unquenchable love for the natural world, himself a tragic figure whose fate is unforgettable.
Michael McCarthy is one of Britain’s leading writers on the environment and the natural world, and has won a string of awards for his work as Environment Correspondent of The Times and Environment Editor of The Independent. As an author he has written Say Goodbye To The Cuckoo (2009) and The Moth Snowstorm – Nature and Joy (2015) both of which were widely praised, with the latter book shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize and the Richard Jefferies Prize.
Most recently he has written (with Jeremy Mynott and Peter Marren) The Consolation of Nature – Spring in the Time of Coronavirus (2020) which was chosen as one of The Guardian’s Nature Books of The Year. This is his first novel..
Bored with his job, with no real prospects and barely a penny to his name, the last thing Wally Mortimer needed was a letter from a solicitor delivered to his home one Saturday morning. But instead of a letter threatening legal action for one of his many unpaid bills, things are about to change for Wally - the letter tells him that he has inherited the estate of George Hart, a wealthy benefactor unknown to him.
Assured that the letter is genuine, he turns to his family to see if they can tell him anything about his benefactor. But the only lead they can give him is one from his grandmother whose fading memory remembers a George Hart who died more than 60 years ago.
So, who is George Hart, Wally’s benefactor? Is it just a coincidence that his grandmother once knew someone with the same name? If not, who is he and why did he leave his estate to Wally?
Wally’s attempts to find an answer lead literally to a dead end. It is not until he finds a notebook at the chateau he has inherited that he discovers who George Hart was and uncovers secrets about his family unknown to them, secrets never meant to be discovered.
James Holder was born in Somerset and, after reading law at Cambridge University, practised as a solicitor; he now works as a consultant.
He and his wife have four children and two grandchildren and live in Oxfordshire.
When you have produced the final draft of your book, it is always advisable to have the text read and checked by a professional editor or proof reader.
You may have friends that are willing and competent to do this and we can advise you on the type of editing that is required.
We can offer four levels of editing as well as proof-reading.
You choose which, if any, are appropriate in your case: 1. Edit of sample pages and short report (£30)
We will edit a few pages to highlight editorial issues so that you can look for similar problems throughout the book.
This will reduce the amount of further copy-editing required when the book is finished. 2. Broad structural editing and criticism (£5 per thousand words)
A structural review is particularly relevant for works of fiction.
The structural reviewer will address the following main areas and produce a short report for the author ” Read More 3. Copy editing (£10 per thousand words)
A copy-editor takes a close look at your text, line by line, with an eye to grammatical errors, repetition, inconsistency and lack of clarity. The copy editor will make changes to the text, with suggestions for rewriting, grammar, and punctuation. When you receive the edited version, you have the final choice about accepting of rejecting the individual changes. 4. Proof Reading (£8 per thousand words)
Proof reading is a line-by-line check that the book is ready for publication. Proof readers will make small corrections for punctuation, grammar and spelling but they will not make significant changes to the text.
A proof reader will identify any significant issues and add comments to the text so that you can make those corrections yourself. 5. Consistency Scan
If you decide your book doesn’t need a full proof reading, we offer an electronic scan to search for common errors and inconsistencies. This looks at issues such as inconsistent spelling and inconsistencies of hyphenation and capitalisation.
We can also identify inconsistencies in the spelling of proper names. 6. Cover text
The quality of the text on the cover is very important as it indicates the quality of the writing in the book.
The title, sub-title and back-cover blurb are all important elements and we can work with you to make sure that these are correct and effective.
Copy Edit
Copy-editors get the raw material into shape for publication i.e they edit the copy.
When they have finished, the designer can lay out or typeset the book and produce a proof.
It is quite normal for the author to make additional changes after a book has been copy-edited.
Working through the material, the copy-editor may identify errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, style and usage, but also very long sentences and overuse of italic, bold, capitals and exclamation marks.
They should correct or query doubtful facts, weak arguments, plot holes and gaps in numbering.
In fiction, they should also check that characters haven’t changed their name or hair colour, look for sudden changes from first to third person among other things.
The Copy-editor is not a proof reader and should not be expected to find all of the errors in the text particularly if the text is badly written to start with.
This is the job of the proof reader.
The final proof should be checked by a proof reader or an experienced reader friend before going to print.
It is almost inevitable (and acceptable) to miss a few errors which can be corrected in a later edition.
Proof Reading
Proof reading is a line-by-line check that the book is ready for publication.
Proof readers will make small corrections for punctuation, grammar and spelling but they will not make significant changes to the text.
A proof reader will identify any significant issues and add comments to the text so that you can make those corrections yourself.
If you have decided to complete this stage of the process yourself, we will send a detailed check-list to help you.
We ask you to try and ensure that the book is completely ready before we start the layout.
Once the layout has started, we expect that you might want to to make a small number of amendments but
if there are a significant number, we may need to charge for the extra time it takes to change the layout
so best to discuss this with us first.
Structural Review
In fiction, the main areas that a structural editor will address are:
Plot: Does the plot make sense? Is it believable? Is it satisfying or does it leave the reader frustrated? Themes: Are the themes effectively handled? Are there so many that the book lacks focus? Do they interfere with the plot or complement it?
Characterisation: Are your characters well developed and believable? Are they cast in a role that fits their personality? Do they sometimes behave out of character? Point of view/voice: Is the voice consistent or is it sometimes confused? Is the voice authentic? Are you using too many or too few POVs? Pace: Does the plot move forward at an appropriate pace? Should you cut that preface? Should the action happen sooner or should the tension build more slowly? Dialogue: Do your characters sound real when they speak? Is your dialogue cluttered with adverbs and beats? Do you use clunky dialogue to move the plot forward? Flow: Is the narrative interrupted by dead-ends and tangents? Is there so much back story that the main plot is dwarfed? Are there missing plot points that would give the narrative greater integrity?
In non-fiction, the principle is the same, but the specific issues are slightly different:
Thesis: Is your thesis relevant? Is it clearly defined or is it lost among marginal issues? Exposition: Are your arguments clear and cogent? Are they well researched and properly supported? Do they have a clear relationship with your thesis? Content: Are all the necessary topics sufficiently dealt with? Are the chapters weighted correctly? Is there superfluous content? Organisation: Is the information organised logically? Are tables and illustrations used appropriately? How many levels of subheads do you need and how should they be arranged? Tone: Is the tone appropriate for the audience? Do you need to eliminate jargon? Is the text accessible? Pace: Are there passages that are bogged down in detail? Do you spend too long on detail irrelevant to the main thesis? Are there areas that need further exposition lest they be skipped over?
Cover Text
The quality of the text on the cover is very important as it indicates the quality of the writing in the book.
The title, sub-title and back-cover blurb are all important elements and we work with you to make sure that these are as effective as possible.
Consistency check
If you decide your book doesn’t need a full proof reading, we can run an electronic scan to search for common errors and inconsistencies.
This looks at issues such as inconsistent spelling, hyphenation and capitalisation.
It also checks for consistent formatting of numbers and dates as well as undefined abbreviations.
Subsequent Script Edit
It is very normal and generally beneficial for the script-editing process to go through at least a couple of cycles
i.e. the rewritten draft to be worked through once again by an experienced script practitioner – though this would be entirely at the discretion and behest of the writer.
Full Script Edit
The script that you deliver to us will probably constitute what the industry would classify as the ‘Initial Rough Draft’, i.e. a full screenplay written without any other professional input or advice, and probably without a great deal of rewriting. We work through your draft, line by line, scene by scene, and come back to you with a comprehensive set of notes from which you can then work towards the official ‘1st Draft’. Some of our notes will be broad and general, dealing with such areas as the overall shape and structure, pacing, plot and character development; others will be far more specific, with corrections, clarifications and suggested cuts etc. It is of course entirely up to you whether or not to take these suggestions on board, and to what extent.
Ongoing Support
We aim to make your self-publishing venture an enjoyable and rewarding experience.
Publishing is a complex business and we treat every book as a separate project.
We explain all of the stages at the outset and we manage the project schedule for you. This will include all of the expert services you have requested for editorial, design, printing, distribution and collection of royalties, keeping in close contact with you throughout the process.
You will be allocated a project-sheet on the YouCaxton website so that you can monitor progress and ensure that all stages are properly completed.
If you would like to see an example of a Project-Sheet…
go to My project on the menu and enter…
Username: Sample
Password : welcome.
