Category Archives: fiction

Posh Rats
Jack Worsfold Snr.

Peggy's Life Falls Apart when her husband, Eben, is brutally beaten to death on a winter’s night in 1932. As he’s bleeding in the freezing mud, he beseeches her to tell everyone that he was trampled by the horse, everyone, that is, except his older brother, Larcey. With his last words to her, Eden extracts a promise from Peggy that she will tell Larcey the name of his killer. The killer is Rapley, the game keeper.
Left alone with only a gypsy caravan to call her own, and with three young children, Peggy seeks refuge at her brother-in-law’s small-holding. Custom in the travelling community dictates that Larcey look after his brother’s widow and children. But because Larcey knows that his brother’s death was no accident, his grief turns to seething hatred.
The funeral provides another opportunity for him to show his generosity with the promise of free food and flowing liquer, and a large number of mourners turn up at the holding. However Peggy is shunned for ‘speaking posh’ as are her children who are teased. Danny has stayed at the small-holding to support Peggy and to help Larcey with the funeral. Whilst the funeral is in full swing, Larcey, with murder on his mind, confides to Danny that he plans to kill Rapley.
This is a story to chill the blood.
Published: Feb 2020
Paperback: 346 pages
Price: £12.99
ISBN: 9-781913-425036

UK Only
£12.99 (+ £2.50 postage)
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Jack Worsfold Snr. was born in Surrey in 1924, the son of a coal merchant. At nineteen years old he joined the RAF as a rear gunner on Lancasters under the command of Flight Lieutenant John Keards, flying out of Ludord Magna with 101 Squadron. On the 3rd May they were one of twenty one Lancaster bombers ordered to participate in a raid on Mailly-Le-Camp, intended to be an attack on the German depot, south of Reims in France. 340 Lancaster bombers took part in total, forty-two were shot down including Jack's. They had only bombed once when they were attacked with cannon fire. At that point the Lancaster broke up and Jack fell to earth, trapped in the tail section and with his parachute was on fire. He heard himself say; " Make it quick," and he passed out. He spiralled to the ground 7.500 feet, crashing through a power line and fir trees before coming to rest in gorse near the village of Aubeterre, ten miles south Mailly. Jack was too badly injured to escape but was rescued by the French resistance. They put him in the woods but were rumbled by the Germans which actually turned out to be fortunate because he was taken off to Paris where his broken leg was expertly fixed by a German doctor. He was then transported to a pow camp in Poland and held for one year until the war had finished. The rest of Jack's crew mates died in the crash.
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The Ashes of D. H. Lawrence
John Welsh

In the summer of 1936 a young Englishman is sitting in a Siena café when he is approached by a stranger. It is an uncomfortable encounter but the man’s words draw him inexorably into the lives of a writer, his wife and their immediate friends. Eventually their identities become clear to him but he keeps this to himself at further, seemingly chance, meetings. Overtaken by events in Europe and the war that is to come he can eventually return to his notes. After the success of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D.H. Lawrence is able to travel from Italy to France no longer beset by a lack of money. His friendships and the relationship with his wife are tested as, increasingly constrained by ill-health, he is beset with reminiscences, regrets, and contradictory emotions about his past and present life.

With thanks to John Farrington for the cover image.
Published:October 2018
Paperback:196 pages
Price:£9.00
ISBN:9-781912-419203


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The author was born into a Fife mining community in 1938. After Grammar School he worked briefly in banking until joining the Royal Air Force and subsequently entering college. Following a short teaching career and a post-graduate course at Reading University he again changed course to gain a Masters degree, lead an economic research team in the Midlands and was invited to the Triplex Lloyd Chair of Management in Brno a few months after the 1989 Czechoslovak revolution.
Now retired, he lives in Shrophire and walks, writes and plays golf, both at Crail Golfing Society on the banks of the Firth of Forth and at Ludlow. He also travels frequently through central Europe by car and is familiar with some of the locations in which the Ashes of D.H. Lawrence is set..


Reader Reviews

Amazon Reader
Lovely read, heard about the book thanks to local newspaper.
Read in a day - could not put it down.
Characters were believable. Liked the time hopping element.

Irish Tales from Coolshannagh
Christo Loynska

The Untimely Demise of Friday the Pig
Irish Tales from Coolshannagh


Coolshannagh is an ordinary Irish village situated on the coast halfway between Dublin and Belfast.
The villagers are pretty ordinary too; Father Joe, a clubfooted priest who likes to dance; Duffy the bar owner who runs a great pub; Stochelo a Gypsy bandolier and his mighty son Miquel; Eamonn McGarvey who loved his pet pig; Ludmilla the one handed Ukrainian Headmistress who escaped the anti-Jewish pogroms of 1881; Mary-Ellen the village elder, wise-woman, and nurse in the Crimean War; Vincenti Quilto the Italian Matchmaker and teller of unlikely fables; Father Dan, a guilt ridden whiskey priest decorated for bravery in the First World war and The Diabhal (Devil) also comes calling intent upon mischief.
Published: Feb 2020
Paperback: 260 pages
Price: £9.99
ISBN: 9-781913-425074

UK Only
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So, just an unremarkable Irish village going about its daily business; hum-drum times punctuated by birth, death, love, not much hate (except the Devil for whom hate is his only purpose).
And every word is true…
at least according to my father who came from Coolshannagh and passed these tales on!
Reviews...

Debbie Turfrey - Authorised buyer
5 out of 5 stars Beautifully written Irish tale
This is a wonderful book, a whimsical yarn which flows beautifully!
In true Irish story teller style, the author weaves the threads of the story together.
I would highly recommend it to anyone!


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

Amazon Reader
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.

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)
Number of copies:


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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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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

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:


Available on Amazon

Reviews...