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)

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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)
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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
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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)
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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)
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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...

Book Review

Self isolation

Self isolation and writing sound almost like a tautology but writers are among the most gregarious of creatures. A couple of hours intense concentration then down the pub or the cafe or some other location where we can meet people. Perhaps the solution, now that a solitary life is imposed on us, is to have two books on the go, one a novel or some such very creative endeavour and another that depends more on research and organisation of the material. Here at YouCaxton we’ll be happy to offer advice and support.

 

poetry

Words to be performed from under a table by the last of us
James S M Parker

9781911175698 First there was Love and Suicide.
Then, we felt a heat and hell closing in.
Soon there will be the realisation that
broken will always be broken.
But now, we follow the writer, the observer and the lost mind through the various stages of one man’s life using poetry, sketches, short stories and observations.

A writer, an observer, a lost mind.
A journey inside, outside and
beyond the musings of one man.
Published: June 2017
Paperback: 138 pages
Price: £7.99
ISBN: 9-781911-175698

£7.99 (+ £2 postage)
Number of copies:
Reader Reviews...