| Fiction:
The Old Dance (2022)
This is the third part of The Norfolk Trilogy. The women are following the pilgrims’ way to Santiago de Compostela for different reasons. Rosamund is fleeing an unwanted second marriage; Maeve hopes to re-connect with her past; Nicola has a job to do and fears to overcome; Meera hopes for distraction from the changes in her life; Matty is looking for the solution to a puzzle. This third part of this trilogy unfolds against a background of war and conflict, moving from Norfolk to Cornwall and then through France and Spain. And the women’s stories collide and connect – they are part of life’s ‘Old Dance’.
Canine Companions (2021)
Whether you’re a first time dog owner or a veteran in the field you’ll recognise some if not all of the experiences recorded here – be they positive yet puzzling, rewarding and occasionally riotous.
Shapes of Brightness (2020)
‘She moved upon this earth a shape of brightness, A power…’Set in the early years of the 20th Century the novel follows the lives of three women – Kate, Edith and Polly – as they struggle to achieve a measure of independence beyond the traditional family roles expected of them. Shapes of Brightness plays out against the struggle for women’s suffrage, the rise of anarchic politics and the First World War.
Deceivers
Deceivers (Robano Resources, 2017). Part Two of the Norfolk Trilogy takes place shortly after the English Civil Wars. Colonel Nathan Struther conducts an enquiry into the unexplained death of a travelling preacher and members of the Vaughan family come under suspicion. Struther’s concerns focus particularly on Katherine Vaughan, recently restored to the family after going missing for ten years.
Available from Amazon as an ebook and paperback
Rebels’ Summer
Rebels’ Summer (Robano Resources, 2012). Set in Norfolk at the time of Kett’s Rebellion this is the first of a trilogy which follows the changing fortunes of a Norfolk family, the Vaughans.
From childhood red-haired Frances Dyball has had a particular heroine: Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII. Like Elizabeth, Frances faces uncertainty and her life is drastically altered when, in the Summer of 1549, Norfolk land workers and small farmers rise up in protest against the enclosure of public grazing land by sheep-farming gentry.
Available from Amazon as an ebook and paperback
The Nightmare Weight
The Nightmare Weight (Robano Resources, 2016) A Sci-Fi novel. Ferrel is a young woman with the ability to see into the future – but she doesn’t foresee being arrested for fortune telling. She has to answer for her actions at a hearing and the result is a period of community service on an exploratory space mission. When the craft is flung off course Ferrel finds herself confronting her society’s complex past and an alarming future.
Available from Amazon as an ebook and paperback
Non-fiction:
Old Bold and won’t be told – Shakespeare’s amazing ageing ladies.
Old, Bold and Won’t Be Told: Shakespeare’s Amazing Ageing Ladies (Thames River Press: 2013) This focuses on Shakespeare’s lively and empowering presentation of older women on stage. Some of his amazing ageing ladies are compared to the more stereotypical depictions of the period – which generally presented the old woman as being ugly, randy, mouthy and mad. Characters explored include Cleopatra (Antony and Cleopatra), Gertrude (Hamlet) and Queen Katherine (Henry VIII) and there is detailed work on Paulina (The Winter’s Tale) as a uniquely powerful old woman.
Published by Thames River Press Available from Amazon as a paperback.
Rose in the Mud – A creative Writing Coursebook
Rose In The Mud: A Creative Writing Course (Robano Resources 2011, ebook, 2016 paperback) A book for creative writing beginners and ‘old hands’, based on workshops I have run with Bodmin Writing Workshop and Saltash U3A Writing Group.
Available from Amazon as an ebook and paperback
Also a contribution to:
‘Representations of Ageing Female Rulers on the Early Modern Stage’ in Alessandra Petrina and Laura Tosi eds. Representations of Elizabeth I in Early Modern Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011). A volume of essays exploring Elizabeth I’s influence on English and European culture in her time and the decades following her death.
Available from Amazon
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