I’ve been fortunate to have lived all over the UK as well as in Germany (when it was West Germany), Cameroon and the Solomon Islands, but it was when I settled in Poole, Dorset, that the story of my hero Tom Tyler started to come alive. I have now lived in Dorset for 25 years, and the amazing countryside is unbeatable.

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I’ve always been interested in history and as I learnt about Poole’s past, I became fascinated with what took place in this part of the country during the English Civil Wars in the 17th Century. No major battles happened here, but what adventure and intrigue there was. It seemed to me that there were some really good stories to share and to create about that time.

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My first historical novel, As the Sparks Fly Upwards, is the start of a series of books following the life of my hero Tom Tyler. The story starts with Tom losing everything. He loses his family, job, and home, and is cast out into the middle of the English Civil War, in the middle of winter. He ends up on a journey to try to rebuild his life, but first he has to learn to stay alive, and he can’t do that alone.

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The second book, A Bag of Blood and Bone, follows Tom and Effra to Plymouth and then to Cornwall as they get swept westwards with the Parliamentary army just when Tom needs to get back to Bathsua. While this is happening, Bathsua travels to Weymouth to emigrate to New England and finds that she is challenged in ways she never expected.

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I have previously published Urban Trees: A Practical Management Guide drawing on my experience of being a tree officer in Dorset. 

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