On Sale Today I am so pleased to tell everyone that the eBook version of my debut novel is now on sale. A paperback version will be...

Last Sunday I visited All Saints Churchyard in the small village of Minstead in the New Forest, where you can see the grave of Arthur...

On 1 July 2016 the Battle of the Somme commenced and lasted 141 days. Over three million men fought in the battle and one million men...

Yesterday I returned to Castle Drogo on Dartmoor, the place that inspired my novel. In my last two blogs I explained two of the reasons...

The question of 'Faith' is considered in the novel at various times. When I started writing the novel I had no idea who Jiddu...

The working title of the novel for 16 years was 'Castle Drogo'. However, when I came to publish the book I changed the title. There...

“There is no spot of ground, however arid, bare or ugly, that cannot be tamed into such a state as may give an impression of beauty and...

The novel ends with the words 'a rage to live', which is quote from Moral Essays by Alexander Pope. It is also the title of a brilliant...

In Chapter 61 there is a reference to Lord Cecil Facey's estate at Havering-atte-Bower and Adrian Drewe's marriage at the church. ...

Chapter 31 of the book is an interlude chapter introducing the reader to Arthur Poley and his son George. I had a discussion with my...

John Galsworthy's novel was published in 1906 and in my novel Christian Drewe is reading it when he returns from Austria. I wanted to pay...

The Villa Grazioli is a palace in Frascati, near Rome, where Cardinal Antonio Carafa once lived. In the novel Celia says that she stayed...

In the novel Edwin Lutyens proposes to add a Tuscan pillar into Sir Julius Drewe's bathroom when Sir Julius threatens to remove the west...

In Elizabeth Wilhide’s book, Sir Edwin Lutyens: Designing in the English Tradition, she notes that the only car that Lutyens ever owned...

The novel hints at a love affair that the young Emily Lutyens (nee Bulwer-Lytton) may have had. There is no name mentioned in the final...

The War Graves Commission wrote: "This ‘great altar stone’ as Lutyens’ referred to it, would stand as a memorial feature in the...

Why did I change some names and not others? Actually, it is a difficult question to answer. If you are writing a book about the last...

The Beginnings Once upon a time I woke up and realised I did not want to be a lawyer for the rest of my life. I first started writing...

When Edwin Lutyens was asked to design a castle for Sir Julius Drewe, he commented: "I do wish he didn't want a castle but just a...

Jiddu Krishnamurti (or K) was born on 11 May 1895 and died on 17 February 1986. He became a figure head for the Order of the Star in...