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Rave on John Donne
I was recently asked a question about Lady Emily Lutyens' attraction to theosophy and her devotion to Krishnamurti. Prior to writing my...
Publish And Be Damned
Everyone dreams that they can write a novel. However, even when the novel is completed the author then has to face the difficulties of...


Going Under Cover
Jacquelynn Kennedy, the Reedsy reviewer, said that the first thing that attracted her to 'Of All Faiths & None' was the cover. The final...


Of All Faiths & None - the e.Book
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...


Elementary My Dear
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...


The Battle of the Somme
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...


Drogo Revisited
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...


'Of All Faiths & None' The Reason Behind the Name - Part 2
The question of 'Faith' is considered in the novel at various times. When I started writing the novel I had no idea who Jiddu...


'Of All Faiths & None' The Reason Behind the Name
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...


The Grand Teacher
“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...


A Rage To Live
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...


Havering-atte-Bower
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. ...


The Corn Doll
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...


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


A Lesson in Taste You Might Say
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...


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


Love, thought Emily, is the one thing that can be the ruin of a young lady, as she knew herself.
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...


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


What's In A Name
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...
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