A new advertisement for “Two Tickets to Dubrovnik” and the other books in the series is available at : https://fb.me/2lsMvzDyMAS83L0

Read more

Michael told us that he suspected that he knew exactly about whom the old vintner was telling the story and, when we I queried this, he outlined his suspicions. I also quickly twigged to the possible facts of the story and realized what a bombshell it could be if published. I asked Michael whether the elderly vintner who had told him the story had any evidence of its veracity or any corroboration of his nursing sister’s relating of events but…..

Read more

It was at this point that Michael started to twig as to whom the story might be about and he suggested to the elderly vintner that they should probably leave any remaining story untold. However, the old man insisted that they continue to the end, as they were almost there. Michael acquiesced and the story continued.

Both Brigitte’s husband, André-Louis, and the father of the children, Jean-Michel, were present at the hospital when the two children were born, a boy…..

Read more

It all began in Amiens, in 1953, when a daughter, the youngest of six children, was born to a couple named Jean and Simone, who owned a confectionery business that had been in Jean’s family for well over 150 years. The daughter was named Brigitte. Brigitte grew up, went to school and, in 1974, at the age of 21, she married a banker called André-Louis and went and lived with him in Truchtersheim. Brigitte and André-Louis had a son born in 1975……

Read more

It was six weeks later that I was sitting in Andrew’s apartment in Paddington in Sydney with Andrew and Michael. It was a cool autumn day so we were inside and gathered in the sitting room. Martina had gone out for a few hours so it was just the three of us, sitting over coffee and some biscuits. Andrew had not changed a lot since I had last seen him but his brown hair had thinned a little, I guess along…..

Read more

I was surprised to receive an email from Andrew Johnston last week. I had not heard from him for a couple of years, with his living in Sydney and my being in Adelaide, but we had kept in touch for the first few years after he moved interstate. However, our contact had tailed off, as it often does when not being nurtured. He seemed well and very happy in his life with Martina and was still writing his pieces on ordinary…..

Read more

After much consideration and feedback from readers concerned to know what finally happened with Andrew and Niki, I have completed a fourth book, to complete what is now a tetralogy. It will be called The Final Programme and copy/editing has just been finished. It should be published within a month or so and I shall let you all know when it is out.

The story takes up from where Andrew was in hospital at the end of To the East…..

Read more

Six years ago, about two years after I retired, I thought that I should write a book. This was a bald (and bold) idea as I was in no way sure of the type of book, the subject matter or anything else about it. I just felt like writing one. I had written some poetry in previous years and some short pieces but had never ventured further. This was a project very much larger than any of my earlier efforts.

…..

Read more

Good progress has been made since my last post on To the East. I submitted the manuscript a month ago and made it through the copy/editing process with some helpful thoughts. The interior galleys took a little longer. There are a couple of charts at the back of the book that proved difficult for the publisher to handle. However, I was able to resubmit them in a different form and I have now approved the full interior galleys. I have…..

Read more