Writing thoughtful novels at the intersection of history, mythology, and real life.
I am an expat Englishman, an editor and publisher working in scholarly book and journal publishing, and the author of three literary novels. In my writing, I delve deep into landscape and language, history and myth, and the unseen forces that shape the lives and loves of ordinary people.
Finding Camlann
A literary mystery, a romance, and an exploration of the origins of Celtic mythology.
Oxford archaeologist Donald Gladstone has dedicated himself to discovering the truth behind the legends of King Arthur. Donald’s studies of the medieval Arthurian sources have convinced him that there is no solid evidence of a real King Arthur who lived in the Dark Ages after the fall of Roman Britain. His chance meeting with linguist Julia Llewellyn is followed by a dramatic announcement from an archaeological team working near Stonehenge and another, quieter discovery in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
Lured by the beguiling Julia and the verses of an old Welsh poem, Donald begins a journey of discovery through a many-layered historical landscape evoked by the secret places and half-forgotten mythology of Celtic Britain. His quest will take him at last to a secret place in the heart of the Welsh mountains where the real Arthur may finally come within his reach.
Published by W.W. Norton
Birds of Passage
The power of unexpected connections in an uncertain world.
For the inhabitants of the remote seaside village of Dunwich, the waning days of summer have ushered in a subtle disordering of the proper state of things. This sense of imbalance is felt most acutely by Stanley Matthews, a former soldier who retreated to this distant outpost when a disastrous misjudgment forced him to give up a coveted job in London. His peace of mind is further endangered by the arrival in the village of Elizabeth Keating, an American professor of avian ecology, for whom Dunwich is a needed escape from the ghosts of her own past.
In time, these characters will come to terms with their own feelings of responsibility for the personal catastrophes they have set in motion. Unforeseen connections will be made between the migratory patterns of birds, the old folktales that haunt the British landscape, the wrenching powers of jealousy and of unexpected, unexpressed love, and the human and geophysical forces that together will determine the fate of the world.
How Will You Know Me?
A search for a reclusive crime novelist exposes unreliable narratives of past tragedy.
Vik Heaney has never quite been able to shake off a feeling that she is a misfit in her adoptive family, a cuckoo in the nest. When she was fourteen years old, her emotionally fragile mother revealed a secret that destroyed her cherished childhood story of the devoted birth parents who were forced against their will to give her up. Now, at 29, Vik is disaffected in her London publishing job, unhappy in romance, and desperate to find a new direction in her life.
Escaping from her office to a wine bar following a reckless confrontation with her boss, Vik comes upon a poignant story of lost love written by a reclusive mystery novelist. She is inspired to begin a journey of discovery that leads her in turn to an old Icelandic saga, a detective story that feels closer to true crime than to crime fiction, and an eyewitness account of a tragedy at sea. In time, she will unravel these entangled tales to reveal a truth that will bring her to a new understanding of what any of us can truly say about our place in the world.