This short story was inspired by a tale I came across when I was working at Blenheim Palace. The 9th Duchess of Marlborough, the American Gladys Deacon, bred Cavalier King Charles spaniels. Snowflake was her favourite. Click on the cover and download the story about her for FREE.

I wrote this short comedy for the NYCMidnight 2020 Short Story Competition and it came top in its category. It’s a great writing competition because you are given a random assignment and have to produce the story within a few days. My 1st Round genre this year was comedy, the story had to be about an exchange of gifts and one of the characters had to be a nosy neighbour. You can read the result completely FREE by clicking the panel above. The judges loved it. I hope you like it too.

Why set a novel in 1704? Where did the saying, “as smooth as a milkmaid’s skin” come from?  And why wasn’t Winston Churchill’s ancestor the Duke of Marlborough as famous as the Duke of Wellington? All this and more is explained in this little taster which should get you champing at the bit to read my new novel, The Summer Fields.