Leonard’s story forms a sub-plot in Barefoot on the Cobbles. We follow his adolescent romance with the girl in the local tea-shop; one of the lighter moments in the story. As the First World War tightens its grip, Leonard has important decisions to make regarding his future. The dangers of his life in the merchant service create another concern to be heaped on the burden carried by his mother. A local fishing tragedy unfolds through Leonard’s eyes.

After the novel finishes, Leonard returned to the merchant service. He followed generations of his forebears fishing in local waters and was to man the safety boat during lengthy repairs to Bideford Bridge. He married and had four children, two of whom died in infancy, succumbing to the same condition that took his young brother. He spent his married life in Bideford and passed his love of the sea on to future generations.

‘There would be no fishing again today, thought Leonard. The sea, its vagaries, its beauty and its menace was the counterpoint to his life; an all pervading rhythm to which his body and his soul must respond.’

Barefoot on the Cobbles will be published on 17 November 2018. More information about the novel can be found here. Copies will be available at various events in the weeks following the launch or can be pre-ordered from Blue Poppy Publishing or the author.