Day three of the ‘advent calendar’ focusing on some of the historical/genealogical sources that I used in the writing of Barefoot on the Cobbles.

In the novel, my characters take a railway journey. In order to make that section of the book realistic, I needed to research the routes that would have been available at the time. For this, I turned to the invaluable Jowett’s Railway Atlas. It seems that this is now out of print, which is a great shame but there are some second hand copies available online.

The book consists of beautiful, hand-drawn maps, illustrating when each particular railway line was open. By using this I was able to track the tortuous journey that Polly needed to make from Clovelly, via Bideford, Barnstaple, Exeter and Newton Abbott, to Torre Station in Torquay.

More information about Barefoot on the Cobbles can be found here. Copies are available at various events and at all my presentations. You can order from Blue Poppy Publishing or directly from me. Kindle editions are available for those in the UK, USA, Australasia and Canada.