The background to A Betrayal of Heroes centres on the story of the Spanish Republican fighters who, despite Franco's victory in their civil war, carried on the battle against fascism and the Nazis. But that story begins with one of the greatest yet least-known episodes of the Second World War. Let's go back to the Allied defeat in the 1940 … [Read more...] about The Oath of Kufra
La Nueve
Amado Granell Mesado, the Spanish Republican who helped liberate Paris
Real-life Amado Granell plays a big part in A Betrayal of Heroes alongside our fictional Jack Telford – and readers have been asking for more about him. Well, here’s the full story… In Alicante lives a man called Miguel Ángel Pérez Oca. He’s 77 now. A famous science teacher, writer and illustrator of books on astronomy and other subjects. Author … [Read more...] about Amado Granell Mesado, the Spanish Republican who helped liberate Paris
The Jack Telford Novels
Three books now in the Jack Telford series. Pretty much standalone novels, though they do follow on, one from the other. Action and intrigue at the end of the Spanish Civil War. The Assassin's Mark The first, The Assassin's Mark, sees journalist Jack sent by his editor (Sydney Elliott of Reynold's News) to Spain in September 1938. Why? To check … [Read more...] about The Jack Telford Novels
Five Things You (Maybe) Didn’t Know About the Spanish Heroes of the Second World War
My tenth novel, A Betrayal of Heroes, published in July. It picks up the story of Spanish Republicans who fought against Europe’s Nazis all through the Second World War. The Spanish Civil War - yes, it's a passion Yes, guilty! I write historical fiction. But all my stories solidly rooted in fact. My aim has always been to take special periods of … [Read more...] about Five Things You (Maybe) Didn’t Know About the Spanish Heroes of the Second World War
How I was able to build and research a WW2 background
The third Jack Telford novel, A Betrayal of Heroes, is published in July 2021. And here's how I tried to build and research his travels and his trials. From Casablanca to Brazzaville, from the beaches of Normandy to the Liberation of Paris. I had three things on my mind - three things which inspired the story. First, at the end of the last Jack … [Read more...] about How I was able to build and research a WW2 background