at all the posts I’ve sent over the past couple years about progress on the last book in the Madeleine series.  I’ve just deleted all those posts to write this one. 

Since I started that book, which began as a collection of short stories back in 2021, things have changed.  Covid has swept the world (I’ve been lucky enough not to get it so far) and after renting a cottage for almost a year on a nearby farm to use as my office so I could work in peace and quiet, I decided to have a cabin built at the back of my house and use that as my office instead.  I had a hip replacement, resigned from my part-time job so I could write full time, had a relationship breakup, battled low grade pneumonia and am just recovering from another bout of the flu which required more steroids and antibiotics.  But after all these changes and more, I’ve kept working on the books, so they are coming.

You’ll still get that collection of short stories (which is book 8), but you’ll also get another two books, which I’ll call book 6 and book 7 for now.  I intend to publish these three books all at the same time (some 1200 pages currently, which I’m trying hard to edit) as I’m working on them altogether, flicking back and forth, changing things, along with dates and characters because so much happens over a period of years and I have to get it right.  Lots of historical detail in these books, so lots of research.

I’ve also been writing scenes for another wagon train story which I hope to publish later this year.  When I get the chance, I’ve also been working on the three books in the Archard series (and yes, you’ll get to meet Ruby and Sawyer again, along with Ella and Marrok), so although it seems an age since I published anything, please bear with me, the books are coming.

Meanwhile, I’ve got another excerpt for you which is from book 6, which starts some two years after When the Wolf Breathes.  I hope you enjoy it.

Madeleine in the wild, autumn 1808

I looked back at the village, but it was so dark I could barely see the other lodges.  I turned slowly, trying to get my bearings, aware of every little noise and movement around me, every instinct I owned on high alert, just as they’d been all those years ago when I lived alone in the mountains with esa.  I knew if I were caught out here alone, I would suffer for it.

For my own safety I knew I should return to the ruin, but I had no desire to return to that hovel.  Instead, I turned and headed deeper into the trees, the way poorly lit by the weak light of the moon and distant fires.  All I had to rely on was my senses, although I was acutely aware of the aged, damp wood and debris under my moccasins, the raw smell of hundreds of horses grazing in the fields off to my right, wood smoke from dozens of fires and the rich scent of roasting meat. 

I stopped and crouched low when something moved just off to my right, until I realized it was several horses seeking shelter under the trees from the bitter cold.  One of them blew softly while another whickered, startling me at how close they were in the dark.

I stood up and carried on, heading towards the river, when the distant bark of a dog brought me to an abrupt stop.  I remembered the vicious brutes that had greeted us on our arrival here and although I hadn’t seen the dogs since then, I knew they were around.  I hoped the men standing guard were keeping the dogs with them, but come spring, I knew those beasts would be let loose at night to keep bears and other predators away.  If that happened, any chance we had to leave this place would be lost to us forever. 

It was the thought of the dogs finding me in the dark that made me slowly retrace my steps back to the hovel, but I knew as soon as we had a clear night, I’d be out here again.  I needed to find out everything I could about this village.  I also needed a weapon.

I stepped back inside our crude shelter and was instantly overwhelmed by the smell of the place and our dire circumstances.  I moved to the fire to get warm and as I crouched there, I was determined more than ever to find a way out of here.