Bøker av Nick Cowen

Historical novel, first of a trilogy, set in south-east Wiltshire in 1633. Robert Penny, a twice-widowed father, returns to the parish of his birth with his eleven-year-old son Samuel. Struggling to find food for the table, Robert quickly becomes burdened with the unpaid duties of Parish Waywarden inheriting a legal responsibility to survey and maintain the parish highways or answer to the Justices. As he commences this onerous task, he discovers a young woman's body in a highway ditch. Whilst Robert Penny tries to rebuild his family reputation and regain the pew in church, will he instead be charged with the murder of this stranger to the parish?

When the Napoleonic wars denied young Englishmen the opportunity to undertake the continental 'Grand Tour' many set about exploring their own land, often on foot, and some wrote accounts of what they saw and what interested them. This historical novel, originally published in three parts between 2005 and 2013, purports to be such an account, written by a young man fascinated by antiquity. Each of the three accounts were snapped up by a growing band of enthusiasts and now the trilogy is published in a single volume for the first time, with a description of the real-life characters who appear in its pages.In1807 South Wiltshire and its characters form the backdrop for young Londoner Henry Chalk as he takes to the footpaths and turnpikes in a trio of pedestrian excursions. With danger snapping at his heels the young pedestrian stumbles upon the founding fathers of archaeology who are intent on opening every prominent burial mound in the Stonehenge landscape. Love and mystery entwine the young walker like an ever-tightening creeper as he explores the sunken lanes and glaring chalklands, certain that the answer to mankind's story lies not in the barrows but in the plough soil, as he finds the ancient flint tools from a forgotten population. As the young hero puts pen to paper to record his adventures, his own story unfolds whilst a shocking denouement awaits.

A strange interdependence has been forged between local authority lifer, Victor Wayland, public rights of way officer and the enigmatic Harrison, a young and streetwise volunteer. Harrison and his gang have torn up the volunteer's rule book and are finding their own ways and means to sort out the thornier issues of public rights of way maintenance. Meanwhile Victor is really starting to feel part of something…he's just not sure what that something is…and can a sedentary population really be persuaded to heave themselves up from the sofa and take their first steps towards walking back to happiness? They will ifHarrison has got anything to do with it.

Very funny novel, first in a series, involving a harassed English rights of way officer who inadvertently recruits a young streetwise volunteer, with unexpected resaults. A tale of hopelessness and hope.