I didn’t ever expect to be an author, and certainly not of historical fiction. It all started back in 2008 when I began researching my family history. I had no idea what I would find but by 2010 it was clear that my Victorian ancestors had a far from normal life. After much deliberation, I felt compelled to turn their story into a novel.
Having never written fiction before (my day job involves medical writing), I thought I would struggle to reach one hundred pages. How wrong I was. Several years, and a lot of research later, I ended up with the first draft of a 350,000 word trilogy!
That draft is now the basis of the Ambition & Destiny Series, a family saga of Love, Loss and Betrayal set against the backdrop of Victorian England.
When I started writing, I thought the story started in 1843. There was one document in my research, however, that showed my great, great, great, grandfather faced a charge of larcency (theft) in 1839. It didn’t appear to impact the main story and so initially I only made a very minor reference to it in a flash back. It was almost six years later, when an editor suggested that the start of the trilogy contained too much backstory, that I relooked at the information. That was when I realized there was much more to the incident than I thought.
It was at that point that my short story prequel, Condemned by Fate, was born. It takes place in 1839/1840 and covers the months surrounding the larceny charge. Although it leads into the Ambition & Destiny Series, it is a standalone story.
Condemned by Fate was published on Amazon at the end of 2016. It is also available as a free pdf download on my website – CLICK HERE. Hooks & Eyes, the first book of the Ambition & Destiny Series, is due for publication in early 2017. Subsequent books will be available later in the year.
Although inspiration for the books came from real life events, there were a lot of gaps in my research. In addition, the story took place nearly two hundred years ago. As a result, all characterization and a good proportion of the storyline is fictitious. Names have been changed and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Condemned by Fate
A Love Story. A Foul Conspiracy. A Future of Unintended Consequences.
Charles Jackson’s untroubled lifestyle is about to end. When he accepts work at a local farm the last thing on his mind is falling in love. That’s before he meets Mary.
Mary’s world revolves around the farm and the security of her family. She has never craved the touch of a man, but one look at Charles changes that.
When her father catches them in an intimate embrace, he chases Charles from the farm, keeping Mary a prisoner in her own home. Determined to see her again, Charles inadvertently places himself at the scene of a robbery. Imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, can he overcome the trials that lie ahead and discover those who will stop at nothing to keep them apart?
Condemned by Fate is a short story prequel to the Ambition & Destiny Series, a compelling family saga set in Victorian England.
For further information about the Ambition & Destiny Series, click here to visit valmcbeath.com.
The website also contains background details to some of the storylines in the books.
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Travel is an amazing experience and I’ve spent years of my life living out of my backpack. I’ve explored well-beaten tourist trails and to far corners beyond them. Each journey is an adventure and each adventure gives with a story to tell. So one day I decided that yes, I would write 80 of my best Travel Stories.
VIBRANT: While many travel books are only text, Around the World in 80 Tales is packed with colour photos. With the exception of only a few, they are all photos are my own photography or taken on my own camera. All the images have an explanatory caption with them.
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