R. F. Delderfield

Nat Hearn came back from the War to be assistant editor and can carrier in chief of the Sandcome Clarion. R F Delderfield takes the lid off small town life, with a relish born of experience. He reveals the politicking and doubtful, but only too human motives that swirl round and through the sieve of a small local paper.

Kent Stuart left the West Country town of Redcliffe Bay more than thirty years ago, pursued by the guilt and shame of a scandal that cost him his youth and happiness. He returns to find a town that bears little physical resemblance to the one he left and must decide if he can come to terms with the past and start anew.

Adam Swann is now an old man and at the start of the Edwardian era the motor engine starts to take over from horses, which has a huge effect on 'Swann-on-wheels'.  Book 3 of series.

A saga of England in the 1860s. Adam Swann resolves to throw his talents into the establishment of a chain of road haulage depots throughout the country, and we read of the fluctuations of the firm and of the individuals who serve it.  Book 1 of series.

Paul and Claire Craddock have grown older in years - but not in spirit, but changes are taking place in the countryside. Paul's livelihood, his peace, and his vision of a good and noble way of life in Shallowford are all threatened.  Book 3 of series.

As Paul Craddock recovers from his Boer War injuries, he starts to plan a new life. As soon as he is able he invests all he has in a remote but beautiful estate in Devon, determined to make something wonderful of the place and to be at the heart of what is most real and most important.  Book 1 of series

In the remote Devon village of Shallowford, Paul Craddock must try to rebuild the estate after the loss of young men during the First World War and, with more difficulty, the bonds broken between the people who belong there.  Book 2 of series.

One spring afternoon following a heated exchange with a pupil, Sebastian Sermon, a forty-nine-year-old schoolmaster, experiences a brainstorm. Dissatisfied with his life, he leaves his job, wife and children, and takes to the road. In the months that follow, Sebastian discovers that he has talents which no one, least of all himself, had ever suspected . . .

A Victorian family chronicle about the rise to wealth of Adam Swann and his ever-expanding network of transport depots which stretch north to the scottish Highlands and west to the Dublin Pale. Masterly storytelling.  Book 2 of series.

After the British victory at Busaco during the Peninsula campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars, Ensign Keith Graham finds himself cut off from the army, along with a sergeant and seven privates. This ill-assorted, tattered band is joined by a Welsh campfollower, Gwyneth. Struggling through strange, often hostile country, with insufficient food and sometimes mutinous men, his one aim is to reach the coast and, hopefully, safety . . .