Flames (Paperback)

In 1622 Scotland, three strangers are drawn together by an irresistible force that manifests itself as a golden flame.
After she is assaulted by a member of staff, Janine, a young maid to a noble lady, loses consciousness and wakes to find herself unharmed and her attacker dead in a pool of blood. Fleeing for her life and clutching only a pillowcase stuffed with her meagre belongings, she is accosted on the road by a robber. Again, she drifts into a dreamlike state and wakes to discover her assailant brutally slain. Saying a prayer for her mysterious guardian, Janine clutches her mother’s dragon ring that she wears around her neck. When a coach stops for her on the road, she is rescued by the sons of the Duke and Duchess of Bo’Ness. As she takes her seat, they see an apparition of swirling flames that dance and tumble in the air around her. They take her to the grand mansion of Brech Woorlach, where she is given refuge. Janine finds Brech Woorlach to be hauntingly familiar - despite never having been there before – and her mind is flooded with memories of a past that could never have been. When the magical flames appear, again, the Duke and Duchess reveal to her that she is the lost heir to the throne of the Queen of the West in the Scottish Highlands.
Meanwhile, nineteen-year-old Queen Annis – who wears the crown of the Queen of the West – rides to the River Spey to assert the ancient boundary of her territory. This ceremony becomes a powder keg when old enemies gather and eight centuries of feud and betrayal threaten to ignite into war. As she faces down extreme danger, a mysterious tree bursts into flames, causing everyone to recall an ancient prophecy about a warrior queen who rescues Scotland from catastrophe.
Elsewhere, Alex Brennan, a young soldier returning from a foreign war, seeks the murderer of his beloved sister. Tormented by visions of flames and plagued by nightmares he cannot escape, he arrives at a remote inn on the road to Inverness and finds himself drawn into events that will decided the future of Scotland.
Constable Burberry, who carries a warrant from King James, arrives at the same inn. After a confrontation with a gang of brutal vigilantes called the McCarthys, Burberry slays their leader and is subsequently kidnapped by them. The innkeeper and his guest, Alex, mount a daring rescue.
Are the enchanting flames the magical sign of the ancient legends? Has the time that was prophesied arrived? Is this the moment when all those who need to come together will be drawn together and when all those things that need to happen will happen?

I was born in Leeds, UK, and currently live in Golcar near Huddersfield, my life has been a tapestry of diverse experiences that ultimately led me to my true calling as an author.My career path has been anything but linear!After high school and college, I worked for Royal Mail in Leeds as a postman & as a manager for many years, before taking voluntary redundancy. I tried to retire, but discovered that I simply wasn't made for a life of leisure!After driving trucks for a few months, I joined 'Halifax Bank of Scotland' in their IT Department. They were later taken over by Lloyds Banking Group who eventually outsourced a lot of their technical support, leading to me taking voluntary redundancy, again.I returned to driving trucks for a while, after which I worked for a year and a half as an IT contractor. I was employed by various major organisations, including Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, the N.H.S., Saint Gobain & Network Rail before joining Burberry, the fashion brand, in my current permanent role as an On Site IT Support Engineer.My grandmother once told me that my mother, as a young girl, had earnestly declared that she had once lived the life of a queen. Asked if this meant that she had lived in a grand castle and worn a jewelled crown, she replied: "No, I lived in a tent, just like everybody else, I wore a copper crown with no jewels, but I was treated differently because I was the queen. People would bow to me." Asked where she had been a queen, she said in Scotland but, gesturing with a sweep of her arm to indicate upwards and left, she explained: "I was Queen of the West".I studied and researched and I found that she was referring to the Picts who battled against the Vikings during their invasion of Scotland in the year 973. On a visit to Scotland, in a moment of sudden inspiration, I began to write 'The Fire Tree'.Since the age of fourteen, I had aspired to be a writer. Despite at least a dozen attempts, my ambition always ended in dismal failure. My ideas would run out and my inspiration would fade. Writing 'The Fire Tree', however, was completely different. Page after page flowed onto the paper. It was like breaching a dam. Gradually, one book became two, then three, then four and, eventually, a total of seven books! It was only with monumental effort that I compelled myself to stop, there!The author and professor Toni Morrison once said: "If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." I took her at her word.I have two daughters and was raised by a single mother. The female characters who dominate the narrative of my book/s are the kind who are worthy of being role models for young women all over the world. This was not deliberate choice, it was more that the characters simply took over and made me do it!-Stephen King Connection: The famous author Stephen King once sent me one of his stories to proof read for him. I had encountered him on an online discussion and he put me on a circulation list of 25 people whom he had favoured. Unfortunately, I was totally engrossed in writing 'The Fire Tree' at the time and I, somehow, completely forgot to read his work! He never interacted with me again, from that day on, and made a habit of stoically ignoring me.-Mick Jagger Encounter: I once met famous rock star Mick Jagger. This was when he was playing a rock concert in a nearby venue and we bumped into him in a café. While discussing music with a group of people on the next table, somebody mentioned The Rolling Stones and my mother (without recognising him) told him "I wouldn't know Mick Jagger even if I met him." He gleefully bought my mother a pot of tea and my brother & I a bottle of Pepsi, each, without identifying himself. It was only when a group of girls rushed over from another table, after he had left, and asked us what he had said, that we discovered that we had encountered a music legend.