Meet Woking's fabulous independent authors...

Many thanks for supporting the 2^nd Woking Writers’ Week. You will have seen, Woking has a wealth of writing talent and these authors, I am sure, are all grateful for your support. 

The authors’ books are mostly available on Amazon or via their independent websites. Many of the books are also available in the Lionsheart Bookshop, at Commercial Way in Woking. 

I would like to thank all the authors for their participation and support and would urge any local writers, who have not been included on the blog  to get in touch. 

The Woking Writers' Collective is here to support the work of all local authors! 

Best Wishes, Mal Foster (Blog Admin)

Sunny Angel author of 'Wings'
WEBSITE

Sunny Angel Bio: My name is Sunny Angel, I changed my name via deed poll so I could share my story to safeguard others. I now have a new life as well as a new name. I’m 42, I was born in England and I live in Woking, Surrey, the outskirts of London. 

Ever since I was diagnosed with Atrial Septal Defect (Hole in the Heart) my mission was to tell my story before I die, to help inspire others to heal. I didn't want my pain to be wasted. I'm thankful my experiences have helped safeguard many others. I believe Life is for living, not just surviving or existing.

I was sexually abused as a child. At 17, I had a stalker who groomed me through fear of hurting my Family. He raped and tortured me in a locked house for 6 months. Following my escape, my Parents allowed me back only to get rid of me via a Forced Marriage. I wasn’t ready for marriage, so I left to go to a homeless shelter where I did an overdose and attempted suicide. I woke up in the hospital realising death had rejected me too. My Parents then coerced and forced my marriage to a man with disabilities. The Groom’s family wanted ‘Dowry’ and gave me and my family abuse. My Parents collected me after 4 months of marriage and it ended in divorce.

Now, I am a Speaker, Campaigner, Author and Survivor Ambassador. I wrote my Book ‘Wings’ with my friend Paul King. I have had the honour of doing speeches with Nazir Afzal OBE, Jasvinder Sanghera CBE, Family Division Judges of the High Court, Lord and Lady Justices of Appeal, Barristers, Multi-Agency, Social Workers, Drs, Hospital staff, Teachers, University Students, School Parents, Major Crime Unit, Several police forces, Multi-Faith, Inter-Faith and Charities. 

I have worked with seven Universities.

I am a Finalist for the Heroine of the Year Award (Domestic Violence) 2017, Nominated for Author of the Year WLA 2017, Finalist for the British Indian Awards 2018 (Arts & Cultural Awareness), Winner for the Beautiful Survivors World of Honours – Ladies of All Nations International 2018, Winner of the She Inspires Award 2018 and True Honour Award 2019.

‘Wings’ has featured in various Newspapers, National and International. TV, Radios and Documentaries.

Lelita Baldock author of 'Where the Gulls Fall Silent'
WEBSITE

Lelita Baldock Bio: Woking-based Lelita Baldock is an author of historical fiction and crime fiction. She has a passion for dark stories, with an unexpected twist.

It was during her years studying English Literature at University that Lelita discovered her love of all things reading and writing. But it would be another 15 years before she took up the challenge and wrote her own novel.

Her debut novel, the historical fiction Widow's Lace, is an Amazon best-seller.

Her follow up, The Unsound Sister, saw her take a different direction in her writing, trying her hand at crime fiction and has been warmly received globally.

Her third novel, Where the Gulls Fall Silent, a return to historical fiction is available to pre-order now.

Lelita also runs a blog and newsletter featuring fellow authors and other creatives.

JRC Cox author of 'Kings of the Land'

WEBSITE

JRC Cox Bio. I work in the video games industry by day and write for fun in my spare time. Kings of the Land is my first full novel and is the beginning of an action-adventure series I have planned out. Before that, I warmed up with writing three children's books with my daughter, set in our Farland Valley universe.

Alan Dale author of 'Theta Double Dot'
WEBSITE

Alan Dale Bio: Alan Dale is a graduate mechanical engineer, with project management experience in the petrochemical industry. He began writing a few years ago, in his fifties, by enrolling on the Writers Bureau Comprehensive Writing Course. Alan has since had short stories, articles and features published in magazines and online. He lives in Surrey and is a member of the Woking Writers’ Circle.

Mal Foster author of  'Fluke's Cradle'
WEBSITE

Mal Foster Bio: Very much a self-proclaimed “writer of the ordinary man,” Mal Foster was born in 1956 and grew up in Camberley, Surrey before moving to nearby Knaphill in the late 1980s. He had left school just before his sixteenth birthday in 1972 to help support his single mother and younger brother. Around this time he began writing poetry, and indeed, his first poems were published soon after.

Now semi-retired, Mal counts his time as a local journalist as a career highlight. 

Since 2015, Mal has gone on to publish five novels, from which he has enjoyed some great feedback and exposure. His latest, 'Fluke's Cradle', a psychological thriller, was published in April 2022.

Greg Freeman author of 'Marples Must Go!'
WEBSITE

Greg Freeman Bio: Greg Freeman is a former newspaper sub-editor, and now the news and reviews editor for the poetry website Write Out Loud. His debut pamphlet collection, Trainspotters, was published by Indigo Dreams in 2015. He co-runs a monthly open mic poetry night in Woking, Surrey. He watched the second half of England's World Cup drubbing against Germany in a pub in Ludlow with the-then poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy; and with hundreds of others, contributed vocals on Chuck Berry's no 1 hit, My Ding-A-Ling. Greg's latest poetry collection, The Fall of Singapore is now also available (See website)

Jacquelynn Luben author of 'Lost Innocents'
WEBSITE N/A

Jacquelynn Luben Bio: Jacquelynn Luben has been writing for more than thirty years, and has brought out six books - two non-fiction, one children’s book and three novels, her most recent being a crime thriller, Lost Innocents.  It was the death of her second child, a baby daughter, that made writing imperative at that time, and important ever since.

Although originally a Londoner, she now lives in Surrey in the house which she and her husband built and, in which they lived for six months without laid on gas or electricity, as described in her autobiographical book, The Fruit of the Tree.  

Jackie always wanted to write, and had imagined herself sitting with her notepad, her children frolicking around her feet as she scribbled, but instead, she was seduced into office work by three weeks’ paid holiday and luncheon vouchers (who remembers them?), failing to find the magical job which would lead her to a writing career.

Jackie left London for married life in Surrey, and for many years, was her husband’s reluctant secretary/bookkeeper. She dealt with all the administration from home, but she occasionally managed to escape to attend creative writing courses, and eventually, gained a BA (Combined Studies) from Surrey University as a mature student, with a dissertation on the Harry Potter series and other children's books. She now belongs to a reading circle made up of fellow graduates. She strongly believes that writers need to read the work of others, and she sometimes reviews her current choice of book on Amazon (under the penname Minijax) and Goodreads.

Apart from writing, she has also occasionally participated in writing workshops and used to give talks to various organisations on writing topics, prior to the pandemic.

With her children, having fled the nest, she now quite enjoys cooking for two. She also loves her garden, particularly planning what new plants should be tried out, whilst leaving the labour to others, more energetic.

In addition to her published books, Jackie Luben has written many articles and short stories. More than twenty of her short stories are available as Kindle books - some of which are published by Untreed Reads www.untreedreads.com

Sue Mackender author of  'Girl on the Hill'
WEBSITE

Sue Mackender Bio: Sue Mackender sold her successful recruitment business after 29 years to follow her lifelong passion for books and begin a new career as a writer. Sue is often termed as a Grit-Lit writer of Commercial Fiction. She places her heroines in impossible situations where they need to fight their corner to survive.

Her first two novels, Accident of Fate and Accident of Birth have been firm favourites with Book Club readers. She has also been published in America in the Chicken Soup for the Soul anthologies. The Girl on the Hill is Sue’s third novel. In 2019 Sue was awarded the coveted Katie Fforde bursary. 

Sue lives with her husband in Surrey United Kingdom.

Harriet Steel author of 'Cold Case in Nuala'
WEBSITE

Harriet Steel Bio: Educated in the New Forest and London and subsequently graduating from Cambridge with a BA in Law. I practised for many years as a solicitor before becoming a writer. I published several historical novels and a collection of short stories before turning to crime with The Inspector de Silva Mysteries. I live in Surrey with my husband and when I’m not writing, I like to visit art galleries and read about history, activities that inspire my writing. I’m also a keen traveller (although of course, that has to be of the armchair variety at the moment) and an enthusiastic gardener.

The Lionsheart Bookshop, Commercial Way, Woking

The Lionsheart bookshop and café in Woking’s Commercial Way offers a passionately curated range of books, along with artisan coffee and cakes in their comfortable café area.

A selection of books by Woking's authors

As well as being a major hub for stocking books by local authors, they offer book signing events, a book and reading club, as well as gaming evenings including Dungeons & Dragons and War Hammer evenings. 

They also offer 10% off the recommended price retail price on all books. 

The Woking Writer's Collective and its authors are extremely grateful to the friendly and knowledgeable team at Lionsheart for supporting our endeavours. 

Books by Sunny Angel, Lelita Baldock, Greg Freeman, Mal Foster, Jacquelynn Luben and Sue Mackender are all included on their shelves. 

Please support such a great local and independent business!

 Lionsheart Website

 

Nithinz Poetry Anthology - Woking Writes reaches out!

In response to Mal Foster’s ‘Writing as Therapy’ item on Monday, Woking Writes, heard from Nithin R.S. (pictured) who resides in India, proving how far-reaching the book blog has now become. 

He wrote, on the blog saying, “I started writing poetry when I was 14. I then started blogging in 2007. I was depressed for years. I then wrote a lot about politics in the last seven years. Then… I realised poetry can be my therapy. It has brought me a lot of peace of mind.” 

His short message hit a raw nerve, especially upon opening his link at https://nithinzpoetry.blogspot.com/ It proved to be a very special experience and we are more than pleased to invite you on his behalf to enjoy his well-crafted poetry and find out more!   

 

#wokingwrites

H.G. Wells in Woking

H.G. Wells' time in Woking is well documented and has become an important and revered part of the town's folklore. It’s now over 150 years since the birth of Herbert George Wells, renowned for being one of Britain's greatest science fiction writers and public intellectuals.

His arrival at a humble address in Maybury Road in Woking in 1895 inspired some of his greatest works, including The War of the Worlds. Wells made Woking infamous in the late 19th Century by making Horsell Common the location for his great fictional Martian invasion.  A broadcast of part of the book on US radio in the 1950s, notoriously caused panic across the nation as listeners were led to believe the invasion was real!

An original illustration ‘On Horsell Common’ © Rick Fairlamb’

 

More about H.G. Wells...

H.G. Wells arrived in Woking in May 1895. He lived at ‘Lynton’, Maybury Road, Woking, which is now numbered 141 Maybury Road. Today, there is an English Heritage blue plaque displayed on the front wall of the property, which marks his period of residence. It was while he resided at ‘Lynton’ where he spent his mornings writing, revising proofs, and dealing with correspondence, and his afternoons walking or cycling in the surrounding countryside. Wells’ stay in Woking, though lasting less than a year and half, proved an extremely creative period perhaps the most productive, of his whole writing career.

A humble abode - H.G. Well's former residence

H.G. Wells famously wrote - “Our withdrawal to Woking was a fairly cheerful adventure … We lived very happily and industriously in the Woking home for a year and a half.”

“We furnished a small resolute semi-detached villa with a minute greenhouse in the Maybury Road facing the railway line, where all night long the goods trains shunted and bumped and clattered – without serious effect upon our healthy slumbers.”

“Close at hand in those days was a pretty and rarely used canal amidst pine woods, a weedy canal, beset with loose-strife, spiræa, forget-me-nots and yellow water lilies, upon which one could be happy for hours in a hired canoe, and in all directions stretched open and undeveloped heathland, so that we could walk and presently learn to ride bicycles and restore our broken contact with the open air.”

Shortly after his arrival in Woking, H.G. married his second wife, Amy Catherine Robbins (known simply as ‘Jane’).

He added... “I learnt to ride my bicycle upon sandy tracks with none but God to help me; he chastened me considerably in the process, and after a fall one day I wrote down a description of the state of my legs which became the opening chapter of the Wheels of Chance … The bicycle in those days was still very primitive. The diamond frame had appeared but there was no freewheel. You could only stop and jump off when the treadle was at its lowest point, and the brake was an uncertain plunger upon the front wheel. Consequently, you were often carried on beyond your intentions. The bicycle was the swiftest thing upon the roads in those days, there were as yet no automobiles and the cyclist had a lordliness, a sense of masterful adventure, that has gone from him altogether now.”

Herbert George Wells

A creative and productive period...

While residing in Woking, The Time Machine (1895) was published. Herbert George Wells also completed The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), began and wrote much of The War of the Worlds (1898) and The Invisible Man (1897), and began writing When the Sleeper Awakes.

The original idea for The War of the Worlds came during one of his walks when his brother Frank speculated about what would happen if aliens suddenly descended upon the scene and started attacking people.

You can find more on the Celebrate Woking website ‘Woking and War of the Worlds’ and ‘Woking’s Wellsian Martian’ where there is more information about the influences and storyline behind this book.

Also during his time in Woking, Wells wrote also The Wonderful Visit and The Wheels of Chance, a pioneering cycling novel, and started Love and Mr. Lewisham.

Looking back in 1898, Wells recorded that during the past few years he had been a creative writer working “at a ghastly pace” and “writing away for dear life” to make his name and fortune. By the time he left Woking his career as a full-time writer was – to quote from his autobiography – “fairly launched at last” and “we were ‘getting on’”.

Moreover, he was earning a substantial income. Reportedly, his literary earnings in 1896 were £1,056, which is worth approximately £118,000 in present-day terms!

* Reproduced courtesy: Exploring Surrey’s Past and H.G.Wells – The Martian Diaries.

** (It is important to note, that various versions of this article appear across the internet, some information may differ).

Jeff Wayne's, spectacular musical and stage version of The War of the Worlds

Lelita Baldock - Where the Gulls Fall Silent

Woking’s Lelita Baldock is an author of historical fiction and crime fiction. She has a passion for dark stories, with an unexpected twist. It was during her years studying English Literature at University that Lelita discovered her love of all things reading and writing. But it would be another 15 years before she would take up the challenge and write her own novel. Her debut novel, the historical fiction Widow’s Lace, is an Historical Australian and Oceanian Fiction Amazon best-seller. 

Her follow up, The Unsound Sister, saw her take a different direction in her writing, trying her hand at crime fiction and has been warmly received globally.  

Lelita Baldock, the author of  'Where the Gulls Fall Silent'

Her third novel, Where the Gulls Fall Silent, a traditional historical fiction set in mid-1800s Cornwall, is out now… 

... A small fishing village, a shunned healer, her daughter, tradition, superstition and a world set to change. Kerensa lives with her mother, the healer Meliora, on the edge of a small fishing community on the Cornish Coast. The townsfolk, who work the fish runs of pilchard and mackerel that make their way up the Atlantic coast, call on her mother for help with their ailments, but never for her company. Kerensa does not know why. Curses and superstitions whisper around her as she grows into a competent young woman, fighting for her place amongst the people of Porth Gwynn. But what has caused the rift between her and the town? And can their traditional way of life survive in the face of changing winds? 

Where the Gulls Fall Silent is a remarkable piece of historical fiction that explores the lives of the fishermen and women who made their living from the rough Atlantic Ocean; the hardship they faced; the secrets that divided them; and the community spirit that pulled them through. A story of love, loss, hope and second chances.

BUY THE BOOK 

60 Second Interview 

1) When did you start writing your new book? 

I started writing Where the Gulls Fall Silent in November 2020. We had just returned to lockdown, and I decided I wanted to be as positive as possible whilst restricted to ‘at home’ activities. Things started really well, but unfortunately my cat seriously injured her knee just before Christmas. Caring for her had to come first and so my spare time to write was greatly diminished. But I didn’t let it stop me altogether, and kept writing, even small amounts as often as I could. Proof that even when time and commitments are stacked against you, the small actions add up to success. 

2) What was the inspiration behind the book? 

The idea from the story was strongly influenced by the history of Cornwall and it’s fishing heritage. My husband and I holidayed at Port Gaverne in 2019 and I fell in love with the rugged and beautiful coastline. Spending slow, relaxed days exploring the nearby towns, meeting the locals and hearing about the history of the ports got my creative mind spinning and even before we left for home the first pieces of the plot were developing. 

3) Can you describe your route to publication from concept to completed novel? 

Where the Gulls Fall Silent followed much the same path from concept to publication as my previous two novels. Once the initial ideas began to form, I gave myself time to plot and plan. I am definitely a planner. I develop the key events that are needed for my story and a basic overview of how the plot will move between them. Then I create my characters, in detail, and work on how they would react in the key moments of the story, to give them authenticity. Once I have a chapter-by-chapter outline, I get writing. My first draft is invariably loose and rough, but I get the bones of the story out. Then I use drafts 2 and 3 to really work on the story and refine the flow. For this novel I decided not to try querying with Literary Agents and instead went straight to self-publishing. I asked a dear friend of mine to paint an image for the front cover and I was absolutely thrilled by the result. Putting her incredible image on my novel really brought the whole story together, ready to publish through Amazon.  

4) What ideas do you have for any future books?  

I am currently nearing the completion of what will be my fourth novel, another historical fiction. The story will be set in Post-Napoleonic War France, and involves smuggling, fetishism and espionage – but that’s all I am ready to share at this point!  

5) Which publishing services (if any) would you recommend?  

So far in my career I have only used Amazon to publish my novels. It is easy to use, clearly set out and very powerful. Plus, it has a large market share and reaches a wide audience.

#wokingwrites

THE ASYLUM SOUL is seven years old today!

19th May sees the seventh anniversary of Mal Foster’s debut novel, ‘The Asylum Soul’, and incredibly, its popularity is still soaring…

“I think out of all my work, it will always be remembered as my stand-out publication, chiefly due to its subject matter,” said Mal in a recent radio interview.

The novel tells the tragic and heart-wrenching tale of a young Tommy Compton, who is incarcerated at the Brookwood Lunatic Asylum in Knaphill, near Woking in Surrey. His only ailment… a simple speech defect which these days could easily be cured with modern medical intervention.

The book is written in a diary format and has caught the imaginations of many people who probably would not normally read a full-length novel. A fact that has delighted Mal immensely... “That’s exactly what I was intending to do at the outset, and it's great that people are still enjoying the storyline and asking questions about the characters, seven years after the book was originally published.” 

More about the book…

Lunatic asylums were an inescapable hangover of Victorian Britain and they harnessed a certain stigma borne from an environment of fear and shame as well as the great unknown.

For many families the asylum system helped create their darkest ‘skeletons’, and for Thomas (Tommy) Compton, it was unforgiving. In 1929 he was twenty-three years old when his mother had him sent to The Brookwood Lunatic Asylum in Surrey, his only ailment - a simple speech defect.

Based on Tommy’s own diary notes, The Asylum Soul is a disturbing account of an innocent young life ripped apart by unthinkable institutional failings, false hope and ultimate family betrayal.

What people are saying...

"The best book I've read for a very long time. Film to follow?" - Colin Hampton 

“I have just finished the book, I couldn't put it down. I'm lying in bed with tears rolling down my cheek. It was so powerful and moving. One of the best books I have ever read - so sad, funny in parts and a tragic end. So much credit goes to you for writing such an amazing book.” – Andy Carless

"One of my favourite books, EVER!" - Annie Wheeler

"An awesome read." - Gladys Hayward

'The Asylum Soul' is available from Amazon in eBook and paperback. The paperback can also be bought locally at the Lionsheart Bookshop at Commercial Way in Woking.

BUY NOW

The old Brookwood Lunatic Asylum in Knaphill

#wokingwrites

 

Four Poems by Write Out Loud's Greg Freeman

Greg Freeman lives in Byfleet, and is a former newspaper sub-editor, and now the news and reviews editor for the poetry website Write Out Loud. His debut pamphlet collection, Trainspotters, was published by Indigo Dreams in 2015.

He co-runs a monthly open mic poetry night in Woking, Surrey. He watched the second half of England's World Cup drubbing against Germany in a pub in Ludlow with the-then poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy; and with hundreds of others, contributed vocals on Chuck Berry's no 1 hit, My Ding-A-Ling.

He has recently published two pamphlet collections of his poems, Marples Must Go and The Fall of Singapore.

Greg Freeman - Poet

 

CHAGRIN FALLS

A suburb of Cleveland, Ohio,
of four thousand souls
that takes its name from the river
that runs through its heart.

The town and its waterfalls
are referenced in a song
by Canadian rock band
The Tragically Hip. 

I’ve never been there,
and I guess I never will,
which is a matter
of some regret.  

Give half a chance
I’m sure I would have loitered
in the Fireside Book Shop,
with its three floors of books.


MEETING SIMON ARMITAGE

It wasn’t exactly a coincidence:
we were heading in the same direction.
Slightly stooped figure, rucksack
on his shoulder, just ahead of me.
I thought at once: That’s him.

The future laureate was startled
to be accosted by this looming stranger
on a traffic island in the centre
of Winchester, but after clarifying
that he didn’t mind his picture 

being taken at the festival, we fell into step
and conversation, and I mentioned
– and this was a coincidence –
that I’d be in Marsden
the following morning, at an open-mic 

at the Railway inn. One of my regular
drinking haunts, he reminisced. 
The ice was well and truly broken.
Just at that moment we reached
the festival steps, and he was whisked 

away by the director, where he spoke later
of his poems engraved into Pennine
rocks, and how they might last there
for a thousand years, if there was
still people there to see them … 

Time, gentlemen, please.
The kind of bloke you’d share
a beer with down the pub.
Sadly I never got to ask:
What are you having, Simon?

FRAMLINGHAM

I sing of a castle (and so has
Ed Sheeran, as it happens).
Built by one of William’s
Normans, King John’s knights

lay siege, capturing it
In just two days, the year
after he caved in
and signed Magna Carta. 

Bloody Mary sought refuge there,
rallying troops and her confidence,
before heading to London
to claim the throne, and seal
the fate of a teenage girl.
The people cheering the rightful heir
didn’t foresee the martyrs.
Perhaps they did, and didn’t care. 

Next century a benefactor
purchased the thirteen towers,
flint curtain wall and Tudor chimneys;
ordered in his will that the buildings
within be levelled, a workhouse
constructed in their place.
These days the ‘Fairtrade town’
is known locally as ‘Fram’. 

The mere has shrunk
since the Middle Ages.
Jackdaws patrol the jagged stones,
a patchwork of history
stitched together once more
by English Heritage; jigsaw puzzle
of ascendancies, misfortunes,
triumphs, fatal falls from grace.

BACK AT THE MATCH
after Philip Larkin

The beckoning floodlights
still work their magic,
early October’s comforting chill,
scarf snug round the neck.
Blood pulses through arteries,
moving as it should. Heart lifts
with every step towards the stadium. 

An old pal texts me from
another game up north.
The name rings a bell.
He’s at a club where my job
was to phone over a few pars
for the Saturday Pink
from a kiosk outside the ground. 

Games that I didn’t give a toss about,
dictated to a bored copy taker,
wishing I was somewhere else,
roaring my own team on to promotion.
But then, I remember Larkin’s sigh:
it wasn’t the place’s fault I didn’t care.
A goalless draw can happen anywhere. 

The cover of Greg's latest poetry collection,
The Fall of Singapore

Sue Mackender talks about her writing journey through Woking

Woking author, Sue Mackender takes us on her unique writing journey as she revisits some famous names and places and tells us what inspires her writing…. 

Sue Mackender, author of The Girl on the Hill

“Reading a book has an amazing range of hidden health benefits, including increased emotional intelligence, a boost in brain activity (which can help to delay the onset of dementia), an aid to better sleep and it can even improve our confidence and self-esteem, providing the grounding we need to pursue our goals and make life decisions.” I couldn’t agree more. My writing day starts with several hours on the keyboard followed by a smidgen of housework and a walk which usually involves water as I find it’s a great place to think and iron out plot tangles. Then back for some editing, prepping dinner, and another quick spin around the garden, after that, a relaxing glass of something to underline my day.

Goldsworth Park Lake, Woking

Goldsworth Lake in Woking is a great place to ponder. I’m currently editing book two of a series, the follow up to The Girl on the Hill, but my brain is buzzing with an idea I have about - well, you’ll have to wait and see. But, it will be in my usual gritty Domestic Noir genre. 

You will often find me at Squires Café in Littlewick Road. A delightful space where I can get inspiration, or unlimited tea and coffee without moving, which is why I have to get my backside moving with a walk. Horsell Common or Heather Farm is a great place to cogitate even if you don’t own a dog. 

The Red Lion, Horsell

The Red Lion, in Horsell, is where the amazing team always find me a quiet corner to work in come rain or shine. Wandering around Woking I often think about the famous writer who lived here, apart from those at Woking Writes Gate of course. Most spoken about are HG Wells and Hilary Mantel, but what about the least discussed? Here are a few for quiz nights or dinner party discussions. 

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw lived in Woking. In 1898 he married Charlotte Payne-Townsend and from 1901 to 1903, they lived at Maybury Knowle, off Maybury Hill. There, Shaw completed 'Man and Superman' and followed his hobby of photography, taking pictures of himself and the locality.  

Lady Margaret Beaufort

Our earliest Woking author is the formidable Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII and owner of Woking Palace. Apart from being involved in political scheming, she was also a lady of devotion and culture. She translated the 'Mirror of Gold' into English, also sponsoring William Atkinson’s translation of 'The Imitation of Christ', in 1502 and 1506.

Alfred Bestall's Rupert Bear

 

Alfred Bestall was the author and illustrator of the 'Rupert' books issued in the 'Daily Express.' He was the son of a Methodist minister who lived in York Road with his parents after demobilisation in 1919. He is buried in Brookwood Cemetery.   Phew! 

So, history lesson over, unless you haven’t read Mal Foster’s The Asylum Soul A fascinating tale about Brookwood’s former lunatic asylum and the people who shouldn’t have been incarcerated there.

I haven’t managed to feature Woking in any of my books as yet. Accident of Fate was set in Malta, Sussex, and Berkshire. The sequel to Accident of Birth was set in the wonderful regency town of Sidmouth in Devon, Malta, and Sardinia… See what I mean about water always somewhere in my life from destressing to surrounding my plots?" 

BUY THE BOOK

"Last but not least Lionsheart Bookshop-Café stock local Woking Authors books - including my latest novel, The Girl on the Hill." 

www.suemackender.com

 Twitter: @SueMackenderAuthor

 FB :Sue Mackender Author