NOVEMBER 2025

November 2025

Following the launch of my new novel, UNIVERSITY SECRETS I decided to write a conclusion to my Teacher series. This was in response to the countless emails from fans who asked what might have happened to all their favourite characters, in particular, Vera Forbes-Kitchener, Ruby Dainty and, of course, Jack and Beth Sheffield.

The working title is ‘VILLAGE CHRISTMAS’ and is set in Ragley village in December 1999 just before the dawn of the new millennium.

It was an interesting experience as many of the characters have moved on in their lives but all the villagers unite in times of trouble and there’s certainly plenty of that in this novel! It’s clearly a different story with a festive theme, so we shall have to see if it finds a home somewhere.

With Christmas adverts suddenly dominating our televisions we experienced our first snow and it’s always fun joining in with the youngsters and making our first snowman of winter. I also had the opportunity to visit the Botanic Gardens in Glasgow which was a remarkable experience.

Looking back on this year, one of the highlights was Penguin’s 90th Anniversary gathering in the Design Centre in London. The organisation was superb and the venue absolutely perfect. It was good to meet up with other authors and the first I met on arrival was Michael Cordy, the thriller writer, and we discussed his latest novel, the international best seller, Manhattan Down. It was also fun to spot the various luminaries including Stephen Fry, Clare Balding and Michael Morpurgo. I also enjoyed a brief word with Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher novels. So it turned out to be a very special evening.

Meanwhile, I’ve had several requests for speaking engagements and these will be published on the Events page of this website. Off now to purchase some Christmas wrapping paper!

Best wishes,

Jack