The following story is true. This book is about my children’s mysteries written between the ages of 9 and 16. The years would have been 1975 to 1982. During this time, I was completely oblivious to a terrible truth about myself. I was living in Daler Cottage, the given name of my childhood home. At the age of 19, I would start a novel called The Lessons. This novel was fuelled by a burning fantasy world that was eating me up inside. For the next thirty years, I would struggle with this novel, unaware of this truth. The story of The Lessons is covered in my other book. Prior to my novel-writing phase, I was writing these mysteries as well as painting and devising plays. I kept a diary between 1977 and 1988, during which I attained a degree in Fine Art. I would continue to write and paint for many years to come. My diaries illuminate the circumstances surrounding the writing of my children’s stories. Unknown to me, clues to this horrific truth have leaked into all my creations like oil bubbling up through the ground. At the age of 51, I finally learned the truth. This book describes the decoding process to find the true meaning behind my children’s mysteries. Due to the nature of this book, names and certain details have been altered in order to protect identities and I am writing under a pseudonym. With images throughout.

Hindbury’s Run was written in 1978. I would have been 13. I was living in a run-down cottage with my parents and siblings at the time. My childhood appeared innocent, cosseted; I kept a diary, wrote stories and painted. On the lead-up, I suffered terrible health niggles. I have unsettled nights, am forgetful, have ‘ulcer pains in my limbs’ and depression. Hindbury’s Run appears to be nothing untoward. It is an animal story starring sheepdogs who fear a raid on their farm. Little did I realise a sinister message runs beneath every paragraph. A saboteur also lurks within the farm animal company. This saboteur doesn’t want me to write this story. Why? I wonder. And why do cripples, drowning, disfigured faces and deaths in caves recur in my stories? Three years previously, I had been reading George Orwell’s Animal Farm. It echoes events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 where brutal dictatorship results. At the time, a demon in my head made life hell. I avoided my bed at night and kept the lights on. I now realise Animal Farm had provided subconscious notions of an appalling past. Hindbury’s Run appears to have resulted, only the theme for my farm story vastly differs to Orwell’s. My other book, Tales from Daler Cottage uncovers the message within this story and my other children’s stories. But the reason for my PTSD will be given at the end of this book. Hindbury’s Run would remain in the dark until the summer of 2017. My story has undergone necessary edits preserving the story and the tone of the young writer that I was. With illustrations.

This book is about my kidnap thriller, The Locked Door. It is my second of four novels and none are really novels at all but something far more sinister. The idea was confinement. Why, I didn’t know; I just felt a need to express it. Naturally, I made it into a kidnap thriller. During my writing, I connected with this ‘strand’. This strand grew addictive, compulsive, shameful, deathly and creepy. Little did I realize the source of this strand. Not until the age of 51 when I learned something truly terrible about myself. The précis to The Locked Door reads: “This hostage has a secret. “Gemma would appear to have everything: money, a devoted husband, a lively son, and a fulfilling career. But her life takes a nasty turn when she is kidnapped and trapped in an upstairs room by three thugs demanding a huge ransom from her rich father. “In a bid to escape, she cuts a hole in the bedroom floor. From there, Gemma spies on her kidnappers below. That's when their hostage starts playing games with them. That’s when her spying pulls her into a treacherous psychological game that endangers her sanity.” As the story progressed, the captive’s life began to feel as real as mine. She became like an avatar that I would enter when I craved escapism from my otherwise mundane life. With the terrible truth now known, I have analysed The Locked Door. I am appalled at what I have found. This novel appears to possess a shadow novel beneath the apparent one. During the writing, I was completely oblivious to it. In order to convey the intensity of my other world, I have included illustrations and diary excerpts within this account.

This story is true. This book is about my novel Nadia. I published this novel in the spring of 2015. By this time, I had written three other crime thrillers. Nadia is my fourth and final one. Nadia was first conceived when I was seventeen. The year was 1982 and I had just begun art school. Thirty-three years later, I would write it. The story seemed to bear no relevance to my life at all. A playboy billionaire is involved in a horrific car crash, propelling his mystery passenger into a nightmare. During the writing, I felt geared, prompted by a force. I had believed this to be routine writer’s itch. What I didn’t realise was that an undercurrent existed in this novel. This undercurrent was rendered invisible to the novel I believed I was writing. The same thing has happened to all my novels. A scene in Nadia would open my eyes. It was autumn 2016 and the life I had believed in would be destroyed. Five years after beginning Nadia I am ready to analyse it. I have been through this process three times already with my previous novels. All have been harrowing and all have given up hard truths. As this is a true story, I have included relevant diary entries. These inform upon the force that drives this novel as well as tell its own story.

The sub-title of this deeply moving and compelling work defines it as a message to mankind from the transcendental world thus placing it firmly among the very few books which are held to be of supernatural origin. 'Toward the Light' is about love and forgiveness. It is about peace and the unification of a divided humanity, and about achieving a more complete understanding of ourselves. For some this book will be controversial reading. It explains such things as the true nature of Good and Evil; the mystery of Reincarnation; and the consequences of the Law of Reciprocal Action (The Law of Karma). It answers theological questions such as how can we reconcile belief in God who is all-good and all-powerful with the existence of a world that contains so much that is incontestably evil? It is, quite simply, a work of revealed knowledge that bears on the fundamental problems of life -- and upon the reality of death. The book offers a message to all -- regardless of race, religion or creed. All that is asked is that the reader should keep an open mind and be guided by his or her conscience. That being the case, 'Toward the Light' will illuminate the spirit of all who open themselves to its message, for its message is truly a gift of love to every human being.

When her friend's cat, Kaapi, gets lost, Dip Dip goes off to look for it--on the road, inside dustbins, under bushes, everywhere. And when Kaapi finally climbs up a tree and can't come down the only thing to do is...?

This is the first cultural and literary history of India and the First World War, with archival research from Europe and South Asia.