The Completed Books

Believe it or not, most books aren't just thrown together in a haphazard way. They take a great deal of planning, consideration and research before the first word is written.

Having said that, when Ian wrote The Cider Shed he was fortunate enough to have his very own Uncle Geoffrey whose brains he could pick when he needed to.

Behind each of the Bernard Baker novels is at least three months' research.
This research involves some trawling around the Internet but most of it is spent reading and talking to others to whom the subjects mean a great deal, or who have a special interest in them. This is important as you can condense a lifetime's work into a few interesting conversations.

I find research a delightful aspect to the creative process.
It has never failed to open my eyes on whatever subject I am looking into. When I researched China for
Bernard Baker In Pekin Tom
I was pitifully ignorant of Chinese social and political history. What I discovered fundamentally changed my
opinion of that country, which in turn changed the direction of the novel.

It is only when Ian feels that he has an accurate and balanced insight into what he is intending to write about that he starts to work on the structure of the book and, most importantly, the characters that are required to make the narrative come alive.

Characters have to be real. Real, as I see it, is a personality unique to that character.
They are differentiated from their companions by the way they look, the way they dress, by the way they
behave but most importantly they become unique by what they say and how they say it.

The Cider Mill
This novel is about stewardship of land, and the responsibility that people feel for the soil they have worked all their life; above all it is a story about the strength of the bond of family.
Tyndall Hayes is a farm on the banks of the River Wye in rural Herefordshire. It is a farm that the Hoarton family has tended over two centuries. Geoffrey Hoarton is the last in the line of Hoartons. He lives on the farm with his housekeeper, Mrs Jones, a herd of dairy cows and a dog called Dougal. His dilemma is that he has no son or daughter to pass the farm on to but he does have a niece, Helen Taylor.
Helen is married to Alistair and they have three children, Penny, Ben and Alice. The bulk of the story takes place during a visit the Taylors make one Christmas and tells how Geoffrey tries to get Helen and Alistair to leave a comfortable, well-paid life in London for a farm that is run down and heading for bankruptcy.
As the book progresses the reader becomes a part of the farm, walks beside the characters, learns a bit about farming, wildlife and gets to hear some of Geoffrey's folklore and tales of ancient kings, queens and witches.

The Bernard Baker series
This series of books takes a humorous look at the fall of the British Empire viewed through the eyes of a well meaning, if gung-ho cavalry officer, Bernard Baker and his batman Sam Johnston. The series will eventually cover the time period of 1898 through to 1939.
They have been written chronologically and therefore best read in order, although each book does stand on its own.
Bernard is a patriarch who believes that the sun will never set on the British Empire. Sam on the other hand is not so sure, well he probably hasn't given it much thought to be honest.
Bernard starts off as a young officer, keen for adventure and to do his bit for Queen and country. But, as the books progress, he has his sharp corners of youthful conceit and foolhardiness rubbed smooth by the passage of time and experience.
Sam on the other hand comes from the Essex marshes and has an entirely different set of morals. Where Bernard rushes in; Sam thinks twice and sets up a water tight alibi.
Together, the flaws in each other's character work to create a duo whose bond of friendship sees them into and out of the stickiest situations.
Every hero needs his nemesis and Bernard is no exception. Behind every whiff of corruption and evil deed lurks Jeremy Blasford-Smythe (JBS). JBS has a batman too and his name is Lester. JBS will be the next Earl of Foulsham and stands to inherit more than a stately pile in Norfolk.
The books are not a serious exploration of the fall of empire but use this as a backdrop for the situations our heroes find themselves in and the adventures that inevitably follow.
Having said that it would of course be impossible to ignore the social and political reasons behind all the military actions that the British government felt it had to support

Bernard Baker In Cairo To Khartoum
July to September 1898.
Here we meet a fresh faced Bernard on his way to see action for the first time. He has just received his commission from Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and has been sent to see service with the Third African Cavalry. The Third form part of the expeditionary force under the command of General Kitchener sent to avenge the death of General Gordon some thirteen years earlier. Even before they sail from Southampton, Bernard becomes suspicious of a telegram JBS is sending to a man in Cairo. As the pages slip by our heroes get beaten up, fight crocodiles and pay a visit to the pyramids. But just what is JBS up to and can Bernard and Sam sort it out before it is too late?
The Battle of Omdurman was a victory for the tenacity of the British. It was the climax of years of planning and preparation to wrestle back control of Khartoum and The Sudan from the Dervish Horde. After all the planning and hard work the action was over in under a day. British losses were negligible but the tribes that formed the Dervish Horde were slaughtered. It is estimated that eleven thousand were killed for the loss of about five hundred British.
This book is about misguided loyalty and the triumph of bravado over experience; essentially the folly of youth.

Bernard Baker In Cape Crusader
October 1899 to February 1900.
After recovering from their time in Egypt and The Sudan, Bernard and Sam are posted to Kimberley, the heart of the diamond mining industry, to defend British interests against the Boer.
The official reason for attacking the Afrikaners was that Britain was imposing the abolition of slavery. The real reason for the conflict was to further the interests of empire and in particular that of Cecil Rhodes.
On the voyage down to Cape Town, the SS Bridgewater stops off at Saint Thomas, now Sâo Tomé, an island off the coast of Gabon. Saint Thomas was notorious as a clearing house for slaves en route to the Caribbean and America.
The ship sails on to Cape Town and our heroes get sent up to Kimberley. While they are there the Boer lay siege to the town. Bernard gets frustrated by the lack of initiative of the commanding officer Colonel Hubbert-Browne and so takes it upon himself to take the fight to the Boer. To do this he must disobey the orders of Hubbert-Brown and Sam is reluctant to follow, fearing a court martial.
The siege is eventually broken and Sam's fears are realised. Bernard and Sam find themselves imprisoned facing charges of desertion at a court martial hastily convened by Hubbert-Browne.
The second South African War lasted three years and was the first time the world saw just how vulnerable the British Empire was. Four hundred and fifty thousand British and Empire troops were sent to fight just fifty thousand determined Afrikaners. In the end the Afrikaners, led by Paul Kruger, negotiated a deal that gave them autonomy and freedom within the boundaries of The Transvaal and The Orange Free State.
This book is about discrimination and determination. It also touches on the poor command and control that the British army exhibited through arrogance. I would strongly recommend that you read 'The Boer War' by Thomas Pakenham to find out more about this largely forgotten corner of British history.

Bernard Baker In Pekin Tom
Shanghai and Hong Kong, February and March 1900.
No sooner have our heroes got out of the siege of Kimberley than they are dispatched on an undercover mission in China. They have to find out just what or who is behind The Boxer rebellion.
Bernard and Sam encounter not one Blasford-Smythe but two of them. While having a suit tailored for him in Calcutta, Bernard runs into Earl Foulsham, JBS' father and his long suffering valet, Sidney.
En Route to Shanghai, the ship docks in Hong Kong and Bernard and Sam follow the Earl to a clandestine meeting with a German General. Once in Shanghai Bernard and Sam rendezvous with their contacts Ace and Lusty Foxswell who run an art import and export business that is the cover for covert operation in China. It goes without saying that our heroes fall foul of a plot to thwart the Earl and JBS' own plan, and end up in the clutches of JBS once more.
The Boxer Rebellion was a peasant uprising against non Chinese people and interests.
At first there was only tentative official support but as nothing happened in China without official blessing it is difficult to believe that it could have happened without the blessing of the Dowager Empress Cixi. Eventually Chinese troops laid siege to the Legation Compound in Pekin, now Beijing. A Joint Allied Relief Expedition of some twenty-two thousand troops was sent to break the siege, which it did on the fifteenth of August 1900.