Book Title: Thames Valley Tales
Author: Tim Walker
Publication Date: 20th March 2023
Publisher: Independently published
Formats: Kindle; paperback; audiobook; Kindle Unlimited
Length: 153 paperback pages / 44,000 words
Audiobook: 2 hrs 40 mins
Genre: contemporary fiction with references to history and legend
Book Description
Thames Valley Tales is a light-hearted yet thought-provoking collection of nine stories by Tim Walker. These tales are based on the author's experience of living in Thames Valley towns, and combine contemporary themes with the rich history and legends associated with an area stretching from the heart of rural England to London.
The collection includes The Goldfish Bowl, in which an unlikely friendship is struck between a pop star and an arms dealer in Goring-on-Thames; Maidenhead Thicket, where the ghost of legendary highwayman, Dick Turpin surprises a Council surveyor; The White Horse intrigue surrounding the dating of the famous chalk carving on the Berkshire Downs; Murder at Henley Regatta, a beguiling whodunit, and The Colnbrook Caper, a pacey crime thriller. Thames Valley Tales starts with The Grey Lady, a ghost story from the English Civil War, and features The Merry Women of Windsor in a whimsical updating of Shakespeare's classic play. The Author’s Note explains the context and reasoning behind each story.
Thames Valley Tales oscillates from light-hearted to dark historical and at times humorous stories ideally suited to bedtime or holiday reading that will amuse, delight and, hopefully, inform the reader about the rich history of the Thames Valley as it winds 215 miles from the Gloucestershire countryside, past many towns and villages to London and out to the North Sea. The book also has a factual chapter and map of the Thames Valley showing the towns through which the 184-mile Thames Path passes. It’s a walk-through history and the natural beauty of England that will inspire and captivate.
Thames Valley Tales, second edition, is available in audiobook, Kindle e-book and paperback from Amazon worldwide, and can also be found on Kindle Unlimited.
Extract
In reality, a team of archaeologists did visit The White Horse at Uffington in 1990 to date the chalk carving. In the story, whilst conducting their study, a local man attempts to influence team leader Jilly with talk of a society of ancient keepers…
That evening, Jilly and her three student companions sat at a solid oak dining table under low beams in the old pub. Fidgety Daniel read out loud from the back of the menu:
“‘The Fox and Hounds, the friendly traditional pub in charming Uffington, South Oxfordshire, with unrivalled views to the Ridgeway and ancient White Horse.’ No mention of the giant stag beetles in the bedrooms; surely a feature.”
The door opened and six people entered. Jilly recognised Bill, who winked at her and pointed to a door on the far side of the room. The group chatted and laughed whilst buying drinks at the bar, and then filed through the door to a private function room. Bill hung back and tried to catch Jilly’s eye. In the end, he came over to their table and said: “Good evening miss, I hope you’re enjoying your stay here. I’ve told our group that we might be joined by an interested visitor I met on the Ridgeway, so you’re welcome to sit in and listen.”
“What’s this, Jilly?” asked Daniel.
“Erm...everyone, this is Bill. I met him this afternoon on the Ridgeway and he has invited me to sit in on a meeting on.... local history... with a group of locals. I’m not sure about attending...”
“Oh, go on!” Daniel’s youthful enthusiasm spilled out. “You’re bound to hear something of interest, something we might be able to investigate. What have you got to lose?”
“OK, I guess you lot want to get rid of teacher. Alright then, thanks Bill, I’ll join you, provided you don’t mind if I leave when I want.”
“That’s fine, miss. Of course, you can leave whenever you like. Bring your drink and follow me.”
The local history group were sitting around a table covered with a white table cloth at the centre of which sat a crystal ball. Jilly had to suppress a giggle as she was shown to a chair next to a small table near the window. Bill, somewhat dramatically, drew the curtains and switched on a standing lamp in the corner, giving a low level of lighting in the panelled room. He briefly introduced Jilly to the group. She didn’t elaborate and sat back in her chair, sipping her glass of wine.
The weathered faces of the group smiled at her, in a strange, knowing way, and promptly turned away to the business of the evening. An older woman, wearing a black headscarf, asked them all to join hands and close their eyes. Jilly watched on, as the old woman started to sway and chant softly, in what she thought was a form of the Celtic language spoken by the ancient Britons. She searched her memory vaults for her modest Brythonic lexicon and tuned in to the mutterings of the old woman.
The floorboards creaked as the old building settled, adding to the atmosphere in the room. Jilly sipped her drink and leaned forward, trying to hear what was being chanted, translating as best she could. It sounded like an incantation to ancients in the spirit world, imploring them to manifest themselves and talk of the White Horse. Did she imagine the curtain flap and a breeze blow across the room?
Suddenly, the old woman tensed her body and raised her voice: “Come forth and speak!” The crystal ball seemed to glow, and the room fell silent for a few seconds. The group of six seemed to be in a trance, eyes closed, swaying slightly; holding hands on the table cloth. “Speak of the White Horse!” the woman shrieked.
Book Review
Review for 'Thames Valley Tales' by Tim Walker.
Read and reviewed for Tim Walker and Donna Morfett, DLM Book Tours.
Publication date 9th September 2022.
This is the first book I have read by this author.
This novel consists of 9 short stories. The stories are short in length so easy to read 'just one more story' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!
A beautiful collection of 9 short stories filled with emotion from heartbreak to love, sadness to new beginnings. As I always do with books of short stories or poems I will rate them individually and then give an overall rating at the end. These are the stories that are included in order, a short description of what they are about and my rating:
🧓 'The Grey Lady': This was one of the 'spookier' stories of them all and tells the story of Jan and Nigel who decide to stay at an inn after having a few drinks at a wedding. The innkeeper tells Nigel the history of the Inn and all about 'The Grey Lady' who was the previous innkeeper's wife during the times of Oliver Cromwell murdered on the nearby bridge along with her husband and is said to haunt the inn. A heart-breaking and chilling story and the perfect way to kick off this collection of short stories. I rate this story 4/5.
🚣 'The Goldfish Bowl': This short story is about the friendship between an arms dealer and a pop star after they meet at a prestigious rowing club that they are both trying to become members of. This story takes quite an unexpected turn. I rate this story 3/5
🐴 'The White Horse': This was one of the stories I enjoyed the most as I have actually seen the white horse so I could picture it more in my mind and the story itself was intriguing. jane is leading a team of archaeologists who are trying to date the timing that the white horse was formed and meets a local from the history group who gets her talking to a medium. I loved the author's history notes on this story and the twist so this one had to get a 5/5 from me.
🗡 'Murder At The Henley Regatta': This was another of my favourites and tells us the stories of Mike who is a security guard for the regatta and Clare who wants to meet her waste of space father and tell him exactly what she thinks of him. Their lives collide in an excellent twist. This story gets a 5/5 from me.
💍 'Maidenhead Thicket': The fourth story in this book is based on the story if the highwayman Dick Turpin along with some information on some dodgy goings on in Maidenhead Thicket that Tim tells us more about in his notes at the end of the book. This story led me onto my own research of Dick Turpin which I thoroughly enjoyed doing and learning some interesting facts about him. This one gets a 5/5 from me also.
🚮 'The Merrywomen Of Windsor': This story is a cheeky and modern version of Shakespeare's 'The Merry Wives Of Windsor' and comes in 3 acts. It tells us the tale of several women who are getting fed up of the disgusting attitude from their fitness instructor at the gym. They decide they have had enough and to give him some payback. This one gets a 3/5 from me.
'The Colnbrook Caper': I really enjoyed this story of Andrew who is fed up of his low payed job at Travel Cash where he handles millions a day but earns a pittance while the owner is swanning about on his luxurious yacht with his daughter that has caught Andrew's eye. Andrew decides to change his life by performing a risky manoeuvre but will he get away with it? An extremely clever little story with fascinating historical notes included at the end of the book. I loved that it didn't end as one would expect which always makes a nice change in stories. Another 5/5 for me.
✌️ 'Runnymede Rebellion': Unfortunately this was one of my least favourite stories and tells the tale of the sealing of the Magna Carter by King John in 1215 and an eco-village being evicted for the celebrations. It was sad and the irony was shocking but it just was not my cup of tea. In any book with short stories or poems there will be ones you love and ones you are not that interested by and for me it was this one that failed to interest me but looking at other reviews others favoured it. This one just gets a 2/5 from me.
🐯 'The Oxford Tiger': A creepy story of a family who take in a Chinese exchange student which ends in tragedy. I wont say any more as I don't want to give anything away about this one but I will say that I learned from Tim's notes at the back of the book that it was constructed around a 'Save The Tiger' conservation theme and I personally want to add that as an animal lover myself what people do to animals (and yes that includes all animals and yes I'm vegan) absolutely disgusts me, especially the tradition spoken about in this book. This one gets a 3/5 from me.
A great collection of short stories with an excellent range of situations, characters, locations and narratives. My favourite ones had to be 'The White Horse, 'Murder At The Henley Regatta', 'Maidenhead Thicket' and 'The Coin brook Caper'. These stories include suspense, horror, tension, crime, revenge, the supernatural and much more! The fact that Tim has done his research absolutely shines through this book so a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to him for that!! One of my pet hates is when an author has not done enough or any research into the topic they write about as it can completely spoil the book for me. However, Tim manages to weave his fascinating historical research into some fascinating stories and I enjoyed delving deeper into some of the topics that he discusses. Make sure you read until the very end of the book to read his Authors notes at the end which tells you the history and information behind each of these stories. I discovered loads of fascinating facts through the stories, his author notes and then from further research I did because of the stories so Thank You very much Tim as I love discovering new information! Tim's fantastic descriptions plus the fact that he has based many of these stories around well known landmarks ensures the stories come to life while you are reading. The fact that there are background noises and music during the audiobook version is a fantastic addition and also helps the reader to lose themselves in to stories. The fact that these are short stories also allows you to pick it up and read/listen to a story at a time or read/listen to it in one sitting which is perfect for those who like to read multiple books at one time. Tim has excellent writing skills and Richard has fantastic narrative talent and I look forward to reading or listening to more of their work! The average rating for all the story ratings is 3.8 so I give the overall book a 4/5 rating .
Grab your copy of 'Thames Valley Tales' and discover which stories you love!!!
I read approximately half of this book on kindle and listened to approximately half on audio book. I must also give a huge congratulations to the narrator Richard James who not only brought the storyline to life by really portraying the emotions through his voice but by doing absolutely fantastic impressions of males and females so a HUGE congratulations Richard!! I also absolutely loved the addition of the music and noises which really brought the book to life!! I cannot imagine that this was anywhere near an easy feat!!! I am looking forward to discovering more books read by yourself as you definitely have a perfect "book" voice!! I sometimes struggle to absorb the storyline through an audio book but if you are the same as me I can promise you will not have that problem with this amazing narrator!!
Overall a great mix of stories from old to new all based around the fantastic Thames.
Genres covered in this book include Spiritual & Historical Fiction, British & Irish Historical Literature, Fiction Anthologies, Literary Anthologies & Collections, Contemporary Short Stories, Short Stories, Historical Fiction, Short Stories, and British & Irish Short Stories and Literary Anthologies & Collections amongst others.
153 pages/ 2 hours and 40 minutes
This book is just £1.99 to purchase on kindle, free on kindle unlimited, £5.99 in paperback and £12.07 for the audiobook (at time of review) which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!
Rated 4/5 (I enjoyed it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.
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Author Bio
Tim Walker is an independent author living near Windsor in the UK. He grew up in Liverpool where he began his working life as a trainee reporter on a local newspaper. After attaining a degree in Communication Studies he moved to London where he worked in the newspaper publishing industry for ten years before relocating to Zambia where, following a period of voluntary work with VSO, he set up his own marketing and publishing business. He returned to the UK in 2009.
His creative writing journey began in earnest in 2014, as a therapeutic activity whilst recovering from cancer treatment. He began writing an historical fiction series, A Light in the Dark Ages, inspired by a visit to the site of a former Roman town. The series connects the end of Roman Britain to elements of the Arthurian legend and is inspired by historical source material, presenting an imagined history of Britain in the fifth and early sixth centuries.
Book one is Abandoned (second edition 2018); followed by Ambrosius: Last of the Romans (2017) and Uther’s Destiny (2018). The last two books in the series, Arthur Dux Bellorum (2019) and Arthur Rex Brittonum (2020) cover the life of an imaged historical King Arthur, and are both Coffee Pot Book Club recommended reads.
In 2021 he published a dual timeline historical novel, Guardians at the Wall. This was inspired by visits to Vindolanda and Corbridge at Hadrian’s Wall, and concerns the efforts of archaeologists to uncover evidence and build a narrative of the life of a Roman centurion in second century Britannia… and find his missing payroll chest.
Tim has also written three books of short stories, Thames Valley Tales (second edition 2023), Postcards from London (2017) and Perverse (2020); a dystopian thriller, Devil Gate Dawn (2016); and three children’s books, co-authored with his daughter, Cathy – The Adventures of Charly Holmes (2017), Charly & the Superheroes (2018) and Charly in Space (2020).
He plans to re-work some stories in Postcards from London into London Tales, with the addition of new stories, for publication in 2024 in audiobook, Kindle and paperback.
Quote From Tim
“For those starting out on their creative writing journey, I recommend seeking out fellow creatives by joining a writing group. I attended an author’s talk at the Windsor Festival in 2015 after which a librarian announced she would form a local writers’ group if there was enough interest. I threw my email address into the hat, and became a founder member of the Windsor Writers’ Group. We encouraged each other and read snippets of our writing for critical feedback from group members, and benefitted from creative writing insights from talks given by local authors, including Julie Cohen, Essie Fox and Tessa Harris. The group produced a book of short stories in 2017, Windsor Tales.”
Social Media Links
Author website: www.timwalker1666.wixsite.com/website
Goodreads Author Page: https://goodreads.com/author/show/678710.Tim_Walker
Amazon Author Page: http://Author.to/TimWalkerWrites
Facebook Page: http://facebook.com/guardiansatthewall
Twitter: http://twitter.com/timwalker1666
Instagram: https://instagram.com/timwalker1666
Narrator Bio
Thames Valley Tales audiobook is narrated and produced by actor, author and playwright Richard James who has been appearing on stage and screen for over thirty years. Most recently, he played a guest role in Miss Scarlet & The Duke for PBS and Alibi Films and was nominated for 'Best Supporting Performance' at the Off West End Awards for his roles in A Sherlock Carol at the Marylebone Theatre.
Social Media Link
Twitter: @RichardNJames
Purchase Link
Amazon Kindle, paperback and Audible: http://mybook.to/ThamesValleyTales
