Book description
Rigby's grandfather, Gilbert, has wandered from home and is roaming the
Yorkshire countryside in distress. Finding an old map in his
grandfather's home, peculiarly annotated and marked by his grandfather,
Rigby begins to realise that it duplicates Normandy: the marked sites
mirror places in another place and other time - the days following the
Normandy landings in 1944. He is drawn down an elusive trail into the
past, hunting old memories and new truths to the heart of his
grandfather's youth in the raw days of the War. It shakes the very
foundations of Rigby's own young life, and as he discovers the secret
about another soldier - the quest becomes an inner journey for Rigby. He
learns of the feelings of young men caught in the terrors and misery of
the battlefield, and the impact of their lives on generations to come.
June Oldham attended her mother's village school, a grammar school in
Lincoln, then took an honours degree in English and a diploma in
education. After some years' teaching, she had children and began to
write. Although her award winning novel, Flames, was for adults, most of
her books have been for children and adolescents. Many of them reflect
her love of the Yorkshire Dales where she has lived for the last thirty
years. She has directed Ilkley Literature Festival, tutored for the
Arvon Foundation, been a judge for the Constable Trophy (now defunt),
encouraged imaginative writing in a gaol, held fellowships in creative
writing. Occasionally she leads workshops, visits adult groups and
schools.
