Marching To A Different Drum by Tony Mansell, Published by Trelease Publications, Dec 2012. Available for download

Set in and near Cornwall during the Civil War, the story is a mix of fiction (some of the characters) and non-fiction (events, places and key players).

Focussing on the impact of conflict on the lives of ordinary people – the men who went to war, those who stayed behind and the women who had to endure more than hardship in order to survive – this is a lengthy and detailed saga of confusion, uncertainty and conflicted loyalties.

Verdict: A well written story set within a historically accurate time and place, told from a slightly different perspective. Maybe if school history lessons had been presented this way I‘d have been more interested! If you like your novels meticulously researched and detailed, this is definitely for you****

The author is interviewed in this month’s ‘Writers Talking’