I have just sent the final proofs back to my publisher for the next novel in my series about the Miller family in WW1. It was odd to read it again in such a short time and so long after I finished the book. However, I am very pleased with it and even I was moved to tears a few times with a couple of emotionally charged scenes.
The new plot is set in the early days of the formation of what became to be known as MI5 and MI6 (more accurately, the SIS) and later, the forerunner of GCHQ. The Royal Navy had a hand in setting up the two latter organisations. The novel also covers the events around a real plot by the Germans to inspire a jihad against the British in the Middle East and India. Those who read my first book will not be surprised to read of a suffragette "love interest" and something of Richard Miller's early days in submarines. I hope the book will appeal to men and women alike.
I will be posting an extract of the new novel in a later post to act as a teaser, so please keep an eye out for future blogs. I will also announce details of how one might win a signed copy of the new book. In the meantime, this is a preview of the jacket blurb.
As the Great War looms, a young man stands accused by his war hero father of failing his country …
Peter Miller suffers from vertigo and cannot follow into the navy his father, who once fought alongside the young Winston Churchill and later won the VC.
But he is sent to spy on Germany’s war preparations for the new Secret Service Bureau – set up by his father.
Peter begs to be allowed to resign after having to kill a man to save his own life while posing as a German officer in France.
Can Peter respond to his father’s accusation of shameful cowardice? Can he find courage and win back the respect of the man he most admires? Can he do his duty and help stop a now mighty Germany hell-bent on war?
Shaun Lewis’s second naval thriller Now the Darkness Gathers, will appeal to admirers of John Buchan’s books and A.E.W. Mason’s Four Feathers, a story of sacrifice and redemption.
What people are saying
‘For a debut, Lewis has done a great job … what adds to the fiction is the knowledge that so much of it is based on fact. It oozes plausibility’ – Roger A Price on The Custom of the Trade
‘A fast-paced and engaging military adventure that unfolds against the background of early 20th century social change’ – Roy Bayfield on The Custom of the Trade
