Local authors in Tenterden and books about Tenterden & the local area
If you are an author local to Tenterden and would like your name on this list please
contact Sue Ferguson
LOCAL AUTHORS AND THEIR BOOKS
You can purchase many of these books locally - at the Tenterden Museum (Station Road, Tenterden) when open for the season (April-October plus Nov/Dec for the Christmas card shop), Sid's Emporium (East Cross, Tenterden) & other outlets which vary author to aurhor, some direct from the local authors or some from Amazon and other book sellers. Some books are out of print
Orson Teller
Alice Ravenwood and the Tomb of Saint George
November 2023
"An exciting, pulpy fusion of Ghostbuster, Mary Poppins and Indiana Jones". Debut Novel from local author Orson Teller. The book is aimed at 11-18+ year olds - suitable for adults too if you enjoy a fun adventure story. The book is available to purchase from Sid’s Emporium, 1b East Cross, Tenterden, and on Amazon (in hardback, paperback and ebook format). Buy this book now and support a local author.
Paul Ryley
Rose Clarke and The Broader Canvas
October 2023
The third volume of Paul Ryley’s trilogy about Rose Clarke, the girl who disguises herself as a boy to attend Cambridge University, has been published this week. Rose has her horizons broadened by a trip to Oxford to compete in a boat race, by an encounter with a young pauper girl, and she has difficulties with her close friend Mr Blackburn. Again the French menace raises its head, and she has to make difficult choices. On sale at Tenterden Museum, This Ancient Boro pub (East Cross, Tenterden), and from the author at paul7ryley@doctors.org.uk. Also available on Kindle.
Paul Ryley, 5 West Cross, Tenterden TN30 6JR
01580 764355 and 07847 555622
Eleanor Bliss
The Urgent Miss Babington OBE (2018)
What a woman! She was the daughter of Rev. J A Babington, vicar of St Mildred’s, Tenterden, and worked alongside him supporting his ministry and contributing hugely to the life of the town. Her contributions to the war effort during World War One are noted, as is her help with the town stricken by the influenza outbreak in 1918. The pair moved to Canterbury in 1924 on his retirement, and in due course she became the Secretary, Steward and Treasurer of the Friends of Canterbury Cathedral. For this work she was awarded the OBE. She helped instigate the first Canterbury Festivals. During World War Two she became a significant figure in supporting the Canterbury community through her work as Coordinator of the WVS. And she did so much more....
Eleanor says "Miss Babington lived in Tenterden from 1907-1924. There are lots of local references and photos of old Tenterden. Profits from this book will go towards the St Mildred's Reordering project."
Copies available from the author (£10). Email:
eleanorbliss1@gmail.com or telephone: 01233 770082
Tony Buttler, Maurice Dalton, Susannah Mayor, Fred Walker
From Ships to Sheep, the Story of Smallhythe ( 2016)
This is the first-ever book solely about Smallhythe. It tells the story of the medieval port and important centre of ship building that was at its height during the Tudor period. Includes details of how ships were built on the river bank, tells of the destruction of the community by fire in 1515 and explains why the route of the River Rother changed – twice. Includes detailed descriptions of Smallhythe Church, Smallhythe Place and the Barn Theatre.
Copies available from Maurice Dalton (£8) Email:
m.l.dalton@outlook.com or telephone 01580 765761 and Webbs, Tenterden; Waterstones, Tenterden; Tenterden Museum; Smallhythe Place (NT); Chapel Down Winery, Smallhythe; and Amazon
Maurice Dalton
See Buttler etc. above
Naomi Dickins
Tenterden & District Through Time (2013)
From its origins as a clearing in the Wealden forest, the Saxon settlement of 'Tenet-warre-den' rose to a position of prominence with the fourteenth-century burgeoning of the English wool trade. During the reign of Henry VI, its fortunes improved further when the town was incorporated into the Confederation of Cinque Ports. When significant changes to the landscape ended its maritime associations, Tenterden's prosperity was maintained by a robust agricultural industry. Its broad, tree-lined High Street once resounded with the hubbub of livestock fairs, and its warren of side roads and hidden courtyards were filled with the activities of everyday life. Situated at the heart of the Kent Weald, Tenterden serves as a hub for the surrounding small villages and hamlets, a vibrant and thriving market town which, while undergoing continuing development and modernisation, has retained the charm of its rural character. Copies available from various booksellers and via Amberley Publishing
Jill Eddison
Romney Marsh
Romney Marsh lies at the frontier between land and sea. It consists of land gained from the sea and, being below the level of high tides, has always been threatened by flooding. The book charts the history of human occupation of a very specialised and difficult environment over the last 2,000 years. It reflects the work of the Romney Marsh Research Group co-founded in 1983 by Jill Eddison and Professor Barry Cunliffe.
Copies available from the author and from various booksellers. Email:
david@eddison.net
Medieval Pirates - Pirates, Raiders and Privateers 1204-1453
In the medieval period, the English Channel was a particularly perilous stretch of water. It was both an international waterway for trade and a lawless political frontier between two belligerent monarchies (Britain and France) whose kings encouraged piracy as a cheap alternative to warfare - and enjoyed their own cut.
Copies available from the author and from various booksellers. Email:
david@eddison.net
Arthur Gilbert
Arthur died in 1987
Down Memory Lane
Return to Memory Lane
Farming Remembered
Times Past – A Miscellany of Memories
4 small books published by St Michaels Church, now out of print
Jack Gillett and Peter Webb
Tenterden Then and Now
Tenterden is the Jewel of the Weald and this book endeavours to show that it has been a jewel for many years. When visitors are asked what they like about the town, they usually mention the wide High Street with its green borders, the traditional shops and the mix of building styles. It is a place that has an old fashioned charm yet, conversely is also modern. By comparing old pictures with the same view today, we have shown how Tenterden has changed over the last century yet retained its individuality, so often missing from other places.
Out of Print
Adrian Greaves
Brief Bio, Dr Adrian Greaves is a former Army officer who served in Berlin during the Cold War. As a regular Guard Commander at Spandau Prison which held Germany’s top WWII war criminals, he had the unique experience of being taught German by Albert Speer - Hitler’s former Minister of production. Following his army service, he joined the Police Service and served across Kent with spells in London, Sussex and Hampshire. He retired to Tenterden having reached senior rank with Kent Police. He holds a PhD in History and is the author of numerous published historical works
Forgotten Snippets and Gruesome History of Tenterden & District, 2017
'Gruesome History of Tenterden', which sold out twice during its first year of 2018, is currently being re-written to include even more gruesome tales of Tenterden and extending to include Romney Marsh. This should be available from Tenterden Museum when it re-opens at Easter 2019.
Out of Print
Other books
Lawrence of Arabia – Mirage of a Desert War (Cassell)
Rorke’s Drift (Cassell)
Crossing the Buffalo (Cassell)
Isandlwana (Pen & Sword)
Forgotten Battles of the Zulu War (Pen & Sword)
The Who’s Who of the Zulu War (Pen & Sword) 2 Volumes
Redcoats and Zulus (Pen & Sword)
The Curling Letters of the Zulu War (Pen & Sword)
He is currently completing a biography about a British Army Bomb Disposal expert – The Bomb Whisperer.
Aylwin Guilmant
Bygone Tenterden (1991)
A pictorial history of Tenterden
Copies available from Waterstones, Tenterden and various booksellers
Dorothy Hatcher
The Workhouse and the Weald (1988)
The book talks about the Tenterden Workhouse and other locations in the area.
Alec Laurence
Tenterden A History & Celebration (2004)
Copies available from Waterstones, Tenterden, publisher The Francis Frith Collection
Evelyn Luck
As Luck would have it (2003)
This is the biography of Evelyn’s husband Bob Luck as told by his widow Evelyn to Colin Roberts. Evelyn has expressed in graphic detail the character of this remarkable countryman in a series of tales and cameos which reveal more than just an ordinary life but one full of every day incident and happening. Bob was a unique country man a practical joker and trapper of foxes, terrier man and farmer. He was the very spice of this corner of his native Kent
The Cider Maker’s Wife, (2017)
Born into a farming family, of several generations, Evelyn lived through the changing face of agricultural life in the 20th century, beginning in the days before electricity had reached rural farmhouses and sheep were herded through the street. This book chronicles those changes from the personal rather than the economic perspective.
Copies available from Webbs of Tenterden
J Ellis Mace JP
Ellis Mace used to live in the Tower House on the Ashford Road, Tenterden
Tenterden Old and New Notes on Old Tenterden and the Four Churches (1902)
Susannah Mayor
See Buttler etc. above
Josiane Van Melle
Josiane Van Melle is a Belgian linguist and published writer now living in Smallhythe. Nine of her novels have been published both in Belgium and France. Trespassers is her first novel written in English, followed by Let it be Red.
Trespassers
Trespassers is a complex love story where feelings exude through the exuberance of a Sissinghurst garden, under the clear-sightedness of an ancient oak tree. Did Vita Sackville West acquire the crumbling property because she saw herself as the compelling centre, within the remains of the magnificence of the past?
Copies available from the author (£8). Email:
josianevanmelle@hotmail.com
Let it be Red
When Paul Gauguin, the great French artist, gradually distances himself from his family and from social conformity, his wife and children are left to deal with their own needs. The marriage collapses and she and the family face great struggles. Let it be Red is an epic tale of an irredeemable union and the genesis of an artist.
Copies available from the author. Email:
josianevanmelle@hotmail.com
Pam Penfold
The Choice
A novel about a young woman who discovers amongst her recently deceased father’s papers that he lived in France in his youth and left behind a wife and child. She is determined to find out if she has a living half-sister and what her father was doing in France when war broke out in 1939. Topical and full of historical context.
Copies available from the author. (£8) Email:
pcrpenfold@gmail.com book is also available on Amazon and in Kindle form too.
Hugh Roberts
Tenterden, The First Thousand Years (1995)
A classic Tenterden work, published by Bishop Wilton, now out of print
Reg Spelling (R S Spelling)
Tenterden in Times Past (1991)
Copies available from Waterstones, Tenterden & The Tenterden Museum
Tenterden A Pictorial History of a Market Town in the Weald of Kent (1985)
Copies available from Waterstones, Tenterden & The Tenterden Museum
Newenden, A Pictorial History of a Village on the Kent and East Sussex Border
This book is out of print
Rolvenden Reflections, A Pictorial History of a Village in the Weald of Kent (1985)
Sam Stevens (S C Stevens)
Tenterden & St Michaels - The Story of the First 100 Years
Local football stories
Copies available from the Tenterden Museum(?)
Colin Young
St Michael’s Memories (2013)
A history of the village in the Ancient Borough of Boresisle and in the Parish of St Michael & All Angels
Copies available from St Michael’s Village Community Group & various local shops
TITLES
FICTION
Alphabetical by book title
Let it be Red, Josiane Van Melle
The Choice, Pam Penfold
Trespassers, Josiane Van Melle
NON-FICTION
Alphabetical by book title
As Luck would have it, Evelyn Luck Available from the author and Webbs, Tenterden
Bygone Tenterden Aylwin Guilmant, 1991. Available from Waterstones, Tenterden
Forgotten Snippets and Gruesome History of Tenterden & District, Adrian Greaves 2017 Available from Tenterden Museum (out of print)
From Ships to Sheep, the Story of Smallhythe, Tony Buttler, Maurice Dalton, Susannah Mayor, Fred Walker. Available from the authors and Webb’s, Tenterden. Waterstones, Tenterden, Tenterden Museum, Smallhythe Place (NT), Chapel Down Winery, Smallhythe and Amazon
Medieval Pirates Jill Eddison – Available from author and Waterstones, Tenterden
Romney Marsh - Jill Eddison – Available from author and Waterstones, Tenterden
St Michael’s Memories – Colin Young 2013 Available from St Michael’s Village Community Group
Tenterden - A History & Celebration, Alec Laurence, 2004 Available from Waterstones, Tenterden
Tenterden - A Pictorial History of a Market Town in the Weald of Kent, Reg Spelling Available from Waterstones, Tenterden
Tenterden & District Through Time, Naomi Dickins, 2013 Available from Waterstones, Tenterden
Tenterden in Times Past - Reg Spelling - 1991 Available from Waterstones, Tenterden
Tenterden Then and Now - Jack Gillett and Peter Webb, Out of Print
The Cider Maker’s Wife, Evelyn Luck, 2017 Available from the author and Webbs, Tenterden
The Urgent Mrs Babington OBE, Eleanor Bliss, 2018. Available from the author