Welcome back, everyone! Today, I have a review of Thames Valley Tales by Tim Walker. Thanks to DLM Book Tours and Time Walker for the gifted book to take part in the tour.
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.
A book packed full of a variety of short stories. I was never a fan of short stories, but I find myself increasingly enjoying them. It does help when the stories are so interesting and well written.
Set in the Thames Valley as the title suggests. They are so well woven with fact and fiction together that you can’t tell where the fact ends and the fiction begins. I do have a penchant for being educated and entertained at the same time. Tim Walker has successfully managed this. I am not familiar with the places he writes about. While reading, I felt like I could picture them in my mind and would love to visit some of these places someday.
I thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of the stories. The ghostly Grey Lady, right through to the crime thriller, The Colnbrook Caper, which was one of my favourites, too. I loved the mix of genres and did find myself thinking about some of them after I had finished reading the book.
This a book you can pick up to dip into, if you are short on time. The audiobook, for me, would be perfect for the car. Listen to one story at a time between car journeys.
The research that has gone into these tales is what gives them the edge. I do love history, too, so I was in my element. Such rich and vivid storytelling throughout. Even the fact that Tim Walker included an authors notes section. That was so informative, and I thought it made the tales even more interesting. Altogether, a truly captivating read, that’s well worth picking up.
Buy Link:
Amazon Kindle, paperback and Audible: http://mybook.to/ThamesValleyTales
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.
Author website www.timwalker1666.wixsite.com/website
Social Media Links
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
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