As an author that loves gritty Detective fiction that is influenced by cinema and film noir, I enjoy telling stories from decades ago that are becoming long forgotten. My first book Beyond the Pale, I toyed with the first-person narrative – a hardboiled narration placing you right into the head of the protagonist to add to that claustrophobia you need for noir albeit not set in the 40s/50s! Is the ‘hero’ telling it how it really happened or are they deluded, confused or just plain lying?

However, I’m also a huge fan of anything World War II – with an ever expanding collection of memorabilia as some of you are aware. Without knowing the full facts of exactly what went on, I enjoy having the artistic license that fiction offers. I recently came across this colour image recovery and it really hit home what our relatives went through so we can have the freedom we enjoy today. In a world of uncertainties I’d like you see this photo; roughly 80 years ago the Luftwaffe Blitz on London had been going for nearly a month and was reaching it’s Zenith. At this point it was in midst of being systematically bombed 56 days out of 57! Here is an iconic image of a young girl clutching and comforting her doll after her home had been completely bombed out! The look on the girl’s face speaks volumes.

I hadn’t initially intended for The Forgotten Man to ever grace the cream pages of a real paperback but low and behold here we are; 57 pages of them. Whilst a kindle book reader can hold hundreds and even thousands of books in one hand through a kindle and it weighs less than one regular paperback there is nothing quite like flicking through the pages and stuffing one’s nose into a freshly printed book. I personally grew up with what’s now classed as ‘old fashioned books’, I don’t even have a kindle and it’s probably an argument that will never end that’s dependent on your generation. So if you’re like me and you just have to lick, smell and touch that physical book then you can now pick up your copy for just £3.50