According to the history books, the Great War ended on November 11th 1918. We commemorate this every year on Armistice Day, which has become a focal point for remembrance of all people killed in war. However, the Long Way Home has a scene taking place at the point of the armistice. This is a deliberate […]
Author: Geraint Roberts
Stuck in a limbo and desperate to do something meaningful, what to do? That is where writing began for me. A creative way of expressing myself and a chance to harness my wondering imagination. I close my eyes and I'm there. Wish I'd picked 'there' as a warm sunny day on a sandy beach, with the waves gently lapping on the shore...but I have to let the story load in my mind, then watch it unfold, wherever it may be. Currently I'm on a windy bridge, or a Devon beach, or a Cornish tin mine, or a submarine, or looking towards a Hebridean port...
In The Long Way Home, the story focusses on Dafydd Thomas’ journey through the Great War in the Railway Operating Division – and his emotional ties back home. He is posted to the western front at a depot in Poperinge. This was one of only two Belgian towns not invaded during the war and was […]
Some more snippets: One factor that grew in this country in the early years of the Great war, was the nationalistic fervor for which it was received. A combination of jingoistic press, advertising campaigns and peer pressure. People from all walks of life joined and recruitment centres sprang up in all towns. As a rule, […]
My new novel has been released in the UK in paperback form, but now is available to customers in many other countries without the need for expensive international shipping. I have now released the book on the Amazon KDP service, for people who live outside the UK. If a customer buys the book through their […]
After quite a lot of work by my good friend, Mike Clark of NFCW and a lot of reading up by me today… the novel has now been released as an e-book for Kindle readers. Kindle Unlimited subscribers can download it for free, which sounds a bit of a raw deal for me – but […]
My aim is to write a series of short essays, to provide some background to the period in which ‘Long Way Home’ is set. Dafydd Thomas was always destined to have a career in railways, since he first appeared in his father’s story. (Book one of which – Turning of the Wheel is on course […]
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Long Way Home – Q & A session
Q; Does the story continue from where we left off in ‘By the Banks of the Rheidol’ A: Yes, but there is a ten year lag from the end of that book. ‘Long Way home’ starts in 1915, with Dafydd returning to Aberystwyth. After ten years, he has worked his way up to being a […]
After a gap of a few years, I have published the sequel to ‘By the Banks of the Rheidol.’ The story is set ten years hence, where Dafydd has managed to secure a transfer to Aberystwyth as a fireman. Convinced he has moved on from his failed romance with Gwen, he soon finds that lingering […]
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Family History
One of the things about history is that sometimes it throws up much better plots than you could ever think of. I have been guilty in the past of using snippets from my own family’s history. Not every time, but sometimes stories can be formed on the basis of real events. In ‘By the Banks […]
It’s been over a year since ‘By the Banks of the Rheidol’ was published and the novel has been going well. Yet the story didn’t end there – how could it? I have been busy planning to release a sequel, which takes the story onwards from 1915. Dafydd has been working as a frieman in […]