The Oaken Heart of Village Life

Neil D'Arcy Jones of the Essex County Standard said he wished he had a job like mine. He thoroughly enjoyed meeting Alan Smith (son of Albert Smith, the Tolleshunt D'Arcy handyman who was such a practical and reassuring presence in the village) and Nora Curtis who had been a young wife and mother during the WW2 years.  Neil was right, of course, hearing the stories of people who experienced the events which are recorded in the new edition of The Oaken Heart has been a marvellous experience for which I am deeply grateful. But I wouldn't want him to undervalue his own expertise. From a morning's interviewing he produced a delightful article. Click here to read it.

How Essex Beat the Blitz

Generous and perceptive appreciation by Simon Heffer - entirely gets the point of this village book. Read it!

Calling Tolleshunt D'Arcy

I'm full speed ahead annotating the new edition of Margery Allingham's The Oaken Heart ready for the 2011 Essex Book Festival. I'd urgentlylike to hear from any Tolleshunt D'Arcy resident with family memories of the village in the early years of WW2. Trawling the internet I've found a posting from a D'Arcy resident on the BBC People's War site. Well worth reading but is located in Kingston on Thames where the author was a child. More from Essex please.