Theatre director Vera Tillbrook is about to take her company of actors to the Theatre Royal in Brighton to put on The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Her leading man, Gerald McKinley, finds his humdrum life is turned upside down during rehearsals when he and fellow actor Jack Baines are drawn into a world of mystery, intrigue, and danger when they embark on a quest for lost treasure. Their problem is that they have no idea what the treasure is, what it is worth, and whether or not it actually exists. Set in 1910 against the background of Brighton and its famous theatre, Gerald battles against both his emotions and a dangerous secret society in his pursuit of happiness. Along the way, love and romance abounds as our intrepid duo are forced to confront the criminal elements that threaten their very lives in a bid to secure the legacy for themselves. Sprinkled with humour and historical figures, the story rolls on at a good pace as Gerald endeavours to resolve his uncertain future.
The inspiration behind the genesis of the book is my ancestor, Ellen Nye Chart, who owned and ran the Theatre Royal, Brighton after her husband died in 1876. A remarkable lady, she was the sole manager of the theatre for sixteen years until her own death in 1892. My early plans for the story were that it should be set across three different time zones, those being 1910, 1960, and 2010. It would have been necessary for two or three younger characters from each of the first two periods to grow old allowing them to reappear fifty years later. About halfway through the first chapter, I realised that this would be difficult to bring to fruition and that I would have to forsake characters that I had become immensely fond of and to lose them later in the book would have been a great loss when they had so much more to give. My hundred or so stage and screen appearances, including playing Prospero in 1994, helped me to create a realistic world for my actors to move around in.
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Another novel is in progress and will be published in 2026.