Mr Cavell's Diamond (17 page)

Author’s Note

I developed the ideas for this book while researching my family tree. Henry, Jemima and Caroline were real people, and their relationships to each other were as described in the novel, although I have changed their surnames.

The house on Marine Parade,
Worthing, still stands and is currently a private residence.

The real Henry and Jemima lived together
unmarried for twenty years until Henry’s death, and produced a total of thirteen children, all but one of whom survived to adulthood. After Henry’s death, Jemima lived on in the Marine Parade house, until her death at the grand old age of 83.

I am descended from one of
Henry and Jemima’s sons.

About the Author

Kathleen McGurl lives in Bournemouth with her husband and younger son, her elder son having flown the nest. She always wanted to write, and for many years was waiting until she had the time. Eventually she came to the bitter realisation no one would pay her for a year off work to write a book, so she sat down and started to write one anyway. Since then she has sold dozens of short stories to women’s magazines, and has published two books which are part anthology, part How To Write. These days she is concentrating on longer fiction, and is currently trying to find an agent for her full-length time-slip novel, while also writing another in the same genre. She works full time in the IT industry and when she’s not writing, she’s often out running, slowly.

For more information visit
www.kathleenmcgurl.com