I’m excited to share that my new novel, The Fate of Rosie Morn, Out 1st November.
What it’s about
Seventeen-year-old Will Topping wants only one thing: to be treated like one of the men.
Aboard HMT Rosie Morn, that respect has to be earned. Her crew are fishermen turned wartime sailors, sweeping the North Sea for German mines in a trawler never built for war. Will is younger, smaller, and there because his father helped him get the berth — and every mistake confirms what the others already think.
But out on the North Sea, among men who have spent their lives upon it, wanting to belong and being ready for what that means are very different things.
Set in Scarborough in the aftermath of the December 1914 bombardment, The Fate of Rosie Morn follows Will through a winter of hard lessons, small victories, and the quiet, unspoken loyalty of men who rarely say what they mean — all building toward a final patrol that changes everything.
It’s a story about belonging, about learning patience the hard way, and about what it costs to finally be seen as one of the crew.
Inspired by a true story
The novel is inspired by the true story of William Topping and John Barber — two Scarborough men who went to sea aboard the real Rosy Morn and never came home. Their story, and the largely forgotten service of the RNPS Trawler Section during the First World War, sits at the heart of this book.
From the author of A Penny a Shell
If you’ve read my earlier novel A Penny a Shell, you’ll find The Fate of Rosie Morn set in the same time of world war conflict, with the same close attention to the people who lived and worked in this time period — this time seen through the eyes of a boy determined to prove he belongs among men who don’t hand that out easily.
When and where to get it
📅 Launch date: 1st November 📖 Formats: Paperback / Ebook 🛒 Where to buy: Amazon
If you’d like to be one of the first to read it, the paperback and ebook will both be available from launch day.
Thank you
This book has been a long time in the making, and I’m proud of the story it’s become. Whether you’re new to Scarborough’s wartime coast or coming back to it after A Penny a Shell, I hope Will’s story stays with you the way it’s stayed with me.
The Fate of Rosie Morn — out 1st November.
