A Saffron Walden author has published his latest coming-of-age novel which tells a story across three timelines.
Author Victor Watson's latest novel Time After Time connects three different stories to an archaeological discovery, and is also a hymn to the beautiful East Anglian countryside.
In the first of the three timelines a young Anglo-Saxon woman is travelling across the empty landscape of East Anglia.
She is dressed as a man, for safety, but when her only companion is murdered, she knows she faces discovery - and almost certainly much worse.
In the next timeline, in the Napoleonic period, a little boy has to walk several miles to market on his own for the first time.
In the present day, a mixed-race teenage girl - along with her best friend Rob - faces the difficulties of extreme shyness and mutism.
There is another presence weaving the stories together. Professor Molly Barnes, an archaeologist in her 80s, unwittingly presides over the narratives.
She looks back at her own coming-of-age, recalling her earliest memories of friendship, and questions her own profession and its capacity to discover true versions of history.
The three different stories - all set in the East Anglian countryside - are linked to the discovery of a Roman mosaic floor and a mysterious Anglo-Saxon bracelet.
Victor said: "I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of England before it became crowded, when you could walk for days without meeting anyone.
"I’ve also been interested all my adult life in coming-of-age stories. These two passions combined to nudge this narrative into existence."
Victor Watson, who lives in Saffron Walden, has also written two adult novels, and the five Paradise Barn WWII novels for younger readers.
Prior to writing fiction, he wrote and co-authored academic books on the history of children's literature and edited The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English.
For a number of years Victor was a trustee of Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children's Books in Newcastle, and was chairman when it opened in 2005.
Time After Time is available to buy from Amazon and from other retailers.
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