If anyone wants to join in as a friend (or even an enemy), all contributions gratefully received. Launches for Heroes are in planning for end-March early April at various locations: London, Tunbridge Wells, Rye, Sevenoaks, Tenterden. Anyone interested in coming along just let me know and I’ll keep you informed about location/dates/times.

A magnificent, sweeping three-generation historical epic encompassing two world wars, about the nature of heroism, the romance of flying and the eternal conflict between fathers and sons.

War makes heroes of men, but at what price? As the twentieth century dawns Guv Sutro becomes a pioneer aviator against his father’s will, piloting a primitive glider over the fields of Sussex, helped by the unquestioning loyalty of his friend Stan Kemp. A ruthless course to fame and adulation follows: soon he is a fighter ace on the Western Front, then a record-breaker between the wars. But as another global conflict approaches his beliefs are questioned. With England once more at war his son Tim, a reluctant pilot in the RAF, strives to shed the burden of his father’s reputation while Will Kemp, his boyhood friend, the son Guv felt he deserved, seeks to emulate the man he still idolises in the Battle of Britain.

The fate of these men is bound together in the monumental ambition and terrible tragedy of a time for heroes.

Read a sneak peak of the first chapters here!

Publication date: Hardcover edition March 2012, paperback July 2012

The promised first chapter taster will be here in a week or so, I’m still kicking around the opening sequence, so vital to making someone a) read a page or two in the store or on Amazon b) not return it to the shelf or click on something else.

So far so encouraging, but there are some structural issues to work out and also they’re not so mad about the title. I’m delaying the excerpt until these discussions are concluded. But overall it’s a relief to know there’s such enthusiasm in Euston Road. Meanwhile, I’ve had many e.mails from readers saying they think it’s a great idea. Slightly untypical, below, was one from Kevin Bolt who says he doesn’t need the preview:

Dear Frank,
Just finished reading your three books and was totally gripped, finishing them over a couple of weeks. When I finished To Play The Fox and couldn’t find a sequel, my stomach sank that maybe that was simply the end. So I hunted down this site and was relieved to find you’re keeping busy. Don’t leave us hanging on too long to find out what’s in store for our boys Kit and Ossie! No need to release a sneak chapter as far as I’m concerned, I’ll buy it the second it hits the shelves regardless,
Kevin Bolt

Dear Frank Barnard,
I’m writing to tell you how much I enjoyed To Play The Fox. I found it thrilling, informative and very moving. I can’t wait to read the other two books and the sequels I’m sure you have in line. Very pleased to see that my old friend Julian Fellowes thinks highly of you as well,
FB: David’s mention of Julian Fellowes, he of Gosford Park and Downton Abbey, provided a clue to the fact that this is the David Weston of the Royal Shakespeare Company who understudied Ian McKellen’s Lear on the 2007 worldwide tour and has had a notable career in the theatre, in films and on television. His diary of the Lear tour is due for publication by Rickshaw Publishing in September. Covering McKellen is an excellently written, insightful and amusing account, a future classic of its kind; I’m planning to review it for Oldie soon.

My editor Martin Fletcher agrees it’s a good idea but we’ve yet to confirm which chapter it might be. This book, my fourth, is somewhat different from those that went before; Kit and Ossie are nowhere to be seen, kicking their heels in North Africa somewhere waiting for the invasion of Sicily to begin. They’ll remain grounded for a while yet, as I await Headline’s judgement on the new MS. I’m nervous that they might demand cuts, given its length, but like most writers I maintain that it’s like pick-a-stick. Remove the wrong stick and the whole damned thing collapses. Besides, when you’ve laboured over every word, sentence, paragraph, chapter you’re loathe to bin anything.

Whatever sales, marketing and publicity plans Headline may have, I’m still constantly assured that a book’s success depends on word of mouth. So this is a device to get readers talking well ahead of publication. I look forward to hearing how many would like to accept the offer.

I’m not the only writer in the family. My granddaughter Amy (8) wrote this story for a Radio Two young writers competition. Entries will be pruned to the last fifty at the end of this month. Move over Grandpa, the younger generation coming through…

Heroic Hamsters!

I would like to tell you about what happened to a team of three hamsters last Tuesday. The hamsters’ names are Harry, Hattie and Haggis. Harry (the leader) is dark brown with a light brown tummy. He is the one with the brainwaves and was the first to arrive at Mill Cottage. Hattie (the only girl in the group) is a shiny gold with a pale gold tummy.

She was the second to arrive at Mill Cottage, and she feels for animals the most. Haggis (the Scottish hamster) is a bright orange and wears a tartan kilt. He was last to arrive at Mill Cottage and has a funny Scottish accent. They live in Hamstershire.

It was a snowy Tuesday. Haggis was humming his favourite tune with Harriet dancing to it and Harry was daydreaming when the butterfly with the microphone head started to beep.“South Pole” it beeped and then faded away. They waited in silence for it to say how to find the South Pole but nothing happened. “It’s run out of battery” Harry said. “How will we know where to go?” “I know” squeaked Hattie, “follow that snowflake!”

The snowflake flew into a book marked “South Pole” and disappeared.“What should we do now?” asked Haggis. “Follow it” said Hattie, “obviously.” “Into the Hamster Mobile!” squeaked Harry. They followed the snowflake and zoomed through the book to the South Pole.“Aahh look” said Hattie in a dreamy voice. “A baby penguin and its mother.” “Oh no!” squeaked Haggis. “Look over there!”

Harry and Hattie looked with terror at the cracking ice. A second later the baby penguin was stuck on an iceberg.To their horror the iceberg started to melt. “Mama, Mama!” cried the baby penguin.“Baby!” cried the mother.

Just then Hattie noticed a frozen log and tried to move it. “Help me” she squeaked, and they tried with all of their might to move the log but it didn’t even budge. The mother noticed their struggles and came to help. With all their team work they managed to push the frozen log onto the iceberg. The baby penguin waddled along the log, just as the iceberg melted.

As the mother said thank you for the one millionth time and the baby was waving goodbye, Hattie was feeling very proud of herself for finally being the one with the ideas, not Harry. Haggis was still waving at the baby penguin when he realised the other two had gone, so he waved his last wave then scampered off to find them. They were waiting for him in the Hamster Mobile. “Come on!” shouted Harry. “We were waiting for ages!” agreed Hattie. “I’m coming, I’m coming” puffed Haggis. He climbed into the Hamster Mobile then they zoomed back through the book and landed on the playhouse. They all slid off the roof and into their cage at exactly the same time and Hattie giggled. Haggis started to hum his favourite song, Hattie danced to it and Harry daydreamed.

By Amy Anderson, aged 8 years

a) the economics of Formula One
b) how the sport was changed from a race series run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts into a global brand
c) how a Kent car dealer became immensely rich and still controls this world-wide industry with an iron fist then Tom Bower’s incisive expose NO ANGEL provides all the answers, detailing in eye-watering depth the life of Bernie Ecclestone. I saw Ecclestone race at Brands Hatch in the 1950s, a ho-hum driver who was never going to make it to the top. When he changed to team-owner and then self-appointed head of Grand Prix racing his fortunes changed. And what fortunes.

My review provides more information and, I suggest, should direct you to a immensely enjoyable study of a formidable personality, required reading for any aspiring business person contemplating deals in the competitive commercial world.

Read the review here >>

To begin with it is a toy and an amusement; then it become a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him out to the public.’ Now that the High And Over MS is ready for submission to Headline Review I am, God help me, already thinking of embarking on the ‘adventure’ all over again. I’m not sure why: it’s a mystery. As mysterious as wondering who the heck had the patience to write that great wodge lying on my study table.

At present it amount to 92,000 words but at least the end is in view.

Tony Calvey (see October) stunted his Stampe biplane over our house recently, concluding his display with an inverted pass. Unfortunately we did not have visitors at the time, which denied me the chance to remark nonchalantly: ‘ It’s one of my readers. Happens all the time.’ Soon I hope to take up Tony on his invitation to go for a flip. A little ‘hands-on’ at the controls of a biplane, even a high-powered one like the Stampe, will not only be fun but help with writing my sequences about flying over the Western Front in 1915 (see High And Over).

About the same time a friend of mine, Chris Hoggarth, who owns a Porsche wangled me a place in a driving day at Silverstone in February. This means I’ll have a chance to try out various models of the new 911 Carrera GTS.



As I’m renewing my competition licence for next season it’s a great opportunity to get my (somewhat rusty) hand in.