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Chapter One - Morning Events

     As I boarded the early train to Carlisle that Friday morning I had only one thing on my mind.   Strictly speaking, one person .      More precisely, one woman .      Jane Harris.      I was wondering whether I should buy my wife of some 20 years emerald earrings, or an emerald necklace. Jane had been hinting that I should get her some jewellery for years, and as Christmas was approaching, I suddenly realised that I had never once bought her any sparkling jewels since our wedding day. There had always seemed a good reason not to do it. The earrings were worth four weeks of groceries - not an insignificant sum, especially in the earlier years of our married life. But our financial circumstances had changed and I could afford it now.      I couldn’t help thinking that I had been sending Jane unintended, yet subtle messages. Messages which said, ‘you’re not worth the money to me.’ The truth was that she was...
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When All Men Speak Falsely

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       Would you give up your deeply held convictions, the beliefs that make you the man you are, in order to keep your job? Or would you sacrifice all things, in order to hold onto your convictions?  In his second adventure, John Harris finds himself coming across men who lose their livelihoods and reputations, because they won’t deny their beliefs and bend the knee to the state’s diktats. Each man has become a persona non grata, an exile in his own country, a fugitive in his home land. Impressed by their simple courage and curious mix of humility and dignity, Harris finds his own resolve challenged as his employer, the University of East Lothian, compels him to take a psychological test. When his friend is institutionalised for having ‘unacceptable beliefs’, Harris is forced to consider:     Can he rescue his friend? And even if he does, how can he hide him from an all-watching, ever-regulating, ever-controlling state?     ‘W...
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