Alan Lawrence

I was born in 1954 in England’s Black Country. I have lived in several of England’s regions, and in Holland and Nigeria, but for over twenty-five years my home has been near the rugged north Devon and north Cornwall coast where I love to stroll, gaze at the sea, take photographs and enjoy a pint within many magical pubs dotted all around the coast.

I have been to sea for brief spells: over the years I spent many weeks aboard a Danish-built wooden fishing trawler which I owned, voyaging around near all of the Scottish Hebridean islands as well as crewing on several occasions including during a voyage from Southampton to refit at Dartmouth – and a most eventful trip that was: a fractured engine cooling pipe filling the engine room with seawater, the bow caulking near all lost in severe pummelling as she pitched into heavy wave troughs, and eventually the assistance of the Weymouth lifeboat to bring us into port! Praise be to the RNLI! Along the way I became familiar with Poole, Weymouth, Dartmouth and Plymouth; much later I quite fell in love with the far south-west of Cornwall, Falmouth and Penzance particularly.

I greatly enjoy real ales, reading (historical books for the most part), folk music (my favourite folk musicians being Devon’s own ‘Show of Hands’) and, with huge optimism, playing a very average game of golf.

I am a great fan of Patrick O'Brian's marvels, so much so that I decided that his tales must be continued; hence I wrote my own stories of HMS Surprise, albeit with different characters and the later ship.

I'm presently writing my sixth book of "the continuing voyages of HMS Surprise" for publication in spring 2019.

I've never written either food or health books - that's not me!