The Valley

by Robert Hammond

THE VALLEYSynopsisMolly lives with her mother in a windmill overlooking the North Sea. All her life she has been led to believe her father had fought and died returning from the wars overseas. One night a stranger arrives with information that her father may be alive and living at the far end of the river valley. For some reason he cannot make it home and sends a map and some money to help her mother discover his whereabouts. Molly's mother becomes too ill to make the journey so Molly and her close friend Jack set out on a winter's night intending to return in a fortnight. Their adventure at the outset turns into a mystery. The map has more significance than they realize and is sought after by strangers, people willing to kill to get their hands on it. As their journey along the valley progresses their good luck runs out and all manner of problems and dangers confront them. The story is set in the real valley of the River Wear around the 1880's. Along its banks are the Great Cathedral and Castle at Durham, Finchale Priory, the mediaeval Castles of Lumley and Hylton, The Bishops Palace at Bishop Auckland and mediaeval Manor House at Stanhope where the Kings of England once hunted deer. Molly and Jack encounter a Gypsy fortuneteller, a Ghost, a public hanging, a Judge a Bishop and a Lord in his castle, child beggars, thieves, poachers and prisoners, treachery, tragedy, love and stolen treasure. They are shot at by soldiers and one of them is imprisoned accused of theft and sentenced to hard labour for one year. Their destination is the Lead mine at Killhope and their objective is to find Molly's father and discover what secrets the map holds. Molly is set upon, robbed and left for dead by the roadside. Tragedy is followed by love and then separation. The whole story is set in County Durham during Victorian times of hardship and poverty. Molly and Jacks innocence is gradually lost in the realities of the big wide world as their characters are tested and principles are called into question. They are both completely changed by their separate experiences. Each illustration is of an historical building found along the river where Molly and Jack find hospitality and refuge. Each building is still standing today; all of them have been there for hundreds of years. The cathedral has stood for almost one thousand years. Most of them are actually occupied and operating as successful business's or tourist sites. All of them have stories of their own and in reality more gruesome than this young persons adventure story. The history of Wear valley is a special piece of the North of England's history. St Cuthbert's treasure can be found in the cathedral where Cromwell imprisoned a defeated Scottish army and from where Henry VIII took the Lindisfarne gospels. Today the Wear Valley is still a special, secret place. This story adds to the atmosphere of a beautiful forgotten valley where its communities carry on as they have always done, even today, surviving industrial change. This story is the first part of a trilogy. The second stage is in the process of being written along with the structured outline of the third part. ROBERT HAMMOND9 EAST VIEWFULWELLSUNDERLANDTYNE & WEARENGLAND

283 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 13, 2012