Yesterdays

by J. Robert Whittle, Joyce Sandilands

Canadian author, J. Robert Whittle's 10 novel, co-authored with his wife, Joyce Sandilands, is an eclectic and often heart wrenching compilation of autobiographical, historical, fantasy and western stories. As per many requests, Part I contains several hilarious stories of Whittle's youth caring for his grandfather and becoming a young entrepreneur during WW2 in Yorkshire, England. Part 2 is historical, the genre for which Whittle and Sandilands shared two golden IPPYs in 2007 and 2008. Part 3 contains a selection of modern subjects and titles. Then, hold onto your hats for a rootin' tootin' western novella with all the necessary ingredients ... exciting gun battles and romance! Whittle has a reputation for surprising readers with his array of intriguing characters and 'Yesterdays' is no exception. Suitable for age 11+.

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 9, 2010

About the author

I'm a retired coal mining engineer who was born in Yorkshire, England and helped to raise my 8 younger siblings. I also had an older sister but I didn't help much with her! At the age of 19 I become the youngest mining engineer in England's history, too young to even claim my degree. Instead, the British Coal Board under whose scholarship I had gained the degree, hired me. At 24, they kindly gave me probably the most dangerous job known at the time ... leading a first response to disaster team all over Europe. We did some other jobs that were actually pretty cool even by today's standards. The come-on was the pay and having been an entrepreneur since the age of 6 (beginning of WW2 when times were very tough), money was very important to me and my Lizzie Series is loosely based on that part of my life. No doubt why I continue now at age 80!) About 12 years later, after fellow miners took bets that I wouldn't live past 32, I moved my family to Australia and worked in construction on the desert 1200 miles from Perth and drove that dusty road regularly often sleeping in my car! Years later, I took a job for the Canadian Gov't, in construction up near the Arctic Circle on Baffin Island. Eventually I came to Victoria BC, met my second wife Joyce and, at her suggestion, began writing books while recuperating from a surgery in 1994. It seemed I had a natural ability ... lots of reviews can be found on our website as they were written down on paper or told to me, internet was new back then! I meet and talk to my fans personally as I sell my books at markets. Many of our readers are too busy bugging me for another book to use computers so you won't find many reviews on the internet. You could help us by changing that :) My books are finding a younger generation of adults now (always read by kids too) since we began in 1998. Classic, family friendly stories never seem to totally lose their charm and Joyce and I hope ours won't be either.

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked these books up at Victoria from Mr. Whittle himself. He signed each one. I enjoyed talking with him and felt compelled to buy a couple books. I bought them thinking my boys would like them since they are into history and ghosts, read them myself and was quite surprised! Very good reads!!