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One More Hour of Daylight
**One More Hour of Daylight**
*A breathless chase through occupied France and over the Pyrenees — where the only thing more dangerous than the enemy is the past.*
Essex, September 1939. A German pilot comes down by parachute in the grey dawn of an English field. He is wounded, frightened, and a long way from home. Derrick Sedgley, a seventeen-year-old boy, finds him, makes him a promise, and breaks it before morning.
Four years later, the promise is still unpaid.
**France, Germany, 1943.**
Derrick is now an SOE operative working with the resistance in occupied Europe, organising operations and moving agents and downed airmen south through France towards the Spanish border. When a mission goes wrong in Hamburg, he finds himself running with Lotte Braun — a woman who knows the risks and carries secrets that change everything about the chase behind them.
The SS are closing in. Safe houses are being raided. The resistance network is under pressure, and the corridor south is compromised. And somewhere behind the pursuit, driving it forward with quiet and terrible patience, is a man who has been waiting for this moment for four years.
He is not driven by ideology. He is not driven by duty.
He is driven by a promise broken in the dark, and he remembers Derrick's face.
**From Lyon to Hamburg. From Switzerland to the mountains of Spain.**
The Pyrenees do not care about any of them. The crossings are high, cold, and unforgiving, and the mountain takes what it takes without ceremony. But what is waiting on the other side of the highest point is not safety. It is the reckoning that has been coming since an Essex field in September 1939.
Four years. One broken promise. And a woman who must choose between the man she loves and the brother she cannot save.
One More Hour of Daylight is a novel about what we owe the people we betray and how long a debt can follow a man before it catches up with him.
**For readers of Ken Follett, Sebastian Faulks and Alan Furst.**
*A breathless chase through occupied France and over the Pyrenees — where the only thing more dangerous than the enemy is the past.*
Essex, September 1939. A German pilot comes down by parachute in the grey dawn of an English field. He is wounded, frightened, and a long way from home. Derrick Sedgley, a seventeen-year-old boy, finds him, makes him a promise, and breaks it before morning.
Four years later, the promise is still unpaid.
**France, Germany, 1943.**
Derrick is now an SOE operative working with the resistance in occupied Europe, organising operations and moving agents and downed airmen south through France towards the Spanish border. When a mission goes wrong in Hamburg, he finds himself running with Lotte Braun — a woman who knows the risks and carries secrets that change everything about the chase behind them.
The SS are closing in. Safe houses are being raided. The resistance network is under pressure, and the corridor south is compromised. And somewhere behind the pursuit, driving it forward with quiet and terrible patience, is a man who has been waiting for this moment for four years.
He is not driven by ideology. He is not driven by duty.
He is driven by a promise broken in the dark, and he remembers Derrick's face.
**From Lyon to Hamburg. From Switzerland to the mountains of Spain.**
The Pyrenees do not care about any of them. The crossings are high, cold, and unforgiving, and the mountain takes what it takes without ceremony. But what is waiting on the other side of the highest point is not safety. It is the reckoning that has been coming since an Essex field in September 1939.
Four years. One broken promise. And a woman who must choose between the man she loves and the brother she cannot save.
One More Hour of Daylight is a novel about what we owe the people we betray and how long a debt can follow a man before it catches up with him.
**For readers of Ken Follett, Sebastian Faulks and Alan Furst.**
417 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 16, 2026
About the author
C.M. Gray
7 books205 followers**New Book Coming June 2026**
**One More Hour of Daylight — A WWII Historical Thriller**
My latest book is *One More Hour of Daylight*, a WWII historical thriller following Derrick Sedgley, a seventeen-year-old from Essex who makes a single moral choice in a field one September morning in 1939 — and spends the next five years living with the consequences. From the Essex countryside to occupied France, from the mountains of Burgundy to the Pyrenees, it is a story about promises, betrayal, courage and the cost of doing the right thing too late. I am very excited to be launching it in June 2026.
And for those of you who have been waiting patiently — and I know you are out there — the third book in the Pendragon Saga, *Shadow's Heir*, will be published in September 2026. More on that very soon.
If you have read my previous work, you will have noticed that most of it has been fantasy — pure fantasy or historical fantasy — and that my years travelling through Asia, India, Africa and the Middle East have a habit of finding their way onto the page. I have seen and done some fairly strange things along the way and met some extraordinary characters, so writing fantasy has always felt, to me, only a short step from writing fact. *The Flight of the Griffin* was longlisted in the 2015 Times Chicken House Writing Competition, which was a wonderful early marker that the stories were finding their readers. *Shadowland*, the first book in the Pendragon Saga, has now received over 900 five-star reviews on Amazon — something that still genuinely astonishes me and for which I am deeply grateful.
When I started *Shadowland* I had every intention of keeping it grounded in historical reality, but then came the druids, and then one of the main characters discovered an unsettling affinity with wolves, and historical fiction became historical fantasy almost before I noticed. It has turned out to be a popular book, so I will not complain.
*One More Hour of Daylight* marks a departure: pure historical fiction, no druids, no wolves. Just one young man, an occupied continent, and a promise he should not have made.
I was born in England and grew up in the Essex countryside, which is a beautiful part of the world up near the Suffolk border — and which, as it happens, is where Derrick Sedgley grows up too. I suspect the flat fields, the big skies and the particular quality of Essex light found their way into the book whether I intended them to or not.
I was born, however, with a serious case of travel lust. As soon as I could get a passport, I packed a rucksack and went to see what the world looked like. I have been looking ever since.
I am now very happily settled just outside Barcelona, with my wonderful wife and partner in life, Adriana.
I have lived more years outside England than I ever spent living there. It is, after all, a great big exciting world.
**One More Hour of Daylight — A WWII Historical Thriller**
My latest book is *One More Hour of Daylight*, a WWII historical thriller following Derrick Sedgley, a seventeen-year-old from Essex who makes a single moral choice in a field one September morning in 1939 — and spends the next five years living with the consequences. From the Essex countryside to occupied France, from the mountains of Burgundy to the Pyrenees, it is a story about promises, betrayal, courage and the cost of doing the right thing too late. I am very excited to be launching it in June 2026.
And for those of you who have been waiting patiently — and I know you are out there — the third book in the Pendragon Saga, *Shadow's Heir*, will be published in September 2026. More on that very soon.
If you have read my previous work, you will have noticed that most of it has been fantasy — pure fantasy or historical fantasy — and that my years travelling through Asia, India, Africa and the Middle East have a habit of finding their way onto the page. I have seen and done some fairly strange things along the way and met some extraordinary characters, so writing fantasy has always felt, to me, only a short step from writing fact. *The Flight of the Griffin* was longlisted in the 2015 Times Chicken House Writing Competition, which was a wonderful early marker that the stories were finding their readers. *Shadowland*, the first book in the Pendragon Saga, has now received over 900 five-star reviews on Amazon — something that still genuinely astonishes me and for which I am deeply grateful.
When I started *Shadowland* I had every intention of keeping it grounded in historical reality, but then came the druids, and then one of the main characters discovered an unsettling affinity with wolves, and historical fiction became historical fantasy almost before I noticed. It has turned out to be a popular book, so I will not complain.
*One More Hour of Daylight* marks a departure: pure historical fiction, no druids, no wolves. Just one young man, an occupied continent, and a promise he should not have made.
I was born in England and grew up in the Essex countryside, which is a beautiful part of the world up near the Suffolk border — and which, as it happens, is where Derrick Sedgley grows up too. I suspect the flat fields, the big skies and the particular quality of Essex light found their way into the book whether I intended them to or not.
I was born, however, with a serious case of travel lust. As soon as I could get a passport, I packed a rucksack and went to see what the world looked like. I have been looking ever since.
I am now very happily settled just outside Barcelona, with my wonderful wife and partner in life, Adriana.
I have lived more years outside England than I ever spent living there. It is, after all, a great big exciting world.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 27, 2026
Seventeen-year-old Derrick Sedgley finds a wounded German pilot in an Essex field in September 1939. The pilot asks for one more hour of daylight before whatever comes next. Derrick agrees, then reports him anyway. That choice follows him across the war and into Germany itself — where the debt he has carried for four years finally comes due.
C. M. Gray
I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the author, and I'm glad he shared it with me. I admit it, I'm a history buff, especially about the world wars, so this book is perfect for me. The historical references are factual and integrated into the story. It is well documented that the use of espionage was widespread during world war two. There was a camp here in Ontario Canada where they trained would-be spies, many of whom were deployed to Europe.
At the beginning of the book you are introduced to Derrick, a young man still in school when war breaks out. He makes a promise, one he is unable to keep, that will eventually follow him into Germany. When he comes of age (he lies about his age), he joins the fight and is immersed in the world of espionage. You follow Derrick through Europe as he learns the trade and is deployed into the combat zone.
Imagine being a teenager thrust into a world of make believe, where the consequences of your actions could mean life or death for you, and everyone around you. And, your actions have a real effect on the progress of a world war.
This story involves love, betrayal, intrigue, and so much more. It may not be real, but it could be.
This WW2 historical fiction, by C.M. Gray, is a must read for anyone interested in that era, or just a really good read. If you enjoy intrigue and suspense, I recommend you read this book. I had a hard time putting it down. I don't often give five stars but this one definitely deserves it in my humble opinion.
Will there be a sequel? I hope so.
C. M. Gray
I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the author, and I'm glad he shared it with me. I admit it, I'm a history buff, especially about the world wars, so this book is perfect for me. The historical references are factual and integrated into the story. It is well documented that the use of espionage was widespread during world war two. There was a camp here in Ontario Canada where they trained would-be spies, many of whom were deployed to Europe.
At the beginning of the book you are introduced to Derrick, a young man still in school when war breaks out. He makes a promise, one he is unable to keep, that will eventually follow him into Germany. When he comes of age (he lies about his age), he joins the fight and is immersed in the world of espionage. You follow Derrick through Europe as he learns the trade and is deployed into the combat zone.
Imagine being a teenager thrust into a world of make believe, where the consequences of your actions could mean life or death for you, and everyone around you. And, your actions have a real effect on the progress of a world war.
This story involves love, betrayal, intrigue, and so much more. It may not be real, but it could be.
This WW2 historical fiction, by C.M. Gray, is a must read for anyone interested in that era, or just a really good read. If you enjoy intrigue and suspense, I recommend you read this book. I had a hard time putting it down. I don't often give five stars but this one definitely deserves it in my humble opinion.
Will there be a sequel? I hope so.
Displaying 1 of 1 review