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The Katherine Wheel #4
Willow
The stifling heat of a summer’s day lures four children to the cool green waters of the river that runs between Cheadle Manor and The Katherine Wheel Garage.
Al captains the little band of pirates as they blithely board the wooden dinghy. Headstrong Lottie vies with him to be in charge while Isobel tries to keep the peace and look after little Lily.
But it is the river that is really in control.
Lost and alone, the four children have to face many dangers, but it is the unforeseen consequences of their innocent adventure that will shape their future for years to come.
Book Four of The Katherine Wheel Series may be small in size but it packs in many surprises for the children of Katy and Jem and Douglas and Cassandra. Willow bridges the generation gap between the last three books, Daffodils, Peace Lily and Speedwell, and Book Five, Woodbine, when the four children are on the brink of both adulthood and the outbreak of the Second World War. The series will conclude with the sixth book, Ivy, in the most surprising way, as the war draws to its agonising conclusion.
For fans of historical fiction and Alex Martin's work in particular, Willow makes the most perfect stocking filler!
Al captains the little band of pirates as they blithely board the wooden dinghy. Headstrong Lottie vies with him to be in charge while Isobel tries to keep the peace and look after little Lily.
But it is the river that is really in control.
Lost and alone, the four children have to face many dangers, but it is the unforeseen consequences of their innocent adventure that will shape their future for years to come.
Book Four of The Katherine Wheel Series may be small in size but it packs in many surprises for the children of Katy and Jem and Douglas and Cassandra. Willow bridges the generation gap between the last three books, Daffodils, Peace Lily and Speedwell, and Book Five, Woodbine, when the four children are on the brink of both adulthood and the outbreak of the Second World War. The series will conclude with the sixth book, Ivy, in the most surprising way, as the war draws to its agonising conclusion.
For fans of historical fiction and Alex Martin's work in particular, Willow makes the most perfect stocking filler!
- GenresHistorical Fiction
88 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 21, 2019
224 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
Alex Martin
11 books134 followersI came late to writing. No, that's wrong. I came late to publishing my writing. And what a thrilling ride it's proving to be.
I'm never happier than when bashing both brain and keyboard in my Plotting Shed wherever that may be! On gloriously creative days, I can look up and find hours have passed. I'm amazed the scenery is unchanged, fixed, when I've been absorbed in heart-stopping drama or tragedy, or romance.
At last, I am following my bliss. I'm a bit late to the party, but I'm dancing.
There was an old black and gold typewriter knocking about my childhood home. When I wasn't skinning my knees climbing trees or wandering aimlessly in the countryside with my dog and my dreams, I could be found, as now, typing away with imaginary friends whispering in my ear.
My first novel, The Twisted Vine, is based on a happy time picking grapes in France in the 1980s. I met some amazing people there but none as outrageous as those that sprang to life on my screen. Daffodils is based in Wiltshire, where I grew up. It attempts to portray how ordinary lives, and the rigid social order, were radically altered by the catalyst of the First World War. This book developed into The Katherine Wheel Series, with a sequel set in 1919 in the aftermath of WW1, Peace Lily, and Speedwell, taking the characters into the roaring twenties and the dangerous world of motor-racing. Willow (a novella) introduces the next generation who face daunting challenges in WW2 in Woodbine and Ivy, the final book in this epic saga which draws all the many threads together in the previous six books into a dramatic climax.
The Spirit Level comprises two dual-time ghost stories. The Rose Trail is set in the English Civil War and Triskelion has a Druid priestess giving Fay and Percy an urgent message for the modern world.
The next book is always just around the corner. I'm just listening to the whispers from the other side to get the full picture... And now that book (my tenth!) is here. Warrior Queens is the third book in The Spirit Level Series although the link is tenuous. Three friends struggle through adversity and only their bond can get them through. A modern tale of girlpower.
I'm never happier than when bashing both brain and keyboard in my Plotting Shed wherever that may be! On gloriously creative days, I can look up and find hours have passed. I'm amazed the scenery is unchanged, fixed, when I've been absorbed in heart-stopping drama or tragedy, or romance.
At last, I am following my bliss. I'm a bit late to the party, but I'm dancing.
There was an old black and gold typewriter knocking about my childhood home. When I wasn't skinning my knees climbing trees or wandering aimlessly in the countryside with my dog and my dreams, I could be found, as now, typing away with imaginary friends whispering in my ear.
My first novel, The Twisted Vine, is based on a happy time picking grapes in France in the 1980s. I met some amazing people there but none as outrageous as those that sprang to life on my screen. Daffodils is based in Wiltshire, where I grew up. It attempts to portray how ordinary lives, and the rigid social order, were radically altered by the catalyst of the First World War. This book developed into The Katherine Wheel Series, with a sequel set in 1919 in the aftermath of WW1, Peace Lily, and Speedwell, taking the characters into the roaring twenties and the dangerous world of motor-racing. Willow (a novella) introduces the next generation who face daunting challenges in WW2 in Woodbine and Ivy, the final book in this epic saga which draws all the many threads together in the previous six books into a dramatic climax.
The Spirit Level comprises two dual-time ghost stories. The Rose Trail is set in the English Civil War and Triskelion has a Druid priestess giving Fay and Percy an urgent message for the modern world.
The next book is always just around the corner. I'm just listening to the whispers from the other side to get the full picture... And now that book (my tenth!) is here. Warrior Queens is the third book in The Spirit Level Series although the link is tenuous. Three friends struggle through adversity and only their bond can get them through. A modern tale of girlpower.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 16, 2025
a very quick read
Only a few quick chapters for this little adventure. I might have liked to see a bit more at the end, but since this is a transitional story between the first three and the last two, I’m sure more will be coming in the next book.
Only a few quick chapters for this little adventure. I might have liked to see a bit more at the end, but since this is a transitional story between the first three and the last two, I’m sure more will be coming in the next book.
May 17, 2020
What a nail biting story!
I read straight through this book. I had to find out what was going to happen. Alex Martin is a great author. Now onto book five!
I read straight through this book. I had to find out what was going to happen. Alex Martin is a great author. Now onto book five!
July 14, 2020
Summer delights
Absolutely loving these books can highly recommend. Summervfrolocs with the children but where will it end only time will tell.
Absolutely loving these books can highly recommend. Summervfrolocs with the children but where will it end only time will tell.
August 17, 2020
Willow
A short story to cover the children's middle years and how it fits in with the ongoing series about the adults in the story.
A short story to cover the children's middle years and how it fits in with the ongoing series about the adults in the story.
December 3, 2021
Story of an adventurous escapade of the children of the main characters in this engrossing series. Unsure how it would end , but had nice ending.
April 22, 2022
A Bridge between Books
This short novella serves as a bridge between the first two books and the last two as we encounter the new generation of the Phipps and Flintock familes.
This short novella serves as a bridge between the first two books and the last two as we encounter the new generation of the Phipps and Flintock familes.
January 20, 2020
Willow is a novella linked to Alex Martin’s brilliant Katherine Wheel trilogy; stories that told the lives of Katie Phipps and Cassandra Flintock-Smythe. Written from the perspective of the next generation: Al and Lily, Katy’s children, and Lottie and Isabel .Cassandra’s daughters, the children are left to their own devices and embark on an adventure that goes dramatically wrong. This tale brings to life their distinctive well-rounded characters, the dialogue distinguishes each child’s voice and fits exactly into the era it represents. The descriptive narrative sets the scene perfectly and moves the plot along in gripping speed. As with all this author’s work, I enjoyed Willow very much. I look forward to seeing these characters grow into adulthood and to following their stories.
January 20, 2020
Willow is a short but sweet addition to the Katherine Wheel trilogy which followed the lives of Katie Phipps and Cassandra Flintock-Smythe. Willow takes the story on to the next generation, with Al and Lily (Katy’s children) and Lottie and Isabel (Cassandra’s daughters). They have already come into the saga, but now they are developing into distinct characters in their own right, with traits that are likely to produce increased dramatic complications in future developments. A simple idyllic day’s adventure for the children, left free to look after themselves, finishes up with a disaster that makes a truly taut and gripping read, and sets fair to cause a major rift between the families.
I am looking forward to what follows next.
I am looking forward to what follows next.
June 7, 2022
This is a novella about the 2 children of the Phipps and the 2 daughters of the Flintock-Smythes, who are being watched by Katie, who puts 14 yr old Al in charge. Lottie and Al are the same age, Bella, 3 yr. younger than they, and Lily, 8. Recently, Al and his father had patched up a rowboat, and Al has the idea they can play pirates on it. Lottie suggests that, rather than eat before they go, they should have a picnic. They find ham, cheese, bread, and chutney for sandwiches, and a whole apple cake for desert, as well, and fizzy lemonade that Agnes, Al and Lily's grandmother, also made. They pack their picnic and Lottie and Al take turns rowing upstream and steering with the tiller. There are really no beaches on the shore to speak of, but they find a spot for their picnic under a willow tree. Before they can get to the cake, they all fall asleep until wasps waken them, drawn by the apple cake. They get out of there, and head downstream towards home. But all of them are still tired, and fall asleep, and by the time they waken, they're in unfamiliar territory on the river. They try to find a place to tie up, but the current is much stronger and it is impossible to turn the boat and get to shore. Before they know what's happened, they're in the chute leading to the weir, which creates an artificial warerfall. Before they know what's hit them, the boat is airborne. It hits the water hard and all 4 are overboard. Lottie is a very strong girl, sports-loving, and manages to surface but at first, sees nobody. Then she sees Lily's head bob up and go back down. She manages to bring Lily up for air, expel the river water from her gut and lungs, and get her to the duck island in the middle of the lake near Cheadle Manor. Soon after, Al.and Bella come ashore and they make plans to attract attention from the manor, so those hunting for them can mount a rescue. After that, it's a matter of building a fire so the folks at the manor can see them. Lily has gotten too cold, and one of the others moves her around while the others try for dry tinder and kindling amd forewood, and rocks that they might be able to use to light a fire. Once it has started, one of them goes for more dry wood and finds wood ready to build duck huts. They reappropriate it for the fire and are rescued.
Of course, their parents are all upset; the kids didn't ask or have permission to use the boat without adult supervision; none of them thought to leave a note; and they took advantage of Katy's distraction with a new process she needed to work on to continue making a profit (it's implied that the money from the brake seals has dried up and they've had to seek other means of making a living).
Working together, Al rescuing Bella and Lottie rescuing Lily, and to make the fire, they have learned quite a bit that the adults, worried that they might have lost their children, don't see right now.
As the srory ends, we see the bitterness of the old woman, Lady Smythe, the frantic grief of Cass, and the practical attitudes of the Phipps parents, well aware of the scrapes kids get into and seasoned by the grief of the early loss of a child, Katy's expressions of grief because her child died,.an expression that gave her pneumonia, and her grief and confusion for years when she believed Jem was dead, plus her war experience as a WAAC, and the things she saw, the horrors of war, and her fear Al would die, plus her loss of her big brother in WWI, plus Jem's experience in the war and as a POW, and his loss of his arm, make them more relaxed than even Cass, who also lost a brother to the war and drove ambulances as a FANY volunteer, ans is now a widow.
Everything in the valley of the Cheadle River in that area depends on the whims and fancies of the upper class. The people of Lady Smythe's generation are struggling to hold onto the hierarchy that has benefitted them for so long, while the war has been a great equalizer for their children.
The accounts given by the children are aimed at keeping Al from being harmed but will they separate the tenuously rebuilt friendship between Cass and Katy? And will the children ever be able to play with or even visit each other again?
Of course, their parents are all upset; the kids didn't ask or have permission to use the boat without adult supervision; none of them thought to leave a note; and they took advantage of Katy's distraction with a new process she needed to work on to continue making a profit (it's implied that the money from the brake seals has dried up and they've had to seek other means of making a living).
Working together, Al rescuing Bella and Lottie rescuing Lily, and to make the fire, they have learned quite a bit that the adults, worried that they might have lost their children, don't see right now.
As the srory ends, we see the bitterness of the old woman, Lady Smythe, the frantic grief of Cass, and the practical attitudes of the Phipps parents, well aware of the scrapes kids get into and seasoned by the grief of the early loss of a child, Katy's expressions of grief because her child died,.an expression that gave her pneumonia, and her grief and confusion for years when she believed Jem was dead, plus her war experience as a WAAC, and the things she saw, the horrors of war, and her fear Al would die, plus her loss of her big brother in WWI, plus Jem's experience in the war and as a POW, and his loss of his arm, make them more relaxed than even Cass, who also lost a brother to the war and drove ambulances as a FANY volunteer, ans is now a widow.
Everything in the valley of the Cheadle River in that area depends on the whims and fancies of the upper class. The people of Lady Smythe's generation are struggling to hold onto the hierarchy that has benefitted them for so long, while the war has been a great equalizer for their children.
The accounts given by the children are aimed at keeping Al from being harmed but will they separate the tenuously rebuilt friendship between Cass and Katy? And will the children ever be able to play with or even visit each other again?
January 8, 2022
I feel duped !
Not that the story wasn’t good, but it was more like a short story than a book. The other 3 books were great. That is why I purchased this one. It was only 80 pages long. Very disappointed. Not going to continue the series because of this.
Not that the story wasn’t good, but it was more like a short story than a book. The other 3 books were great. That is why I purchased this one. It was only 80 pages long. Very disappointed. Not going to continue the series because of this.
August 6, 2020
Excellent but a cliffhanger!!
January 20, 2020
Willow is a short but sweet addition to the Katherine Wheel trilogy which followed the lives of Katie Phipps and Cassandra Flintock-Smythe. Willow takes the story on to the next generation, with Al and Lily (Katy’s children) and Lottie and Isabel (Cassandra’s daughters). They have already come into the saga, but now they are developing into distinct characters in their own right, with traits that are likely to produce increased dramatic complications in future developments. A simple idyllic day’s adventure for the children, left free to look after themselves, finishes up with a disaster that makes a truly taut and gripping read, and sets fair to cause a major rift between the families.
I am looking forward to what follows next.
I am looking forward to what follows next.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews