Clouds in a Summer Sky

Batch Magna #4

by Peter Maughan

Welcome to Batch Magna, a place where anything might happen. And often does...

Life in an old steam boat deep in the Welsh Borders holds numerous charms, but the Commander’s wife Priny is suffering from arthritis, a condition not at all improved by their water-based lifestyle. The couple take up an offer from Humphrey, the squire of Batch Hall, of a straight swap: their boat, the Batch Castle, for one of the Masters’ Cottages facing their beloved river. 

The Castle is restored to river-worthiness and starts plying successfully as the Cluny Steamboat Company to Shrewsbury and back. As a result it takes a good deal of profit away from a taxi firm in a local border town, much to the displeasure of the firm’s English owner, Sidney Acton. Enlisting the aid of two corrupt Welsh councillors, Acton plots against the new venture. Only time will tell if his sabotage attempts will bear fruit or blow up in his face...

What readers are saying about The Batch Magna Chronicles series:

“An enchanting mixture of The Wind in The Willows and The Darling Buds of May. An England that doesn’t exist but surely should.”

“Reading this book was like sitting down for a nice long chat with an old friend. I loved reading the Welsh village descriptions; it felt like coming home. … I eagerly await the next instalment of the Batch Magna crew!”

“I first got this book out of the local library, and then brought a copy – I wanted to read it again and again. It’s a treasure, a smashing read, funny and beautifully written.”

“These books are such fun, darkly comic and full of great characters. … Batch Magna is a place I would love to find, and the river sounds idyllic.”

“Hurrah for Batch Magna, Humphrey and friends.”

 “I loved this book. It’s lyrical and very amusing, with all the charm of an old Ealing comedy. … More please Mr Maughan!”

“What an amazing writer! I have never found any descriptive writing that has gripped me so much before.”

“A thoroughly enjoyable read. … Is there another Batch Magna book on the way, please? Such a wonderfully descriptive bucolic and warmly ‘human’ story with echoes of the Darling Buds of May.”

“A wonderful, funny, well-crafted escape from everyday life. If you love writing that absorbs you into the landscape you will love this book. Every sense was satisfied with the author’s beautiful descriptions of the Marches. Escape from the tarmac, concrete and relentlessness of life with this stunning book. Thank you Mr Maughan.”

“I absolutely loved this book and all the characters became so real to me, I just couldn’t put it down.”

288 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 25, 2019

About the author

Peter Maughan is an ex-actor, fringe theatre director and script writer. He is married and lives in the Welsh Marches, the borderland between England and Wales, and the backdrop to the Batch Magna series of novels, set in a village cut off from whatever the rest of the world gets up to beyond the hills of its valley.
All the books in the series feature houseboats, converted paddle steamers on Batch Magna’s river the Cluny, and the author lived on a houseboat in the mid-1970s (the time frame for the novels) on a converted Thames sailing barge among a small colony of houseboats on the Medway, deep in rural Kent.
An idyllic time, heedless days of freedom in that other world of the river which inspired the novels, set in a place called Batch Magna.

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful and amusing read. "Clouds in a Summer Sky" is a worthy follow-on in the series of Batch Magna Novel, and is just as much fun as the previous three.

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like everything else set in Batch Magna there are a lot of unexpected things happening with around and aboard the sole operating vessel of the Cluny Steamboat Company. Some of the main characters have been shifted to the background for this adventure to allow the reader to become better acquainted with others who reside in neighboring towns. There is local corruption and intrigue occurring, but the owners of the Batch Castle are blissfully unaware of it as they continue on with their lives.
Peter Maughan normally doesn't end his books with a cliffhanger, but I had to check to see if there was an update to the download that I had missed when I read the last sentence and it ended with a comma. If I do have the complete book, that means that there should be a continuation of this tale in the next book. I hope that book will provide the answers to all of the questions I was left with at the end of this volume.
One of the things I truly enjoy about the books in this series is that each one is able to be read in fits and starts if I have very little time for pleasure reading or it can easily be read in a weekend. I have mentioned in previous reviews how much Batch Magna is like Lake Woebegon, and I continue to feel that way because of Peter Maughan's use of lyrical prose to set a scene and his development and description of a variety of characters who all speak in their own voices.

[Ilona Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silly but so fun

It starts off slow with more details about the paddlewheel steamer than I need but it quickly picks up steam (!). Mervyn and Sidney are bent on ruining Humph’s new venture. But everything goes awry for our villains. Most of the story focuses on these two with a side of Dewi who is hilarious as he daydreams ways to dispose of Sidney who is his boss. You can imagine this as a TV series with all the local colorful characters but in this one the bad guys are the fun part. Just enjoy the well-written silliness.

[Clarissa Simmens · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a long-time fan of Peter Maughan’s Batch Magna series, I eagerly downloaded the latest from kindle. I found I had to shift the gears and work the brakes very carefully because my expectations were completely wrong. Change is never a bad thing, I reminded myself as I slowly steered through the first chapter. But I couldn’t help noticing that all the beloved characters were now playing cameo roles. That meant I had to accept a whole new group of co-stars, ingenues, male lovers (oh, Phineas, none quite as lovable as you!) and even a skin-head. There were more topical situations such as the loss of business in a competitive society and the easy use of crime as an equalizer. Fortunately, Maughan is a talented writer with an incredible imagination and sense of humor. Although I grumbled to myself, within a few more pages I was suddenly accepting the “new” and classifying them in my memory for future series stories. I kept scrolling pages into the night and was disappointed when there were no more; but I can see by the ending that the door is ajar, allowing for an exciting continuation of those always-surprising Batch Magna characters. Oh, yes, the magical otter made her appearance on the very last page…