I honestly do not know what the origin of this novel was. Misery memoirs have become a major section of the publishing industry and one I deplore and I have certainly often wondered if they are all true – indeed, I know of one which is said by the other members of the author’s family to be a pack of lies, so perhaps The Beacon began here.

It is set in the North Yorkshire Moors which I knew so well as a child and young person growing up though they are, of course, very different now in many respects. But the landscape remains the same.

It was one of those books that seemed to write itself and was finished very quickly.