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Alex Charlton Books

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Welcome

If you are new to my books, let me explain a bit about them. I write about ordinary people placed in extraordinary situations and my stories are always positive, always optimistic.

That doesn’t mean that the characters I write about don’t suffer all that life can throw at them – but it does mean that they overcome barriers and challenges. In this current dark and troubled world, I write about the brightness and strength of the human spirit – and I hope that this in turn lifts the spirits of my readers.

All my books are available from Amazon; Waterstones; the Book Depository; The Shop at Richmondshire Museum, Ryder’s Wynd, Richmond DL10 4JA, North Yorkshire; or through any good bookshop. 

Welcome
About Alex

About Alex

My father always encouraged me to try anything and everything, so I have tried to take every opportunity that life offers. Diverse careers have taken me to very different parts of the country: financial management in London and East Sussex; running a sheep farm in North Yorkshire; and working in various aspects of education in the West Country. My love of these regions, and the experiences I have had in them, feed into my writing, as do my leisure interests. The Carousel of Time is set in Kent; Saving Graces in Dorset; and The Child at the Edge of the World is played out in North Yorkshire. In each, the diverse and haunting beauty of nature threads through the story.

I read English at Uni and loved the remote worlds that Old and Mediaeval English opened up to me. I explored the practical aspects of life centuries ago on an archaeological dig in the Outer Hebrides, and a Master’s Degree in Education taught me to listen and observe, and to research my subjects carefully.

Travel, exercise and almost any outdoor activity are priorities in my life but, above everything, I love my family and friends: they are at the centre of my life, as are my faithful Labradors, who accompany me on long walks when I think and plan my writing.

Books

The Carousel of Time

In a remote settlement in Anglo-Saxon Kent, a young woman looks forward to marrying the man she loves, but extreme drought threatens to destroy the community her father founded and the only solution will destroy her chances of happiness.

Same location in the late twentieth century: Kate Summers and her husband try to revive their failing marriage by restoring a country house together, but dark shadows from past tragedies impact on their lives and they and those they love are changed forever.

Can the past influence the present? Is the past ever really dead and buried? And is Time itself really as straightforward as we think…?

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1784651990
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1784651992

Currently out of print.
Revised version to be published in late-Autumn 2025.

Saving Graces

Grace Adams, one of 21st Century London’s most promising young fashion designers, is on the brink of her first major show and achieving the fame she has worked so hard for.

In wartime Dorset, Grace Brabazon is at the start of a brilliant teaching career. But the path that each woman expects her life to follow ends dramatically.

Will the Graces triumph over the extraordinary events that change their lives forever? Despite everything, will they succeed professionally and be fulfilled personally? And what would each have faced had not Fate intervened as it did in their lives? 

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1839756101
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1839756108

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The Child at the Edge of the World

Laura Jamieson and Jem Walker are both haunted by tragic past events. When they meet in the Yorkshire Dales, Laura is still fragile from a controlling and abusive relationship, and Jem is struggling to reintegrate into the rural society where he was born, after spending years as a friar trying to come to terms with his past. 

Sharing a passionate love of the natural world and showing sensitivity to humans and animals alike, they seem to be a perfect couple, but will their deep feelings of guilt and unworthiness prove to be an insurmountable barrier? And will the host of unanswered questions which haunt Jem ever be answered?

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 180381943X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1803819433

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Buy Now at Waterstones