Derek Birks

ALLi Author Member

Location: United Kingdom (the)

Genres: Historical Fiction

Skills: Speaking Engagement/Lecture, Self-publishing Workshop/Training, Reading/Literary Event

Derek was born in Hampshire in England but spent his teenage years in Auckland, New Zealand where he still has strong family ties. For many years he taught history in a secondary school in Berkshire but now writes full time.
Apart from writing, he spends his time gardening, and walking.
Derek is interested in a wide range of historical themes but his particular favourite is the later Medieval period. He aims to write action-packed fiction rooted in accurate history.
His debut historical novel, Feud, is set in the period of the Wars of the Roses and is the first of a series of nine books which follow the fortunes of the fictional Elder family. The final book in the series, Crown of Fear was published on kindle in December 2021.
He has also written a bestselling trilogy set in the fifth century which is focused on the exploits of Ambrosius Aurelianus - the 'real' King Arthur.

Derek Birks' books

FEUD

It is 1459 and England stands on the brink of chaos. York and Lancaster go to war for the throne. As the Wars of the Roses begin, the rule of law breaks down and in the heart of Yorkshire an old local score is being settled.

"From the eye-catching cover to the last page, Feud is an exciting story of survival through personal upheaval during a vicious war, where the outcome is not always certain." Historical Novel Society.

Young Ned Elder, a Yorkshire knight, finds himself caught up in the civil war when his family is brutally attacked by their neighbour, Lord Radcliffe.
For the Elders, nothing will ever be the same again. With only a few loyal companions, Ned is hounded across the land by the Radcliffes. His sister Emma is forced into a loveless marriage with Radcliffe's heir whilst his younger sister, the brash Eleanor, is confined within an austere nunnery.

With their father and older brother dead, it falls to Ned and his sisters to fight back. But they are young, they make mistakes and they will need help if they are to survive, for once the Feud begins, no-one is safe...

FEUD is the compelling story of Ned Elder, his sisters and the girl he loves. They fight for survival and, whilst the civil war rages across a snow-covered battlefield, the bitter feud is played out to its bloody conclusion.

A TRAITOR'S FATE

Peace never lasts.
It is 1464. Ned Elder and his two sisters, Emma & Eleanor, have won a hard-fought peace and their feud with the Radcliffes seems long over, but one man never accepted the outcome. After three bitter years of waiting to destroy the Elders, a new ally provides him with a fresh opportunity for revenge.
When Ned is summoned to confront a Lancastrian revolt by the new king, Edward of York, he finds his enemies are not just amongst the ranks of the rebels. Branded a traitor by his own commander, the Earl of Warwick, Ned is soon a wanted man in hostile territory and the price on his head only rises when he stumbles upon a royal secret.
Meanwhile, Eleanor and Emma watch over Ned's pregnant wife, Amelie, with only a small garrison of old men and boys to protect them. The feud may have ended, but the scars run deep for all three women and they must hold their nerve and prepare to defend themselves at any cost.
A condemned man, Ned must find a way to escape his pursuers or else the whole Elder family will be destroyed.

KINGDOM OF REBELS

When all hope is gone, only death lies in wait.
England in 1468 is a nervous kingdom. King Edward IV has fallen out with his chief ally, the powerful Earl of Warwick.
Ned Elder, a young lord whose sword helped to put Edward on the throne, has been forced out of England by Warwick. Far away on the Scottish border, a beleaguered fort, Crag Tower, desperately awaits Ned's return. Led by his fiery sister, Eleanor, the dwindling garrison is all that remains of his brave army of retainers.

Unknown to all except the loyal knight, Ragwulf, Eleanor has Ned's young son in her charge - a son who has never seen his father. But, as border clansmen batter the gates with fire, the castle seems certain to fall.

One by one Ned's family and friends are caught up in Warwick's web of treason. The fate of the Elders and those who serve them lies once more in the balance as all are drawn back to Yorkshire where they face old enemies once more.

Eleanor can only hope that Ned will soon return. She must fight to keep that hope alive and when Lady Eleanor fights, she takes no prisoners...

THE LAST SHROUD

“Say your prayers, my friends, for it's the last chance you'll have.”
It is July 1469 and England is at peace. For Ned Elder, it should be a time of recovery and renewal but a revolt breaks out against King Edward IV and he calls upon Ned to help restore order. Ned suspects that Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and the king’s own brother, George, Duke of Clarence, are behind the new troubles. His fears prove well founded as the kingdom spirals towards civil war.
Once again, Ned and his sisters, Eleanor and Emma, come under attack from rivals old and new. Into the turmoil of rebellion steps Robert Radcliffe, Warwick’s man, and a former enemy of the Elders. He offers to help Emma, but how far can she trust him?
The bitter struggle between King Edward and his enemies must be settled in blood upon the battlefield where the victor will take the crown of England. But does Ned Elder have the stomach for yet another fight?
Divisions in the Elder household threaten its very survival. Can the Elders be reunited or will the family destroy itself from within - and who among the Elders will emerge unscathed from the bloodiest crisis of the Wars of the Roses?

SCARS FROM THE PAST

An unwelcome legacy. An impossible love. A relentless enemy.
By 1481, England has been free from civil war for ten years.
The Elder family have found a fragile peace after their part in the bloody struggle for the throne, yet the scars remain with them all. And close to home, in Ludlow, trouble is stirring once more.
Born out of the carnage of the Wars of the Roses, young John Elder is now the heir to his father’s legacy, but he finds it a poisonous one. After a brutal fight with an outlaw, John abandons his home and inheritance to become a mercenary in Flanders. But, in his absence, the Elder family must face his ruthless outlaw enemy alone.
When the young Edward, Prince of Wales, is caught up in their bitter struggle, the life of the heir to the throne hangs in the balance. To save the prince, all other lives must be put at risk, but will John Elder return in time to help?
Only if the Elders can leave the scars of the past behind them, is there any hope of survival.

The Blood of Princes

A savage tale of love, treason and betrayal.
A bloody struggle for power at the heart of the royal court.

In April 1483, the sudden death of King Edward IV brings his 12 year old son to the throne.
Restless young lord and ex-mercenary John Elder is newly-appointed to the service of Edward, Prince of Wales, and charged with the boy’s safety. His first task, escorting the new king to London for his coronation, seems a simple one but the accession of a boy king raises concerns among the leading noblemen of the land.
As old jealousies and feuds are rekindled, the new king’s uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, seizes control and plunges the kingdom into crisis. But is Gloucester young Edward’s enemy, or saviour?
While John, outlawed and trapped, must wait to see how events unfold, other members of the battle-scarred Elder family are drawn, one by one, into his conspiracy. Soon they are mired so deep in the murky underbelly of London society, that there seems no hope of escape from the tangle of intrigue and murder.
In the end, all lives will hang upon the outcome of a daring incursion into the Tower of London itself.

Echoes of Treason

It is autumn 1483 and Richard III is king of England, but rumours about the fate of his nephews are rife and dissent is beginning to grow. Waiting in Brittany, is the exiled Lancastrian heir to the throne, Henry Tudor, who senses that his moment has come. Henry’s mother, Lady Margaret Stanley, plots to restore her son’s fortunes with a series of revolts against King Richard.
After the disastrous events of the summer, the embattled Elder family is scattered and in hiding. The outlawed head of the family, John, has escaped to Flanders along with a few loyal comrades, his sister, Meg, and his lover, Isabel. But the Elders will not be left to lick their wounds for long, because William Catesby, influential servant of King Richard, has made it his mission to destroy them.
When Lady Stanley tries to draw the Elders into the Tudor rebellion, John must decide whether he can cast aside his long-held Yorkist loyalties. Should he join Henry Tudor under the banner of St. George and the dragon of Wales?
It is the devil’s choice: poverty and a life in exile, or the slim chance of returning home by the fickle path of treason.

Shadow of Doubt

By the early spring of 1485, the Elder family are still licking the wounds sustained in the abortive October Rebellion of 1483 against King Richard III. The head of the family, outlawed Lord John Elder has joined the pretender, Henry Tudor in France while his aunt and half-sister linger in the dubious safety of Ludlow.
King Richard’s closest adviser, William Catesby, knowing an invasion is certain is keen to capture any of Tudor’s supporters if they land in England. Henry Tudor though is also anxious to find out who, among prominent Englishmen, he can rely upon.
So in March 1485 he sends his trusted ally, John Elder to sound out one man who might hold the key to his success in the south west.

Crown of Fear

England, August 1485.
For almost thirty years, the Elder family has been ravaged by the feud between York and Lancaster. Now exiled John Elder, yearning for an end to the Elders’ troubles, throws his support behind a young, untried pretender, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond.
Henry’s tiny invasion force looks certain to be heavily outnumbered by the massive host that Richard III has summoned. But nothing is certain for some of King Richard’s subjects are wondering if the dire rumours they have heard about him are true.
Since one of Richard’s most powerful nobles, Lord Thomas Stanley is also Henry's stepfather the king takes Stanley’s son hostage. If Stanley deserts him, the king must rely upon the vast army of Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, but the earl has long resented Richard’s power in the north.
King Richard's chief councillor, Sir William Catesby, keen to protect his king decides to crush the dangerous Elder brood once and for all. So, one by one John’s kinfolk are captured and imprisoned.
On a marshy plain not far from Market Bosworth the fate of the Elders and the kingdom of England will finally be settled.

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