I’ve not posted here since before Christmas so the site is now due an update – and here it is!
My hoped-for biography of Henry Coombe-Tennant now runs to 80,000 words with two or three more chapters to come. I think it will turn out at around 95,000 words. Henry was variously a scholar, academic (Eton and Cambridge), philosopher, Welsh Guard, prisoner of war (1940), escapee (1942), SOE agent, parachutist (fighting behind enemy lines in France, 1944), MI6 agent and monk. And he had been born in 1913 as part of a plan that would see him become the new Messiah. That never happened, of course, though he did lead a very interesting life and met some remarkable people along the way…
I’ve recently had the OK from the trustee who controls the archive records of the Tennant family to proceed with finding a publisher for my work. This was great news for me! The family liked what I had written.
I am currently ‘polishing’ three chapters for submission to several publishing companies so they can see how the work looks and – hopefully – one of them will accept it for publication. Fingers crossed…
At the end of February 2019, I went to Downside Abbey (south of Bath) to give a talk on Henry’s life. He spent the last 30 years of his life there as a Benedictine Monk. The folk there knew little of his earlier life so it was quite an eye-opener for them. The event was a sell-out and I received some information from folk who remembered him and also had a very pleasant lunch and chat with two of the Monks who knew him at Downside. It was a great day!
If I can interest a publisher, I hope to see my work in print in 2020. Exciting times…
Bernard Lewis (Author) 