The Follower has a long history. I originally wrote the story decades ago for my son. I printed up a single copy to give to him as a present. It started life quite simply, but I then added various verses and other embroideries to give it a bit of a feel of ‘old legend’ about it. There it stayed for many years until I wrote Moses Trod. I re-read The Follower and decided it was worth revisiting. I did a deal of work on the book, removed a lot of extraneous elements and added new bits, too. The underlying story remained essentially the same, but I wanted it to be less obviously intended as a child’s book and changed it accordingly. My wife, who is a trained artist, offered to provide some illustrations. She drew one pen and ink oval for each chapter heading which greatly enhanced the volume. Here is the Chapter Two illustration showing Freeway and Bess, the two Labradors, in their basket in front of the farmhouse kitchen range.
The resulting book was published as an adjunct alongside Moses Trod which it outsold significantly.
The Follower is a tale full of mystery and surprise in a land at once familiar and strange. Toby Small grows up on an idyllic, quiet island but longs to escape the boredom of the place.
Escaping to the mainland, Toby finds himself involved in a mystery that takes him to the Big City where he meets a strange gang and joins them in their adventures. He and his new friend, Crystal, travel by unseen ways to the far mountains across a troubled land. Together, they find themselves drawn into the heart of a drama that changes the history of their land. As the story unfolds, the Follower draws ever closer and the strange events of their times are revealed.
In 2025, I revisited the story once again and made numerous small changes and improvements, much as I did with the other three novels in this group. Having been a little nervous of there being too much verse in the first edition, I decided to follow my original instinct for the new version and added additional verses. In particular, I was keen to keep the acrostic verses I had prepared for the first story: they add a little subtlety to the proceedings, I believe. Also, as I have written more poetry, verse and song lyrics than prose over the years I have a natural bias to the art form. I also took the opportunity to improve the maps and graphics.
The story is essentially a circular journey and has something of the journey of life about it, as the following quotes suggests:
‘Some things that appear to change remain the same, just as some things that appear the same are always changing. So it is with life, we grow older and yet we do not. Time takes us around in circles of experience.’
There is also a backcloth of mystery about the tale:
‘When history is mystery,
when reason seems unknown,
when time has lost its destiny
let no man walk alone.’
Ego Sum Dominos Temporis was the original strap-line and has remained the key phrase in the book. Perhaps there is a pervading philosophy as well:
‘… much that seems illogical can be found in nature. Until we understand it, it appears as magic. Our forbears had no understanding of electricity, or lightning or magnetism or the elements of science. They explained them with myths and imagination. Whole religions would be devised to explain the circumstances of our world and our place within it. Such knowledge can be hard to shift and legend can be mistaken for truth. I prefer the fact of research and the understanding of science.
Humility is also a vital element of some of the characters… and not a bad thing either, the world is in need of it just now.
‘… to the powers contained within the earth, men are insignificant. The substance of rock and energy, that is the core of the planet, is part of a greater scheme of things: it is a part of the cosmos.’
Paperback edition: 315 pages. Approx: 108,000 words. ISBN: 978-1-9999455-3-4
Available to buy online from: Great British Bookshop
Exoddy 