Letters from the Past

During the Second World War, Keith J Wilson’s father was responsible for patrolling and guarding RAF Hangars in Salcey Forest, South Northamptonshire. He would ride his bike there from Northampton each day, and bring home stories of the forest which filled Keith’s head with impressions of a secret place full of mysteries.

Influenced by these tales and thoughts of what might have been, Keith’s idea for Letters from the Past came to him as he watched the M1 motorway being built near Northampton and passing through the edge of Salcey Forest. Watching the huge earth-moving equipment, he imagined the discovery of a skeleton in the ruins of a building being uncovered.

Keith also envisaged the discovery of letters during both this period in the 1950s and also a century and a half before. From the beginning of the 19th century to the mid 20th century, he then takes the story back to the time of the English Civil War, where one man is forced to put his love and honour on the line as he is called to spy for the King. Thus a treasure hunt through time begins...

Descriptions of the siege of Oxford, minor skirmishes, the battles of Marston Moor and Naseby are part of this story of romance and adventure. Continuously posing new mysteries, questions and intriguing puzzles, Letters from the Past also offers a real insight into the world of ordinary men and women during a time of considerable turmoil, in a land which is so often described as green and pleasant.

“Like so many veterans of war, the lucky ones who survive have many tales to tell. During the conflict, they live their altered lives at an intense level of existence which they will never forget and, often, becomes the most important part of their lives. Thus it must have been for those affected by, or who fought in, the English Civil War. I hope that readers will find page turning excitement in sharing my imaginary world which for many Englishmen, nearly four centuries ago, had been a very real one,” Keith comments on why he wrote his book