Mike Rendell

When I retired to live in Spain people said 'You must be bored - what do you DO?'. The answer is 'I retreat to the 18th Century'.There I have a fascinating world created by my 4 x Great grandfather, based on his diaries, his jottings, his accounts - even his shopping lists and paper cut-outs. I eat with his cutlery; I sit on his chairs; and I decided it was time I wrote up his life story. I have written it because I believe history should be about everyday life - not about Kings and Queens (I don't really get invited to Court and have never met any royalty). I am not interested in wars won and battles lost (never been in the Armed Forces, nor taken part in any battles, thank goodness). And what came across to me is that while the centuries may change, life's problems remain the same. We have to cope with health problems, bereavement, relationships, money concerns - all the things which faced my ancestor 250 years ago. Do we learn from what went before? Probably not, but it can be great fun visiting someone else's life, in someone else's century.
When I am not living in Spain (which is where I do most of my writing) I stay at Ashburton in the U.K. (on the edge of Dartmoor) near a beautiful and ever-changing river.
What reviewers have said:
'What fascinates about this book and its clever presentation is its straight forwardness'
Author Mike Rendell has done what many have dreamed of doing before him, he has traced his roots and made its history sing'
'This fine presentation is an example of a book being as good as its cover'
(Review for euVue by Seamus Doran)