The Man on the Mantelpiece

On the first day of World War Two Jim begins a diary. An ardent eighteen-year-old pacifist, nothing will persuade him to fight.

Seventy years later his daughter discovers his writing. After a month the entries cease until, two years later, he begins again. Now he is a married man and has volunteered for RAF Bomber Command. Janet has a mystery to solve. Why did he change his mind? What happened to the man she has only known as the young hero in his photo on the mantelpiece?

Following in his footsteps throughout his training and first bombing raid, Janet compares the diaries with her own impressions of life then and now. In the twenty-first century when Jim’s generation is all but gone, she traces her father’s struggle and finds the reason she never knew him…

Take a Look Inside The Man on the Mantelpiece

Janet Denny grew up in London. She trained as a nurse at Westminster Hospital and went on to become a midwife and health visitor. She began writing stories in her head when her family embarked on restoring a derelict fifteenth-century farmhouse in Sussex. While scraping rot from woodworm-eaten timbers and re-pointing old brickwork she was able to let her imagination fly. More tales followed, recounting village life and the unexpected adventures of a bed and breakfast hostess.

After twenty-five years of running a busy retail business Janet returned to ‘fiddling around with words’. In 2014 she graduated with an MA in Creative Writing. Her particular interest is in memoir and biography.

The Man on the Mantelpiece is her first book.

‘Meticulously researched and beautifully constructed, with an imagination expertly deployed to fill in the gaps between the facts.’

– Blake Morrison, author of And When Did You Last See Your father?

‘A moving memoir about the author’s search for understanding. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, it is a powerful story.’

– Helena Drysdale, author of Looking for George

‘A wonderfully rich brew of travelogue, memoir, quest, and detective story.’

– Stephen Mollett, screenwriter and author of A House Halfway to Africa

‘An important contribution to WWII literature – skilfully written and deeply humane.’

– Dave Swann, author of The Last Days of Johnny North