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If there is a book you want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.                                    (Toni Morrison)

Browse my site – look at the books and see what inspired them.

PUBLISHED APRIL 2025

Strangers and Friends Paperback – 10 Dec. 2025

by Barry Upton (Author), Detlef Kohnen (Illustrator)

A book of ten short stories exploring how strangers can become friends, and the nature of friendship itself. The author and illustrator have combined to create a collection of stories and illustrations that challenge and engage. Each story is told in a different voice, from a different perspective, and explores the theme in a different way.
Fremde und Freunde is a collection of original images, created by Detlef Kohnen, inspired by the stories, and slotted inside them, which in themselves are a noteworthy and imaginative artistic collection.

Available now from Amazon Books: Click on the cover image above to purchase direct.

William, the illegitimate son of “Duke Robert of Normandy, is camped on the South Downs of England. He contemplates the battle that is to come. While his father went by the epithet “The Magnificent”, William lived in the shadow of his birth and was known by all as le Bâtard. But none call him that now – not in his hearing. None dare.

William takes the responsibilities of Normandy while still only a boy, and he quickly becomes a feared and ruthless warrior, fighting to retain his birthright. the opportunity arises for him to extend his arm across the Channel, he seizes it. The childless King of England, Edward the Confessor, a cousin, makes him his successor, but the English Saxons will never accept a Norman King. So an invasion is planned and a strategy developed.

All that stands between him and his ambitions is a battle-weary army, following their King Harold. William has a strong sense of destiny. God is on his side. But you can never rely on divine intervention, so his battle strategy is in place.

This is William’s story, tracing his journey from Boy Duke to King of England.