Work In Progress at Triple Point Press . . .

Festive Feast – Christmas in Marylebone

Adam Bethlehem

Festive Feast is the second part of the Mouse/Fox trilogy – a story in verse for illustration in 12 double page spreads:

Charles Edward Fox and Frederica Porter-Mouse share a home in Regent’s Park.

In a quiet moment after Christmas dinner, Fox declares his love. Mouse accepts his proposal of marriage but wishes to meet her fiancé’s family before the wedding.

Younger mice are fearful of carnivorous foxes and will not allow their grandmother to face danger alone. The entire family travel to Yorkshire to seal the proposal.

It Matters Not Who Lies On Top

a novel in three parts

Adam Bethlehem

1969: The story of Nicolas Copernicus Jones begins in the mists before conception.

The prospective father, Joshua Jones, is a principled man defined by a belief in progress that has been both effective and uncomfortable for those around him.

Varied interests in science and commerce have brought the family to a state of prominence in national life, even in the years before the parents embark on the search for an heir.

1982: A family holiday opens a boy’s eyes to great mysteries – biology, hidden lives and the kindness of strangers, sisterly secrets and the inevitability of sex.

“Any determined researcher might discover the name of a shipwrecked boat,” the old man takes his seat in the forest. “And herein lies an essential truth . . . A modernist fascination with facts has led the world along the path of simplicity but each woman or man will be defined by their enquiry. Make sure your demands are suitably grand. Perhaps, if you’re lucky, a solution might happen along the way.”

1995: Christmas at home with the traditions of a family argument.

Long past midnight, a dusting of snow covers every surface. Flakes drift on unseen currents in the air as a fox withdraws into bushes that fringe the empty garden. The kitchen is quiet, library empty . . . In the dining room, moonlight reflects on the polished surface of the table, thoughts gathering around him like a cloak.
Who are you, Nicolas Copernicus Jones?

Folk Tales from The Shamsi Collective