Now that Bubbles in the Cauldron is out and I have Drover back in my own hands, I must get Drover overhauled and given a new title.  Drover was one of the early books and I have learned a lot since then, more recently from Lorraine Mace but also just by reading and writing and comparing. Drover came from my love of the Highlands and the history of the people. I've mentioned elsewhere, I don't think history is decided by kings and emperors, their contributions are temporary, but by the advancing mood and belief of the mass of the people. The uprising of 1820 for example was triggered by laws like the malt tax but the long term result was a growing awareness of the power of the majority. Churchill went to war with Nazi Germany, but could he have done that without the will of the electorate behind him? Slavery was abolished in the British Empire because the people of Britain found it abhorrent and ordered the Navy to enforce their will, not only on British traders but on anyone involved in that trade at sea. Unfortunately, they could do little about it elsewhere and David Livingstone was still writing about its evil in what is now Malawi in Queen Victoria's time. Bubbles in the Cauldron is a story of loyalty and friendship, but I have tried to give it a the flavour of the brooding suspicion of 1820.

The picture is of the old slave bell erected at the church in Pniel near Cape Town to remember the history of its inhabitants.

http://sullatoberdalton.com/pen-sullatober