Graham Rhodes

A Witch Her Cat and a Pirate Graham Rhodes

This first book in an intended series introduces Agnes, a three hundred year old witch who lives in the present day Scarborough, a small town on the Yorkshire Coast, and who travels through time via a bricked up doorway in the cellar of her ancient home that she shares with Marmaduke, her unusual, one-eyed cat. When Agnes passes through the bricked up doorway she travels through time, when Marmaduke goes through the doorway he not only time travels but also changes into a large, one eyed, ginger haired mercenary, and Agnes' right hand man. In this their first novel, set against the historical backdrop of the Battle of Flamborough in 1779, they discover a troop of mysterious guerrilla fighters set on a secret mission to destroy the guns of the towns Castle. They discover that these fighters, led by a Red Indian Shaman, are a force of American fighters smuggled into the country by the sea captain John Paul Jones, (now known as the founder of the American Navy), on a mission to capture and destroy a fleet of merchant ships from Scandinavia bound for Scarborough. As Marmaduke assists the Garrison Commander in the defence of the Castle and its guns, Agnes and The Red Indian Shaman fight a magical battle that sends them into a unknown future leaving them no choice but to work together to return to their own time and place. With the help of the garrison commander, himself a veteran of the American War Independence they managed to thwart the mission, but as history cannot be changed, Agnes and Marmaduke watch as the Battle of Flamborough unfolds on the seas before them giving the Americans a major victory. Incidentally the Battle of Flamborough was the only battle of the American War of Independence to be fought in Europe & English waters.