Children of the Lonely Night — J. Rowland Broughton

This book is about the last few weeks in the life of Richard Henry Harvey, a gentleman farmer and naval officer whose estate, Long Halls, and its range of woods and farms are situated near the village of Branworth in Lincolnshire. Richard Harvey was born in March 1936 and inherited Long Halls on the death of his father in September 1945. The Harvey family descend directly from a member of the knights array, who fought with William of Normandy in 1066, and there has been a continuous line of the family living at Long Halls since that time.

Richard Henry Harvey was educated initially by private tutor, then at Huntingdon School, and finally at Lincoln College, Oxford, after which he entered the Royal Navy as a career officer. As with many generations of his family, Harvey was granted the Monarchs Special Commission, and over the years, undertook numerous missions for both his monarch and the government. This book covers but a few weeks at the end of his life and is short on the detail of his younger days. Richard Harvey is an enigmatic man; his life is lost in a welter of deeds and misdeeds that mask the true nature of the man. Finally, after years of searching and one failed marriage, he finds the girl that he loves, only for her to ripped away from him by those who would terrorise his country and his home.