Maiden Castle (novel) Maiden Castle (novel) Maiden Castle by John Cowper Powys was first published in 1936 and is the last of Powys so-called Wessex novels, following "Wolf Solent" (1929), "A Glastonbury Romance" (1932), "Weymouth Sands" (1934). Powys was an admirer of Thomas Hardy, and these novels are set in Somerset and Dorset, part of Hardy's mythical Wessex. American scholar Richard Maxwell describes these four novels "as remarkably successful with the reading public of his time". "Maiden Castle" is set in Dorchester, Dorset Thomas Hardy's Casterbridge, and which Powys intended to be a "rival" to Hardy's "Mayor of Casterbridge". Glen Cavaliero describes Dorchester
James McGee (author) renegade French generals who are attempting to overthrow Napoleon Bonaparte. The plot is centred on the attempted coup, which became known as the Malet Conspiracy. McGee's novels have been generally well received by the critics. The period detail, likeable hero and fast-paced-action have commended the books to many reviewers. Authors Reginald Hill and Andrew Taylor have also praised the novels. James McGee (author) James McGee is an English novelist known for his historical adventure novels about a fictional Bow Street Runner, Matthew Hawkwood. James McGee was born in Kent, but, as an army child, spent his childhood in Gibraltar, Germany