The MOON DANCERS

John Pitman's historical novels set in deepest Essex

LATEST RELEASE: The Mirror of Diana
In which our hero finds himself fleeing to Italy where he encounters princes, pagan rituals, banditti, and bad Lord Byron in a wild ride across Tuscany and Rome to the Alban Hills.

The Moon Dancers (Book 1 of The Moon Dancers Series)

THe Moon Dancers is a rumbustious tale of love, adventure, and general naughtiness set against a backdrop of food shortages and civil unrest. In it the author mischievously suggests some of the lengths that country folk might have been prepared to go to in order to ensure a successful harvest.

Summer 1795: Roger Ellis is a newly promoted naval lieutenant who finds himself unexpectedly beached on shore and unable to secure a new berth. When Roger, a keen student of modern philosophy, and especially the European philosophy of enlightenment, is obliged to stay in London to be close to the Admiralty, he finds it hard to settle into a society which he sees as louche and self-centred. So, when he is encouraged by his friends to take a break from the city, he happily returns to his home village of Canewdon, an isolated place set deep within the Essex marshes, from whence he left at the age of twelve to go to sea.

Roger soon finds that the village is not quite as idyllic as he remembers, but when he reconnects with Elizabeth Saunders, a childhood friend now grown to be a beautiful but slightly wild young woman, it begins to look like this summer may be one of the most memorable of his life. As the weeks fly by Roger is drawn ever further into a hitherto unknown and totally unsuspected world of romance, superstition, sexuality, and danger that may well change his life forever.

Praise for The Moon Dancers
'I'm entranced by The Moon Dancers... If you loved the intrigue of The Green Man and the smoldering sexuality of Tipping The Velvet, then come and revel with The Moon Dancers, if you dare!!'
Matthew Cox on Amazon

'Totally enjoyed this book ... if you like Horatio Hornblower but with a bit more spice, then you'll love this.'
Charles Christian on Amazon

READ THE FIRST CHAPTER (PDF DOWNLOAD 128 KB)

The Moon on the Water (Book 2 of The Moon Dancers Series)

The Moon on the Water sees the return of Roger Ellis, erstwhile hero of The Moon Dancers. Offering the usual blend of high adventure and extreme naughtiness, The Moon on the Water takes up Roger’s story seven years later and brings it to its exciting conclusion.

1802: The Treaty of Amiens has ended hostilities between Great Britain and France and Captain Roger Ellis RN once more finds himself kicking his heels in London. But unlike the last time he visited the Capital, when he was by his own admission, ‘damnably priggish and, like the prophet Isaiah, much, much holier than thou’, Roger is now a changed man. Long ago, the events of one wild summer spent in the remote Essex village of Canewdon conspired to unlock certain feelings within him so that these days he is far, far more inclined towards the pursuit of life’s sensual pleasures.

At first, as a result of his wartime exploits, Roger is generally fêted all around town. However, following a riotous evening spent in the company of the Prince of Wales, the whiff of scandal soon attaches itself to him and, in consequence, he is posted to an unrated tops’l schooner with orders to assist the Revenue in patrolling the Essex coast, thus triggering a chain of events that will see him plunged into a dangerous world of criminality and perceived supernatural influence that will threaten his very existence.

Praise for The Moon on the Water
'If you enjoy historical fiction with swashbuckling excitement, bodice-ripping pleasures, murder, intrigue and a dash of the briny deep, then The Moon On The Water is for you!!'
Matthew Cox on Amazon

READ THE FIRST CHAPTER (PDF DOWNLOAD 141 KB)

LISTEN TO AN AUDIO VERSION OF CHAPTER ONE

The Mirror of Diana (Book 3 of The Moon Dancers Series)

1821 and Britain has a new king.

Rear Admiral Roger Ellis has long considered His Majesty George IV to be an ungracious, mean-spirited blackguard, but even he would admit that his attempt to smuggle the king’s estranged wife, Queen Caroline, through the back door of Westminster Abbey so that she could attend the coronation of her odious husband was somewhat misguided.

And so Roger finds himself fleeing to Italy, with his whole family in tow, hotly pursued by the king’s bullies bent on serving out a good basting that would see our hero trundling around in a Bath chair for the remainder of his days.

But the cradle of western civilisation soon proves just as dangerous, as Roger encounters prurient princes, pagan rituals, banditti, and bad Lord Byron in a wild ride through Tuscany and Rome that finally takes him to the shimmering lake in the Alban Hills that has forever been known as the Mirror of Diana.

READ THE FIRST CHAPTER (PDF DOWNLOAD 142 KB)

The Complete Moon Dancers (Omnibus Edition)

The Complete Moon Dancers brings the first two novels in the Moon Dancers series - The Moon Dancers and The Moon on the Water - together in one volume. Set at the end of the eighteenth century, they see the shy and studious young naval lieutenant, Roger Ellis, return to his home village of Canewdon in the Essex marshes where he is drawn into a thrilling vortex of superstition and sexuality that conspires to unlock hitherto unknown feelings within him. As time passes, Roger becomes more and more inclined towards the pursuit of life’s sensual pleasures until, years later, his riotous behaviour catches up with him and in the wake of a royal scandal he finds himself ordered ignominiously to assist the Customs Service in patrolling the Essex coast, thus triggering a chain of events that plunge him into a dangerous world of criminality and perceived supernatural influence that threatens his very existence.

Praise for The Moon Dancers
'I'm entranced by The Moon Dancers... If you loved the intrigue of The Green Man and the smoldering sexuality of Tipping The Velvet, then come and revel with The Moon Dancers, if you dare!!'
Matthew Cox on Amazon

'Totally enjoyed this book ... if you like Horatio Hornblower but with a bit more spice, then you'll love this.'
Charles Christian on Amazon

Praise for The Moon on the Water
'If you enjoy historical fiction with swashbuckling excitement, bodice-ripping pleasures, murder, intrigue and a dash of the briny deep, then The Moon On The Water is for you!!'
Matthew Cox on Amazon

Hempen Fever

Peter Young has bad dreams. Terrifying images dance through his mind while he sleeps. Vivid images of roaring flames and violent men in old fashioned clothes.

In an effort to help him discover the cause of these disturbing nightmares, Emily Hammond, Peter’s partner, suggests that he try a course of hypnotic regression therapy and recommends Professor Neil Sutherland, an old friend of hers from college.

But neither Peter nor Emily are prepared for what Sutherland will uncover as he takes Peter back, through distant memories of his childhood, to a time long before he was born, and to a personality whose fate was inextricably linked to the life, and death, of the most notorious highwayman ever to take to the road.

And they are certainly not prepared for the horrors they are to encounter as the link to this ruthless, murderous criminal continues, unbroken, into the present…

Hempen Fever might well be a tale of reincarnation, ghosts, or maybe just the mysterious power of the mind. But whatever it is, it’s John Pitman’s third novel and it's a little bit different to the others!

READ THE FIRST CHAPTER (PDF DOWNLOAD 142 KB)