Devon Caperich is the author of the Tall Ship Tales, the Spinningdale Series, and other projected novels.
Originally a historian, later a psychologist, I returned to my roots to write novels set in the past. My books – being prepared for publication – are inspired by my experiences of sailing tall ships, and of working in pioneering child protection teams.
The Tall Ship Tales are a trilogy of swashbuckling novels set in the Devon and Caribbean of the early Georgian period. The trilogy maps the expanding horizons and increasing confidence of protagonist, Tomasina. The first is a coming-of-age novel in the Bildungsroman tradition; unworldly, young ‘Tommie’ experiences a literal and psychological journey during which she faces mutiny, hurricanes, piracy and the horrors of slavery. She eventually, albeit reluctantly, accepts the inevitability of womanhood. In the second, unable to settle to the role of wife, she seeks freedom and adventure by joining a ship dedicated to pirate hunting. Gradually she appreciates that she can achieve freedom closer to home. The third in the trilogy is inspired by two great eighteenth century women, Queen Nanny of Jamaica and the American, Mary Patten. Tommie, now a loyal wife and mother, has to use all her resources to reunite friends and family, overcoming ruthless slave catchers, rebellious crew, grave illness and dangerous seas. Through her courage, skill and tenacity she emerges as very much more than the traditional Georgian wife and mother.
The Spinningdales series is a projected 15 novels, plus spin-offs such as a cookbook and biographies of key protagonists. Each new year, throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s, the Spinningdales team face professional and personal dilemmas and dangers. The stakes could not be higher because failure can result in the death of a child, as well as professional annihilation. In the first novel of the series, the newly founded group of disparate individuals have to crystallise into an effective team, able to intervene to help distressed and distressing families. They include one in which an apparently caring mother cannot explain why she attempted to drown her three children. Over the years, the team have to offer succour to others while dealing with trauma in their personal lives. Despite all the emotional challenges, there are moments of humour and deeply felt joy. These novels have parallels with the television Call the Midwife series, albeit focusing on a group helping wider family ordeals rather than pregnancy and childbirth.
I post blogs on subjects associated with my novels. Illuminating the Tallship trilogy, topics include Queen Nanny, and how to climb rigging. Blogs associated with the Spinningdales series outline, for example, the tragedy of Maria Colwell, and the autobiography of Lemn Sissay. These can be found on my website https://www.devoncaperich.com/.
Additionally, photos and comments are posted on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/devonjcaperich,
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/devoncaperich/
X (formerly Twitter): @DevonCaperich
Other projects include novels about a crime-busting family. These are written jointly with my own family members. Also in outline is a saga of four daughters from a mining community who, through their own initiative and talents, emerge from the shadows of Northern England’s slag heaps to find fortune and varying degrees of wealth. This last is based on the histories of the indomitable women in my mother’s ancestry.
By no means all my works are yet to be published. My writing careerbegan in the 1990s when, as a psychologist, I worked with bereaved and traumatised children. Following the publication of one of my articles, a Macmillan’s commissioning editor rang and asked, ‘Do you have a book in you?’ The answer was a total of seven books on various aspects of child development and trauma, as well as innumerable chapters in edited works for not only Macmillan’s but other leading publishers such as Chapman & Hall, Sage, and Routledge. These are, however, written under my professional name.
When not writing, my spare time is spent wild swimming or sailing. I have acted as voluntary crew on several tall ships, crossing the Atlantic and Southern Oceans, and surviving Cape Horn. Nowadays, I am usually to be found on the foredeck of a J90 racing yacht, or up to my neck in seawater, scrubbing its keel to ensure neither barnacles nor seaweed slow us down.