The Twyford Code

A marvelously enthralling, absorbing & entertaining read The Twyford Code is ingenious and delicately plotted with imaginatively created credible characters. The book is set in the present day with the main character, Steven having recently been released from another period of imprisonment, looking back at his school life to try to figure out what happened on a class outing which he appears to have blocked out of his memory.

The outing seemed to revolve around a book that Steven had found but, had been confiscated by his teacher Miss Iles. The book was an old book written for children during the War by Edith Twyford who had become quite famous during that time but, had been largely forgotten due to her books being labelled unsuitable for modern society. However, the book was kept by Miss Iles and used as a teaching aide before apparently becoming the catalyst for a class trip to Bournemouth to see where the author lived. Steven remembered much of this but, not much else until he had arrived home late in the evening. After the trip Miss Iles no longer came to school.

Steven decides that after nearly 40 years it is time he tried to fill in the missing hours of his life that were spent on the class outing & if possible, maybe find out what happened to Miss Iles. Steven starts by trying to track down & talk to his ex-class mates. As each ex-pupil Steven tracks down reveals a slightly different version of what happened he begins to see a mystery and a sinister element in the recollections. Did the books written by Edith Twyford contain a coded message for someone? Was that someone Miss Iles or did she unwittingly stumble on it leaving her expendable. Is there someone still willing to go to any length to protect a 40-year-old secret?

This is a tantalising tale creatively told through transcripts of audio files recorded on Steven's Smart Phone. The writing is immediately immersing and the plot intriguingly built up with each character Steven meets. A really enterprising and mercurial tale that has the brain cells working overtime.

Read Janice's fascinating article on The Twyford Code here