AN author from Emersons Green has published a historical thriller based on the life of one of his ancestors.
Roger Lloyd’s book, Burning Secret, tells the story of his great-great-grandfather Enoch Price, who was born into poverty in Bristol in 1844 before moving to America and making a fortune under a different name.
Roger, 75, who recently stepped down as chairman of the Frenchay Flower Show, said: “After retiring as a senior police officer, I turned my detective skills to genealogy, tracing my family history to the 16th century.
“However, after 15 years of extensive research, I couldn’t track down my great-great-grandfather, Enoch Price, whose wife, Eliza, had, in living memory, helped raise my mother.”
One of Roger’s cousins eventually made a breakthrough via a relative in California, who looked through a box of family documents that had been unopened for 30 years and found references to her great-grandfather, Harry Mason, a wealthy hotel owner from Florida who had died in 1919.
It transpired that Harry and Enoch were in fact the same person.
Roger said: “From this single thread, the extraordinary story of Harry Mason began to unravel.
“Family stories painted Enoch as a respectable man, the son of a tanner, earning an honest living as a bodice stay manufacturer in London’s East End during the 1870s.
“However, after dedicating fifteen years to meticulous research, I uncovered a far richer and more captivating story, one rife with unexpected twists, deceit, and brutal betrayal, bound to astonish anyone who hears it.
“Burning Secret blurs the lines between fact and fiction, as it reconstructs the real life of Harry Mason, and is a story that many of us can relate to in our own families.”
In the book Enoch becomes a bare-knuckle fighter amongst London’s underworld before, facing ruin and imprisonment, he abandons his wife and daughters and flees to Florida, becoming Harry Mason.
He makes a fortune and gains political power but can’t find happiness because of “a secret that burns deep inside”.
Roger said: “I think the story operates on several levels; as a fast-paced thriller with plenty of derring-do, a morality tale of good vs greed, and how life can easily corrupt the pursuit of happiness.”
Published by Matador, Roger’s book is available online and via bookshops, and he also visits book clubs, gives talks and does signings.
His next projects also draw on figures from his family history: Frederick Henry Seddon, who was hanged at Pentonville Prison for murder in 1912, and Russians Peter and Veniamin Timkov, brothers who were executed by Stalin’s secret police.
Roger said: “I’d like to inspire others to wonder about their family history.”