Léonie Press has several new publications in the pipeline which will be published over the next few months. Where an approximate publication date is known it is given. As the production of the books progresses we will put in links to the pages which will become the entries in the publications list so you have access to as much information about them as is available. However, do remember that the fine detail may change as the book progresses through to publication.

If you would like to be notified when a particular book is available or attend a launch, please send us an e-mail by going to our e-mail information page.

On the local history front, we are very busy and are working on three local/social history books.

"Owners, Occupiers and Others: Seventeenth Century Northwich" is the fruit of many years' painstaking research by Tony Bostock, who comes from a very old Northwich family. It is dedicated to his father. The book starts with an introduction to Northwich in medieval times, then turns to the 17th century and looks the town site, the people who lived there, Northwich town government, the wich-houses and their owners and occupiers, religion, politics and the civil war, and finishes with continuity and change in the dawn of a new era. It will be launched at The Salt Museum, London Road, Northwich from 7 - 9pm on Wednesday, 18th February coinciding with the opening of the Museum's special exhibition "Muskets & Mayhem", which explores life in the 17th centuary, including the English Civil War, domestic life, crime and punishment, witch trials and the plague. If you would like to attend this launch, please let us know to help with the catering.

Bill Blinkhorn's book "A History of Whiston" covers, as he puts it, the stone age to the plastics age in the old town of Whiston, once known for its coalmining. Bill has been secretary of the town's local history society since it was set up 30 years ago. He has been involved in the production of several previous local history books about the St Helens area, produced by the local council. Municipal cutbacks meant that his 'magnum opus' was unlikely to see the light of day - until we came along... The book will be launched at Prescot Museum, 36 Church Street, Prescot on Friday, March 26th 2004 from 7 - 9 pm. If you would like to attend this launch, please ring the Museum on 0151 430 7787 and ask for your name(s) to be added to the list to help us with the catering.

Our next project in 2004 will be a superbly-written short autobiography "Pinafore Street" by 89-year-old Kathleen Lord (née Hall) which describes her childhood in Boston, Lincolnshire. We were both brought up in the nearby town of Spalding so this is something dear to our hearts. We love publishing all our Cheshire stuff but it was with a real sense of nostalgia that we read the bits about the "dillymen" (night soil collectors) and "going Down Below" (sailing on the Wash), which are good old Lincolnshire expressions that we didn't expect to come back into our lives. Kathleen wrote the book when she was in her middle age and it is very astute and funny. Those of you who have enjoyed Geoffrey Morris's books will relish this one, too.

One book that is in the very early stages of production has an intriguing story behind it. We received the first draft manuscript of "The Spirit of Mathilde" by Pamela Barnett, who lives in France, via her daughter. It tells the story of a French family in the Correze whose lives have been overshadowed by Nazi reprisals and atrocities during the Second World War and how a young English soldier comes into their lives and, with his own family, brings new hope. Mathilde, the elderly central character, has second sight and seems in a uncanny way to exert some control over the whole scenario. It is so vivid that Anne contacted the author to see if there were any unusual circumstances leading up to its being written. Pamela said that she and her husband were staying at a former dairy in France and she woke to find a woman dressed in black at the bottom of the bed. Pamela spoke to her but the apparition just smiled and disappeared. After this, Pamela felt moved to start writing - she had never done this before - and the story just flowed in spite of being based in a part of France that she didn't know and containing many details of rural French life sixty years ago. She says she feels as if she knows all the characters intimately and that the woman in black was trying to help her at what was a difficult time in her life. As you know, we have a house in the Limousin complete with its own ghost, so we are fascinated by all this. Pamela has now finished the second draft manuscript and we are looking forward to reading it. We really enjoyed visiting Pam and her husband Tony in the French heatwave of 2003 hope to see them again this year.

We have fascinating edited extracts from the minutes of the Weaver Navigation Trust, which include the commissioning of the famous Anderton Lift and the revolutionary swing bridges in Northwich, and the capsizing on its maiden voyage of a Trust ship. These were written up as a labour of love by a Jack Horton, a former Trust employee who saved the original documents from being thrown out when British Waterways took over the Trust's role years ago. There is also the possibility that we will do a book of walks along the River Weaver by Colin Edmundson, who has devoted himself to researching the history of the Navigation. He lives on a narrowboat, currently moored at Saltersford near Northwich.

"Mid-Cheshire Memories" Project

"Mid-Cheshire Memories" Volume 1 was launched at a party held at the Salt Museum, Northwich on March 1, 2002 . The book was born as the result of an essay competition held as part of the Millennium celebrations in 2000 and contains four pieces. One is by Peter Buckley, who was an apprentice at Yarwoods the shipbuilders, the second is by Bruce Fisher, one of the last firemen to work steam engines in the Northwich area and the third is by Geoff Mellor who trained as a mechanic in a couple of Northwich garages and also worked on local farms in his spare time. Finally, there is a section by Elizabeth Ellen ("Nellie") Osborne, author of "Nellie's Story", on the working and family life of a horseman on various local farms in the 1920s and '30s based on her memories of her father.

If you live in Mid-Cheshire and have had a job that is no longer done locally and would like to contribute to future books in this series, please contact us to discuss your ideas.