JOHN R. CAMMIDGE, AN AUTHOR BLENDING MODERN HISTORY, REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES, RESEARCH, IMAGINATION, AND SPECULATION TO CREATE INSPIRING STORIES OF INDIVIDUAL COURAGE, PERSEVERANCE AND ACCOMPLISHMENT.
MESSAGE ON BEHALF OF THE AUTHOR
Thank you for visiting this author’s website. John R. Cammidge is a former Human Resources executive and life-long birdwatcher who retired several years ago after a career in Ford of Britain, Bank of America, Stanford University and the University of California. He resides in Marin County, north of San Francisco, and began writing when he retired. He was born in York, England and relocated during 1979 to San Francisco, becoming a United States citizen in the mid-1990s.
So Far, There Are Three Published Novels, And a Fourth is Imminent:
- Unplanned: the original edition was published March 2014, shortly after the author discovered that he was the product of an unwelcome sexual assault during World War II. The fictionalized novel is now republished under the title Unplanned.
- Abandoned in Berlin: is a true story set in Berlin and describes Germany’s attitude towards a Jewish family before, during and after World War II. In June 2016, a second generation survivor visits her maternal ancestors’ former block of apartments in Berlin and wants to know why it was seized by the Nazis and never returned by the West German authorities. She learns that her mother, aged 15, was forcibly placed under the “protection” of a Nazi Guardianship Court in late 1933, and that these circumstances led to the seizure of the property
- She Wore a Yellow Dress: An awkward coming-of-age story of two very different personalities, set in Britain, and inspired by the author’s own upbringing. It includes his difficult childhood and the many unexpected challenges that he, his spouse and the British public faced during the transformational years in Britain during the 1960s and 1970s. Each chapter ends with an illustration and description of a bird species that reflects the theme of bird watching that runs throughout the book, and mirrors the characters’ development at each stage of the story.
A fourth novel titled 1914 to 1918: A Time to Remember will be published late 2025
This historical novel is a fictionalised biography of the author’s grandfather, who served as a horse transport driver during World War 1. The book focuses on human relationships during wartime, rather than the brutality of fighting. However, the story carefully tracks the conduct of World War 1.
Osmond grapples with more than just combat: there are personal adventures, interactions with French citizens, observations of the war, friends court-martialed or lost, the Spanish flu, and his ambitions to own a farm and find a wife. Throughout, he exhibits the desire to harm no one.
This site now includes a Bird Blog to continue the author’s interest in ornithology.
