The Island Gang Narratives

By Malcolm Gibbs

During World War Two, ten year old twin brothers, Billy and Charlie Hall, were evacuated to Westcott in Wiltshire. On 14th August, 1943 Charlie disappeared from a supposedly deserted RAF Base. During the late 1960s, ten year old Phillip Easterbrook was the only survivor of an explosion that killed the residents of four houses in Derbyshire. Although he recovered from the injuries Phillip’s memory remained blank.
In 1999 small time newspaper reporter Jack Duggan finds a complete set of the books he loved as a child; ‘The Island Gang’ written, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, by E.W. Whittall and centred on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent
Jack notices a Memoriam to a Charlie Hall, posted each year in the local newspaper, and wonders if there is a story behind it. When a different person places the notice, Jack starts to investigate and traces him to a Rest Home in Yorkshire.
The person in the Rest Home turns out to be Ernest William Whittall, the writer of the children’s stories, and surprises Jack by telling him that he had invited Jack to come and find him, many years ago. Ernest tells Jack that he has a story which is unbelievable but true and will be the scoop of a lifetime but to help Jack believe, he must go and re-read the Island Gang Stories – as an adult, not as a child.
Jack finds things in the stories which Ernest could not have known about at the time of writing the books. In their second meeting Ernest reveals that not only is he Charlie Hall but he is also Phillip Easterbrook. He tells of his life as Phillip and how he ended up on the Isle of Sheppey where he met Billy Hall. His memory came back and he remembered being Charlie and how he was projected through time while they were in the RAF Base. Following his reunion, with Billy, Charlie is abducted and returned through time by a group, from a top secret project, who worked at the Base during the 1930s and 1940s. During his new identity as E.W. Whittall he wrote the ‘Island Gang’ stories and put himself in danger by including clues for the future that he hoped someone would discover and investigate as to how they could have been written.
After his meeting with Ernest, Jack wonders about his own safety and makes plans to get the story to his friend at the Newspaper. While waiting for a train home he is also abducted. During his transfer through time Jack disappears and the people involved in his abduction do not know where he has gone. Due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control the project completely closes down and the whereabouts of Jack Duggan remains a mystery.
Epilogue
During the sixteenth century Michel De Nostradamus befriends a mysterious and very knowledgeable Englishman. While dying, from the plague, the Englishman speaks about a manuscript which tells of events that will happen in the future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Apps
• Release date: Aug 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463820483

Book preview

Part One

The Beginning of the End

Chapter 1

1999

Mike Samuels looked up from behind the very over crowded desk tucked into the corner of his second hand books shop ‘Lost and Bound’.

Hello Jack, long time no see, how you doing?

Same old, same old I suppose. Got anything new?

Has anyone ever told you that you are a miserable old sod Jack Duggan?

Yeh, many times; so have you got anything?

No, I don’t think I have. What are you still looking for?

I’ve got all the Jennings books now. I’m still looking for a few more William stories but I can’t seem to find many Biggles books at all.

Well, like I said mate, I haven’t got any at the moment. There’s a big chest out back that has just come from a house clearance. You’re welcome to sift through whatever’s in there, Jack, but it’s all rubbish as far as I can see. Anyway, go and have a rummage.

Jack passed through into the old, musty storeroom behind the book shop and looked into a tatty wooden tea chest. As he removed the books one by one he had to agree with Mike Samuels, they were indeed rubbish. But then he pulled out an old red hardback book, smaller than the others but in much better condition.

Checking the spine, I don’t believe it. Jack gasped, checking it again. Number four. He delved further into the chest and pulled out five more of the same, once again he checked the spines. The whole set one to six, wow. Jack Duggan turned towards the door.

Bloody hell Mike, you didn’t say you had these.

What’s that?

The Island Gang, and the whole set, all six of them.

Mike appeared in the storeroom.

Who?

The Island Gang.

Never heard of them, mate, who are they?

You are kidding me. I can’t believe that you’ve never heard of Maurice, Michael, James, Penny and June. They called themselves The Island Gang and I used to love them as a kid. E W Whittall wrote stories about a group of children who meet up with each other every year whilst on holiday with their parents on the Isle of Sheppey. They had such wonderful adventures and I could relate to them because that’s where I’ve lived, all my life.

Mike shrugged his shoulders. Sorry no, they must have bypassed me. But take them Jack, you can have them.

Jack Duggan left the shop with six books and a smile on his face the like of which had not been seen for many years.

Chapter 2

Forty five years of misery and misfortune was how Jack Duggan described his life. For him the glass was always half empty, never half full.

Misfortune that an accident as a child had left him with the slight limp that nobody else noticed, but to Jack it was one of the many things that he felt blighted his life.

Misfortune that when doing one of the dozens of nondescript jobs which he had undertaken in his life he had quit during the night shift and gone home to find his wife in bed with another man. He still did not accept how fortunate he had been when the ex-Mrs Duggan was institutionalised after violently killing her next husband with a kitchen knife.

Miserable that he loved books and really wanted to be an author or an award-winning journalist but no-one had ever given him the chance.

Miserable that although now working as a Freelance Journalist he still had not found the block busting story that would propel him into the big league. All he managed to achieve were a few short stories in one or two magazines and coverage of all the boring rubbish that the local newspaper deemed as news.

Unfortunately this dismal outlook on his life masked the one real talent he did have; the one talent that could have opened the way to so many opportunities for him. Jack Duggan had a gift when it came to history and historical dates. The discovery of that ability first came about during lessons at school when he quickly found that remembering Kings, Queens, Wars, Battles, World Events and all their relevant dates was just too easy for him. The young boy soon found that it amazed and amused people to try to beat him with their questions but every time he would reel off the relevant answers. He expanded his talent by reading everything he could find that involved dates and lists. During his school years he was the best friend of so many pupils who needed answers for their homework and a constant centre of entertainment to a whole host of other people who thought they could