Midnight's Shadow: The Midnight Series, #0

By Tom Kane

Before the war began, danger had already found her. 

Europe stands on the edge of war. Jessie Fordham, recently graduated from Cambridge and carrying more questions than certainty, travels into a continent already shifting beneath her feet. The newspapers speak of diplomacy and hope, yet on the streets and people's front parlours a different mood stirs, uneasy and sharp.

Jessie has been taught how to observe and how to listen. What she has not been taught is how to place her trust. Companions become strangers. Strangers become threats. Every conversation seems to hide another meaning. Every journey feels watched.

She must learn quickly. The world she knew is fading, and the one taking its place will demand more of her than she ever believed herself able to give.

Midnight's Shadow is a novella prequel to The Midnight Series , introducing us to Jessie Fordham at the very beginning of her journey, before the war shapes her into the SOE agent she will become.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tom Kane
• Release date: Nov 11, 2025
• ISBN: 9798231236626

Tom Kane

As a child, Tom Kane's family always insisted he was born in the corner of the living room, behind the TV. That strange assertion, true or false, seems to have set the tone for the rest of his life.  Kane's mother inspired him to write. Science Fiction, in the form of Doctor Who and Isaac Asimov inspired his love of the genre. Monty Python inspired him to be silly and he continues to blame Billy Connolly for his infrequent bursts of bad language  In the corner or behind the TV, what is officially known about Tom Kane's birth is that it took place in England on a dark and stormy night.  

Book preview

Midnight’s Shadow

Copyright © 2025 by Brittle Media Ltd

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permission requests, contact [include publisher/author contact info].

The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

Author: Tom Kane

Cover: Mack Dundee

Illustrations by Mack Dundee

Publisher: Brittle Media Ltd

Foreword

When I started writing The Midnight Series, I had a plan. That, in itself, is unusual for me. I rarely plan my stories, but for reasons I still cannot explain I felt the need to chart the path Jessie Fordham would take.

In the first novel, Walking Away from Midnight, we meet Jessie as a child growing up in a fractured military family. Later, she appears as a student graduating from Cambridge. Only then do we reach the story proper. Yet for me there was always a sense that something was missing. Midnight’s Shadow is my attempt to fill in those early gaps.

So far, I have published three books of the planned nine-book series. Book four, Midnight’s Crisis, was completed ahead of schedule and will be published on 5 December 2025. Books five to nine will follow at a pace of two per year from 2026, perhaps more quickly if I am fortunate.

As ever, there is a twist. When I finished writing Midnight’s Crisis, I realised I needed more depth to my heroine. That realisation sparked the idea for this prequel.

Midnight’s Shadow is a novella of fifteen thousand words. My main novels are usually eighty thousand words or more, yet within these shorter pages I have tried to say something meaningful. This story takes place just before Jessie’s graduation in Cambridge, exploring what drives a young woman to become a spy.

I hope Midnight’s Shadow succeeds in revealing the spaces that were once invisible.

Enjoy.

Tom Kane, Paphos, Cyprus 25th November 2025

Midnight's Shadow is a prequel novella to The Midnight Series of eBooks available on all digital platforms at $2.99 each CLICK HERE.

Book 1 - Walking Away from Midnight - Out Now​​

Book 2 - Midnight's Child - Out Now

Book 3 - Midnight's Secret - Out Now

Book 4 - Midnight's Crisis - Out Now

Book 5 - Midnight's Conflict - Publishing July 2026

Book 6 - Midnight's Victory - Publishing Dec 2026

Book 7 - Midnight's Hope - Publishing July 2027

Book 8 - Midnight's Quest - Publishing Dec 2027

Book 9 - Midnight's Nemesis - Publishing July 2028

For more information on The Midnight Series and my other books, click HERE

For those who never saw themselves as brave.

Contents

1.Cambridge Shadows

2.The Courier

3.A Dead Man’s Briefcase

4.Whispers in Calais

5.The House on Rue Blanche

6.A World of Secrets

7.A Quiet Reckoning

8.A Saboteur of Truths

9.April Showers

10.The Path to Enlightenment

11.Alliance

12.Graduation

Chapter one

Cambridge Shadows

Cambridge, England March 1939

The river moved like glass beneath the low morning light, the surface broken only by the occasional ripple of a punt’s oar. Across the water, the willows had begun to green, their pale leaves trembling in a wind too cold to be spring. The air held that peculiar mix of chalk dust and rain that belonged only to Cambridge.

Jessie Fordham stood on the edge of King’s Parade, watching the students spill out of the college gates, laughing as though the world would never change. Their laughter echoed faintly between the stone facades and spired roofs. Somewhere beyond the rooftops, the chapel bells tolled the hour.

To anyone watching, Jessie looked like one of them, an educated young woman in a dark coat, notebook under her arm, late for a lecture. The illusion faltered in her eyes. She was not thinking of lectures or essays. She was thinking of her father’s latest letter and the sense that her life, so carefully arranged, was no longer hers to control.

She had read the letter three times that morning. The first line was ordinary enough:

My dearest Jessie,

I hope you are well and working hard. I have a small favour to ask. Would you come to London on Friday? There’s a matter of some urgency that requires your discretion.

A

The words favour and discretion lingered like smoke. Her father’s letters were usually full of small comforts, reminders to eat properly, news of her siblings, an enclosed ten-shilling note folded neatly at the bottom. This one carried a different weight.

She had known for