I’m excited to share an excerpt from RJ Verity’s new historical fiction novel, Poole of Honour #blogtour #historicalfiction
Here’s an excerpt
Excerpt 2 (Chapter 2, Barkston Chambers)
Two years into his career as a criminal barrister, Daniel is defending the clients nobody else wants – and his head of chambers isn’t happy.
Daniel drops a file onto the mountainous pile on his desk – the cases never seeming to diminish. The youth used by gangs to slip through windows. The teacher caught in the crossfire of a pub brawl. The single mother accused of stealing a tin of baked beans. He wishes he could have been there sooner – to stop the exploitation; to steer the couple elsewhere; to buy the woman a meal before she had to choose between hunger and shame. He has learned that small mercies rarely alter the machinery.
He slumps in his chair. Two years at Barkston Chambers, and still that sense of not quite belonging. Educated in England since the age of fourteen, yet his American background continues to mark him out as a foreigner. The irony is that he came here because he didn’t fit in there either. In the States, expectation pressed constantly at his back; here, the scrutiny is better concealed, but no less real.
Swivelling around, he stares out of the window. A starling lands on the ledge and walks jerkily back and forth, its metallic plumage catching the weak afternoon sun. It taps at the glass, bristling at the bird opposite – unaware that it is only confronting its own reflection. Sometimes you see something from afar and feel drawn towards it. You move closer, circling, trying to understand. But even up close – perhaps especially then – it is hard to know what’s real. Better, sometimes, to leave it be.
There’s a knock, and the door opens before Daniel can answer. Gareth Glover-Rees, head of chambers, stands in the doorway, his stance wide, his six-foot-three frame almost touching the ceiling and filling the tiny room.
‘Poole—’ Glover-Rees stops as he eyes the paperwork on Daniel’s desk and lets out a sigh. ‘We need to talk about this backlog.’
‘I’m sorry, it’s just that there’s so much coming in these days. Most of them are minor offences, but it still takes time to put all the arguments forward.’
‘Actually, that’s why I came to see you.’ He takes one step to the middle of the office. ‘I’ll be candid. When we agreed to take you on, you had a first from Oxford and excellent recommendations from the Bar School. Not to mention your Poole family connections in the business world.’
‘I never disclosed my family b—’
‘That’s not my point. We expected more from you than defending petty criminals.’ Glover-Rees brandishes a piece of paper in his right hand. ‘You’re behind on rent, and your fees are shockingly low.’
‘But so many cases need representing, and they can’t all afford our fees.’
‘This is not Hollywood, Poole. Sentiment is all very well, but it has no place in English law. We are not a charity, and neither are you. Don’t you have a wife with a child on the way?’
Daniel concedes a nod.
Glover-Rees gestures towards the files on his desk. ‘Some of the other barristers—’ he stops. ‘Some of their clients are unhappy with the endless stream of ruffians you’re bringing into chambers. Only the other day, an elderly widow was horrified to find herself sitting next to a violent criminal.’
‘I’m just following the cab-rank rule.’
Glover-Rees’ face reddens. ‘Is that so? Then how come you haven’t covered a single prosecution case in the last six months?’
‘I’ve been run off my feet. I just haven’t had the time t—’
‘Nonsense. Any criminal barrister must prosecute and defend if he is really to learn his art.’
‘But—’
‘No buts, Poole. Clear your cases and start taking on some more lucrative ones. That’s my advice if you want to remain here. Some early guilty pleas wouldn’t go amiss either – or is every one of your clients a victim of gross injustice with a reasonable prospect of success?’ He pauses for effect. ‘Thought not. Look, if your clerk hands you a prosecution brief, you take it. Besides, it’s good to win some points with the police. I trust I’ve made myself clear?’
Before Daniel can respond, Glover-Rees leaves, punctuating his departure with an exclamatory slam of the door.
Here’s the blurb
London, 1965. The city is swinging, the world is shifting, and Daniel Poole is a rising criminal barrister with everything to prove – to the courts, to his father, to his wife and to himself.
But Daniel is carrying a secret that could shatter the life he has so carefully built. As society begins to question the rules it once held sacred, he is forced to decide what he stands for — and what he is willing to risk in order to belong.
Set against a backdrop of cultural upheaval and political change, Poole of Honour is a tense, character-driven historical novel exploring ambition, identity, and the cost of silence, as the next generation of the Poole family confronts a world on the brink of transformation.
Purchase Link
https://mybook.to/poole-of-honour
Meet the author
RJ Verity grew up in Yorkshire and studied at King’s College London before spending more than twenty years working in financial services across Asia. She now lives in Guernsey with her endlessly patient husband and their ageing but ever-spirited Labradinger. When she’s not writing or reading, she can often be found exploring the island’s rugged coastline.
RJ writes character-led historical fiction rooted in place, memory, and the social and personal forces that shape ordinary lives. Her debut novel, Poole of Light, opens The Poole Legacy – a trilogy following three generations of one family across a century of change.
The second novel, Poole of Honour, publishes on 15 September 2026. Set in London in 1965, it follows Daniel Poole, a rising criminal barrister drawn into the most divisive political debate of the decade – one that cuts closer than he dare admit.
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/rj-verity
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