The Lost Story

Anyone familiar with Wolsey’s Adventures will remember that I first wrote these stories nearly 20 years ago, publishing them initially in a WordPress blog. In the time since then, I revised, rewrote and reformatted each story from a blog format to a short story structure. In some cases, stories were heavily edited, and in other cases, I made only a few minor changes. But with nearly every story, regardless of how much it evolved over the years, I can remember the original thoughts and inspiration that drove me to set them down on paper (or, more accurately, on a screen). In some cases, I can recall exactly what I was reading or watching on television at the time, consumption that influenced my writing.

There is one exception, however. The final chapter in Tales from Foxtail Green, called London Awaits, references a cat called Ruby who resides in a pub called The Periwinkle Inn. Upon editing (and partially rewriting) that story, I struggled to recall the source of the conversation that Wolsey has with Ruby. I couldn’t even remember what pub inspired The Periwinkle Inn. It was a Suffolk pub, no doubt, but there were only a few pubs that I frequented during my time in East Anglia some 30 years ago. And I couldn’t remember any of their names.

The frustration nearly caused a long delay in publishing that first collection, as I scrambled through my old files – in the cloud, on my hard drive and in print. I was convinced that Wolsey’s conversation with Ruby was first recorded elsewhere in a story that fully explained the origins of a cat that I imagined speaking with a Cockney accent. But where?

In the end, I published the book without having found the original story. I assumed it was lost in a digital byte somewhere or perhaps in a dustbin. The former was more likely since I only ever printed out the original blog collection once. I felt the conversation in that chapter stood on its own and that Ruby’s character shone through without the need for further characterisation.

Then, one day while cleaning up some old emails, I found it. The missing story. I had emailed myself an adventure I called A Trip to the Periwinkle Inn, in which Wolsey describes his good friend Ruby and the other animals that live in his master’s second favourite boozer. These included a three-legged dog called Angelo and a tortoise called Atticus. The inn itself is described as a cross between a pub and an animal shelter. When I read that, I immediately remembered the real pub behind the inspiration. I don’t remember the venue’s actual name, but I distinctly recall the visit that drove me to create Ruby and her rescued housemates.

The story itself further draws out some of the mysteries that Wolsey encounters in both Foxtail Green and Normandy, France. Its omission doesn’t necessarily hurt the underlying story or any developing narrative, but it does deserve to be included.

I have now edited, rewritten and reshaped A Trip to the Periwinkle Inn and plan to include it in a future hardcover edition I’m compiling called Wolsey’s Adventures: The First Collection, which includes both Tales from Foxtail Green and A Holiday in France, with the lost story of A Trip to the Periwinkle Inn included for the first time. It may seem a bit premature to be planning a compendium, given A Holiday in France was only just published, but I feel that the missing story will strengthen the connection between Foxtail Green and Château du Bon Chien. Plus, it gives us more of Ruby, a sassy older ginger cat (“I’m more cougar than cat”) transplanted from the streets of Bow, London, to the tranquil setting of Suffolk.

Wolsey’s Adventures: The First Collection will be published by Foxtail Green Press via IngramSpark in late 2026.