About S.D. Read
I began writing following retirement from school leadership and teaching history. When I’m not writing, I enjoy walking my rescue greyhounds, cycling, and, along with my wife Carolyn, visiting places that combine historical interest with natural beauty. Consequently, we are frequent visitors to Orkney.
Given my career background, I remain interested in matters relating to education and to this end, I am governor of a local school and also serve on local authority exclusion and admissions appeals hearings when required.
Current and future work
I am currently close to completing my second novel ‘Beyond the Road’s End’. It is a crime thriller in which a young man who witnesses a murder in Leeds is placed on witness protection on Orkney. He moves on to a remote farm with a couple in their fifties, while the gang who want him dead remain relentless in their search. It explores themes of resilience, personal growth, bereavement, and the power of love and community in the face of evil. I am hoping it will be published towards the end of 2026.
Research has also begun on my third project, ‘The Road to Little Paris’, set in the First World War. The shocking and deadly bombardment of Scarborough by German warships in 1914 acts a catalyst for a man and a woman from the town leaving for the Western Front, one as a soldier, the other as a nurse, whose paths are destined to cross in dramatic fashion.