Holywell House Publishing

88 Holywell Hill, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 1DH, England
Web: http://www.holywellhousepublishing.co.uk/
Phone: +44 1727-838595
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Trade orders: Central Books

I was a retired academic publisher (ex University of Hertfordshire Press) until I started my own imprint in 2009 to publish a book about HMS Venomous, the elderly V&W Class destroyer on which my father served in World War II. Its success has inspired me to consider publishing other books on naval and maritime subjects.

This is very much a "family business" which I run with my wife from our home in St Albans. I use the same designer, printer and trade distributor as I did when I was in charge of the University of Hertfordshire Press. Although very small we pride ourselves on producing good books and providing a professional service to our authors.

Books can be ordered online post free with payment by cheque, card or PayPal or from high street bookshops who obtain their stock from our distributor, Central Books, or from their preferred wholesaler. The Book Depository is our recommended Internet bookseller for overseas customers.

Bill Forster, Holywell House Publishing

A Hard Fought Ship: the story of HMS Venomous

Cover of the new edition of A Hard Fough Ship (May 2017)

HMS Venomous was a destroyer of the V & W Class, the most advanced in the world when built at the end of World War I and arguably the most successful ever. By the end of World War II they had all been sunk or scrapped but during those thirty years thousands of men served on them as convoy escorts on the East Coast, during the Battle of the Atlantic, on arctic convoys to Russia and in the Mediteranean.

A Hard Fought Ship is the most detailed study yet of the contribution made by a typical “old warrior” of this class to winning World War II. HMS Venomous brought back the troops from Boulogne and Dunkirk, fought off the U-boat that sank HMS Hecla while rescuing 500 survivors and escorted the invasion fleet to Sicily as well as escorting convoys to Nova Scotia, Russia and in the Mediterranean.

The story of HMS Venomous is told by its officers and crew and illustrated with 258 of their unique photographs taken in the heat of the action plus paintings, drawings and maps.

The previous edition was praised by Navy News as "an exemplary ship biography where a detailed narrative of the destroyer's exploits are brought to life by a wealth of first hand accounts" and described by the Naval Review "as being up in the same class as 'The Cruel Sea' for a picture of small ship life in World War 2."

The first edition of this classic work on a typical V & W Class destroyer was published by the author in 1990 and quickly sold out. I offered to publish a new edtion but, sadly, the author Bob Moore died before its was completed and John Rodgaard agreed to take over. It was published in 2010 as a paperback and when it sold out a much enlarged hardback edition was published in 2017 and is now out of print but an e-book edition will be published in 2022. New material continues to be published on this website.

A Hard Fought Ship: the story of HMS Venomous; by R.J. Moore and J.A. Rodgaard.
Holywell House Publishing, 9 May 2017. ISBN 978-0-9559382-4-5. Hardback, £35

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