Secret Barrow-in-Furness by Gill Jepson, £14.99

Following my hidden history theme, the little town at the ‘end of a cul-de-sac’ also has many secrets just waiting to be discovered. Often seen, sometimes dismissed, as a post-industrial town, Gill Jepson shows that Barrow has so much more to offer and many facts, past and present, that will surprise you.

Famous 'sons and daughters' range from footballer Emlyn Hughes to former Director General of MI5, Dame Stella Rimmington, from Blue Peter's Peter Purves to Hairy Biker Dave Myers. Spanning the years from the bones of the oldest recorded northerner and a headless monk allegedly roaming Furness Abbey, to the future with scenes from BBC's forthcoming adaptation of JK Rowling's Career of Evil, filmed in the Crow's Nest pub, local author and historian Gill Jepson 'pulls back the curtains' to reveal the forgotten, the strange, and the unlikely.

CAROLINE REECE

WATERSTONES KENDAL

Published by Amberley Publishing