J. Robert Whittle

Note: Robert is now retired from the Bastion Square Summer Market but all his books can be found online and he and Joyce always have a supply in their vans!

I was born in Yorkshire, England on June 10, 1933. An entrepreneur from an early age, I wasn't to know that this was merely preparing me for writing novels and marketing my own books in later life. I represented England as a 12 year-old wicket keeper and later played professional cricket while attending Leeds University. I completed my degree for a mining engineer at the age of 19 but was too young to be given the degree so 5 years later they offered me the job to lead a first-response to disaster team for the British Coal Board. By 1963, following a couple serious accidents, I left the coal mines and moved my family to Australia. Six years later, I was brought to Canada's Arctic by the Federal Government for 2 years and my expertise was used to build a Native school at Pond Inlet. In 1971, I moved to Victoria BC where my doctors would discover that I already had advancing damage of the lungs due to coalminer's black lung disease.

In 1994-97, while recuperating from knee surgery on an old mining injury, I discovered how much I enjoyed writing. In 1998, my 2nd wife Joyce Sandilands, published "Lizzie: Lethal Innocence" which became my first bestselling novel. By 2010, we had become well-known in the book industry as the Canadian couple who wrote, Indie-published and sold their books at local farmer's markets and craft shows. My 3 bestselling novels are "Lizzie: Lethal Innocence", "Bound by Loyalty" and "Loyalty's Reward" part of the 4-book Lizzie Series and Victoria Chronicles Trilogy, all historical novels. Joyce and I have also co-written 3 single novels, a book of short stories and 2 children's books. Despite working on a shoestring in the early years, it didn't take long to realize that as each new book was published (by Joyce), they became as popular as the ones before. Readers told us verbally how much they enjoyed our novels ... good, clean stories that were light reading and contained real history and wonderful characters. Readers often asked me to turn each of our single novels into a series but I didn't start writing early enough in life to have time to do that even though a couple of them were tempting lol

In April 2017, health forced me to announce my retirement from Bastion Square Market in Downtown Victoria ... finally realizing I was long overdue for some relaxing time in the sun. I actually hated the thought of retirement after working for most of my 84 years, so had tried to put it off indefinitely!

Our books are still very much available and can be ordered via our website jrobertwhittle.com, or on all Amazon websites, in print (including PODs) and eBooks. ALL our books are eBooks and can be found all over the internet, just type in one of our names. I would like to thank all the locals and tourists from 60+ countries who have visited Victoria, shared their lives with me and purchased books for the past 17 years. It's been an amazing adventure and a fair feat for an old, but friendly guy who simply loves meeting folk and yes, making a buck! Website: www.jrobertwhittle.com or if living in Victoria area, please call Joyce or text her at 250-857-0840. Joyce has retired from Sidney Market but look for her later in 2017 after she sorts out her health issue. As we now say ... Getting old is the pits!! See our Events Page on website and thanks for the wonderful memories.