Peter Wells

BIO - PETER WELLS

Pete was born and raised in Wallasey, England. He grew up less than a half mile from the banks of the River Mersey. He still remembers playing in the ruins and rubble of terraced houses that still remained after being bombed by the Luftwaffe during the Blitz of World War II. At age 7 he recalls going to the Gaumont, the local cinema. One of his favorite movies was Twelve O’clock High with Gregory Peck. It told the story of the young Americans who flew the mighty B17 Flying Fortresses from Britain, deep into the heart of Nazi Germany. He was in awe at the courage of the crews, young men far from home willing to lay down their lives so that Britain and Europe could live in freedom. It began an early fascination with America and Americans.

Pete has led an interesting life. In his early twenties he and two friends combined their resources purchased a Land Rover and headed overland to see the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Along the way, he picked grapes, waited tables, worked as a photographer, bussed tables and tended bar. They made it as far as Crete before finally running out of money. They returned home sold the Land Rover and tried again the following year. This time using trains, buses and planes, they finally made it to the Pyramids.

The following summer in 1980 he and one of the same two friends, filled the last two remaining seats aboard a no-frills Freddy Laker Skytrain, and flew to Los Angeles, California, With a pocket full of dreams and $120 he had finally made it to California. Pete settled in the San Francisco Bay Area. Here he met his wife of 36 years Taryn. They have a son together, Britton who lives in Utah.

Pete spent close to four decades enjoying a successful career in sales and living the American dream. During a Christmas visit with his family in England in 2017 his Dad, Bill shared an idea for a book that he had in his mind for over ten years, but he was never able to join all the dots and complete it. Intrigued, Pete agreed to partner with Bill to complete the novel. It began quite an odyssey, he and Taryn travelled to Ireland, Wales, England, Scotland, Holland, Belgium, Norway, France, Italy, Germany and Austria to research the Jackboot. It took almost three years of being totally immersed in 1940 and a world at war, for him to finally make Bill’s dream a reality. The Jackboot is their first novel.

Now retired, he and Taryn live a quiet life on Florida’s Sun Coast, where they enjoy, cooking, watching movies, traveling and riding their bicycles for miles, along some of the world’s greatest beaches.