THEY say everyone has a story to tell, but a Buckden man has waited until he was in his ninth decade before sharing his with the world.

Jack Wood, a former builder, joiner and undertaker and sheep farmer, always had tales to relate on his life's experiences, but did not have to know-how to put them to paper.

In his late 70s he took himself off to writing classes in Keighley and began penning his first book.

A Man of Stone is the culmination of four years' information gathering and has a flattering foreward written by Peter Harland, former editor of the Herald's sister paper, the Telegraph and Argus.

Jack was born and educated in Haworth. After serving in the RAF he returned to the village and set up his own building company. When he retired he built his own house in the Dales village where he now lives.

A Man of Stone (his life and loves) is set in the Victorian era and centres on John Pickles who arrives in Haworth as an orphan with no family, money or education, but becomes, on his own merit, one of the wealthiest men in the Worth Valley.

John is forced to walk a rocky route and when vying for the attentions of the beautiful daughter of a wealthy businessman, incurs the wrath of a rival and finds himself wrongly imprisoned in Armley jail for two years.

The story is captivating from start to finish and is crammed with twists and turns, gypsies and ghosts, heartache and joy.

It is a realistic novel crammed with strong characters and a wealth of knowledge gleaned from a love of Yorkshire in Victorian times.

Published by the Book Guild Ltd, 25 High Street, Lewes, Sussex, A man of Stone is priced at £14.99