Privacy policy

Last updated: November 2026

Who I am

This website belongs to M. C. Widdowson, author of The Forgotten Histories, trading as Widdowson Publishing in the United Kingdom. I am responsible for any personal information you give me through this site. If you have a question about your information, please email me at widdowson.mad@icloud.com.

What I collect and why

• Newsletter. If you sign up, I collect your name and email address so I can send you occasional news about my books. I only send emails because you asked for them.
• Buying a book from this site. If you order a paperback, I receive your name, email address and postal address so that your book can be printed and posted to you, and so that I can contact you about your order. I do not see or keep your card details.
• Emails you send me. If you write to me, I keep your message and email address so that I can reply.

I never sell your information, and I never share it with anyone except the services listed below, which help me run the site.

Services that handle your information for me

• Kit stores newsletter subscribers and sends my emails.
• Stripe takes payment for books bought on this site. Your card details go directly to Stripe.
• Amazon (Kindle Direct Publishing) prints and posts paperbacks ordered from this site, so your name and postal address are passed to Amazon for delivery.
• GitHub hosts this website.
• GoatCounter counts visits to the site so that I can see which pages are read. It does not use cookies and does not identify you personally.
• Google Fonts supplies the lettering used on the site, which means your browser connects to Google when a page loads.

Some of these companies are based outside the UK, mainly in the United States. Each of them has its own privacy policy and safeguards for transferring information internationally.

How long I keep it

• Newsletter details are kept until you unsubscribe. Every newsletter has an unsubscribe link at the bottom, or you can simply email me.
• Order details are kept for as long as UK tax law requires me to keep business records.
• Emails are kept for as long as they are useful for replying to you.

Your rights

You can ask me at any time to show you the information I hold about you, to correct it, or to delete it. Just email me and I will deal with it as quickly as I can.

If you are unhappy with how I have handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk, though I would be grateful for the chance to put things right first.

Cookies

This site does not set its own cookies. Amazon’s free book samples, if you choose to open one, are provided by Amazon and are covered by Amazon’s own privacy policy.