Angel Faces

What happens when a government or an organisation wants a job done, but dare not have its name associated with the mission in question?

This is where Vendicare comes into its own.

Vendicare is a totally independent and highly secretive private contractor that takes on jobs that governments or organisations need to have done, yet dare not have any traceable involvement in.

The world is full of dirty situations and it is Vendicare to whom they turn to have those situations cleaned up.

Vendicare is owned and operated by billionaire Vincent Natalie, at its disposal are highly trained staff who have a full range of the world's most sophisticated military hardware.

Angel Faces is their latest mission.

They find themselves in Africa where they must deal with ruthless and heartless terrorists. However, having had it their own way for far too long, the terrorists now face the deadly force of Vendicare.

The novel starts at a run and never drops below the speed of a decent trot.

Although author Scott Vincent is obvious very well up on military and technological matters, he uses these sparingly and intelligently throughout the story. They are included not to allow the author to show off his research skills but rather to help propel the story along, often at breakneck speed.

From African pirates to international politics and terrorist groups this novel redefines the word thriller in a most excellent way.

I'll not give the plot away, but I will say that if yo are a lover of high octane thrillers, then this is the book for you.

I sincerely hope that this is the first in what will prove to be a very long series of books about Vendicare. And if there is any justice in the world, this series will make it ot the silver screen, soon.

It's published by Matador at £9.99 and you can order it at the that's Books Bookshop, which you will find here https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

Sorak's Redemption

Sorak's Redemption is the first Science fiction novel I have read in a while.

It Is set upon an alien world. An alien world where women are the rulers.

Men are considered to be both inferior and are kept in a subservient state, good for breeding and not much else.

One's social standing is predicated social standing. In short, the darker you are the better off you are in terms of your social rank.

Sorak is very low in the pecking order. Having blue eyes and a pale skin in a society like theirs will do that to a person.

Yet Sorak is becoming increasingly disheartened by her allotted role in life.

She wants more, yet, conversely, she wants less, too. She wants more freedom and less of the mindless violence that runs throughout their society which has evolved into a city state that exists, of itself and by itself, upon an otherwise apparently desertlike unoccupied wilderness.

Slaves are owned and treated brutally, yet why is she so interested in Slave 1562? Could she be falling in love with him? Such a love was totally outlawed and would be punished with the utmost severity.

Yet she could not help herself.

But the whole of society begins to fracture as rivalries and alliances come and go.

Hedley Harrison paints an interesting picture of a planet and a society that, although alien, does bear some relationship to the society that we are familiar with.

It's a fantasy romance, using the background of an alien society to explore some familiar themes, yet at the same time taking a different look at them.

It's published by The Book Guild and is available from the That's Books Bookshop which can be found here https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

The War Baby

Set during the turbulent time of World War Two (and the ensuing years) when many of the constraints of  "normal" society were rapidly breaking down, Florence meets and falls in love with Bill who is a sergeant in the RAF, in this novel by Andrée Rushton.

Their love story is brought to a harrowing and premature end when, during the Normandy landings, Bill is reported missing and presumed dead.

Florence realises that she is pregnant with Bill's child and, because she is carrying a child out of wedlock, she is discharged from the WAAF.

Heartbroken by the loss of the love of her life and feeling shamed at being pregnant whilst unmarried she attempts to return home to her family, only to discover that her mother has been killed during a bombing raid and that the family home is utterly destroyed.

She give birth to a son who she names William after her man. She attempts to contact Bill's parents, yet they callously reject her and their own grandson, refusing to help them.

Beaten down, tired and utterly alone in the world she realises that she has no other option but to put her precious child up for adoption. But she never forgets her boy.

When he has grown up, Will hankers after finding out about his mother and his father and the rest of his birth family and he sets out to trace his birth mother.

Will Florence's past decisions come back to haunt her and cause her untold heartache and torment?

Or will it offer her a chance of a redemption of sorts, to provide her with fulminant and closure, of peace of mind and contentment at long last?

It is a well written and sympathetically executed book that looks at the consequences of decisions that people make or, perhaps more pertinently in this case, have thrust upon them.

It's published by The Book Guild at £8.99 and can be bought at the That's Books bookshop, which you will find here https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

Bright Tracks

In 1959, nearly 60 years ago, four friends from Cambridge University decided that they would take a six week backpacking holiday to Greece.

Unlike today when tourists merely board a jet and get out at their destination only several hours later, in 1959 they joined a party of travellers who were heading to Greece, by train.

The train was called the Tauern Express and it took three days to travel through Europe from Ostend.

The four friends discovered a way of life that was vastly different from their own home lives, as they find themselves in a country still dealing with the aftermath of having been occupied by the German Army during World War Two, a decade ago.

They travel throughout Greece exploring the rich variety of places of historical importance and significance and meet a range of highly colourful characters.

The author, Richard Pike, took copious notes during the trip of a lifetime and he and his three companions took many photographs.

But Richard's notes were allowed to be stored away as he got on with the more pressing demands of establishing himself as an educationalist and a teacher.

He also wrote and published several books but the notes of his adventure remained pretty much undisturbed until Richard decided to dust them off and read through them.

The result is a highly personal account of a journey to and through a place that sadly, for the main part, no longer exists, the Greece and Europe of a different century and a vastly different milieu.

It is wonderfully illustrated, including many photographs taken by Richard and his companions during their epic journey. There are also some wonderfully evocative sketches by Mike.

From the dour officials of Eastern Europe to the attractive girl they met, to the disappointment of old ruins that were, after all, only some old ruins, to the limousines of Athens to the live hens tied by their feet to the roof rack of a wheezing, ancient bus, all life is here and faithfully recorded by Richard and his three compatriots.

It's published by Matador at a remarkably reasonable £9.99 and will make an excellent gift for the traveller, armchair or otherwise, or the lover of well-written socio-history of the past, post long and recent.

You can buy it here at the That's Book bookshop https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

The Fortunes at War

The Fortunes at War is a novel set against the backdrop of The Crimean War.

Captain James Fortune and Sergeant John Finch both hail from the same village in rural Hampshire.

They are both from vastly different backgrounds, but there are links between them. They are both from the same place and they both join the famed Rifle Brigade.

But there is also another, deeper link that binds them together. The link of family, as they are blood relatives. But this salient fact is not known to both of them.

The are both posted to the Crimea and see action in a variety of locations, the Battle of Alma and the fall of Sevastopol.

The two men are entrusted with a highly secret and very dangerous mission.

Will the two men succeed in their allotted tasks on the mission?

Will they survive the war and return home? Will they both become aware of the fact that they are more than just fellow villagers, although from different social stratas? That they are family?

Tony Foot's novel is extremely well researched and is also very well written. He takes the reader back to the time of the Crimean War, yet as he takes the reader back to the time of the funeral of Wellington (I had not realised what a disaster it had turned into) he only uses enough research to paint you a picture, not baffle you with too many facts.

It's an intriguing book, covering the horrors of war, family life at the time of the Crimea and all told in a charmingly realistic, yet romantic way.

It's published by The Book Guild at £7.99 and is worth every penny.

You can purchase it at the That's Book bookshop, here https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

In the Doghouse!

In the Doghouse! is new book for children from published author David J. Robertson.

His first children's book, Dognapped! was published by Matador in 2016 and is nominated for the People's Book Prize, 2017.

And now he has reunited his gang of crime fighting pooches for more canine shenanigans and crime fighting.

Rascal is a giant of a German Shepherd. Although he might look a bit scary, the truth is that Rascal is a bit of a cowardly lion type, rather than a ruff tuff canine.

He has grown so large that his kennel can no longer accommodate him, so he very kindly allows his three muttly mates, Misty, Bertie and One-Eyed Rose to have it for their own den.

But one day, the rains come and once they came, they didn't know when to stop! So poor Rascal becomes soaked right through to his skin.

His friends are worried about him catching a chill, so they put their heads together to see if they can find him a new home.

The gang, under the guidance of One-Eyed Rose, end up on the other side of their town, because that, she knows, is a place where they sell kennels.

It's a place that sells a wide range of wooden structures like summerhouses and sheds, but, unfortunately, the gang arrives on a day that it is not open for business!

This doesn't put plucky Rose off, she manages to wriggle her way through a hole in the fence.

There are a group of men working within the compound, loading wooden sheds onto a lorry, using a forklift truck. The men, a gang of robbers, notice the dogs and in the ensuing melee, the summerhouses end up being smashed!

The dogs are chased away, but cowardly Rascal goes the wrong way and becomes lost in the middle of the compound.

When they realise Rascal is lost, the friends go back to find him, but then the alarms are triggered!

What will happen to them? Will they be in a lot of trouble? Where will Rascal be able to live?

The book is wonderfully illustrated by Ian Ward and will be a great book for any child and also for the adults lucky enough to read this story to them!

It's published by Matador at £8.99 and will make a wonderful book to be read by and with children.

You can buy it here at the That's Books bookshop:- https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

That's Christmas: Mathmos Lava Lamps. Original and best for 54 years...

That's Christmas: Mathmos Lava Lamps. Original and best for 54 years...: Britain has seen enormous changes in the last 54 years especially in technology and fashion. Many have said that quality has been lost a...

Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Humanitarian and visionary

This is the biography of a man who was born into fantastic wealth, yet who gained a reputation in his own right of being a humanitarian, a man of vision and of a deep and abiding concern for matters involving conservation and the environment.

He was the son of the once very well known figure the Aga Khan III.

He was born in France and spent several years living in Switzerland and studied at the prestigious Harvard University.

In her biography. Diana Miserez, who first became acquainted with the Prince whilst she was an employee of the UN High Commissioner's Office for Refugees and he was the working with UNESCO and as the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, writes of his childhood and his early years.

She also focuses on his deep concerns over the North-South divide and the consequences that he was able to foresee.

He was at the heart of many world issues and concerns such as the continuing plight of refugees, nuclear proliferation,  Alpine conservation, seal cub massacres, the genocide in Rwanda, globalisation and so much more.

It is a deft and thoughtful profile and biography of a man who many thought should have been appointed UN Secretary-General, but never was.

The book is copiously illustrated and will help people get to know much more about this charming, urbane and vitally important figure in recent world history.

It is 390 pages in length and published in hardback by The Book Guild. It is available from the That's Books books shop, which you will find here https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

Caught in the Act

Caught in the Act is a series of masterful short stories.

Unlike some short story authors who always seem unable to resist the urge to cram a whole novel's worth of ideas into the very restricted space of a short story and end up rather like Uncle Ivo's overstuffed leather chair. (If you want to find out about Uncle Ivo's chair, you can do so in one of the 26 short stories contained in this anthology.)

We read of the sea cruise that never was or probably never would be, of cups with cracked glazes,  the problems of concentration when you didn't want to, of sea fishing, of dances and of school days and of murder in the vicarage which, the author points out, is based on a real event.

There are stories of lost ideals, of broken promises, of remembered past experiences and of those who are lonely and those who are alone, which is not always the same thing.

It is a thoughtful book and a truthful book and there is much to commend the work of the author, David Spiller.

The stories are well-written with a clear and concise tone and with beautiful phrasing and colours.

The book is published by the Book Guild at £7.99 and is heartily recommended to all lovers of the genre of short stories.

You can purchase it here at the Thats Books bookshop https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

The Weathermen, their story

The Weathermen, their story, is an absolutely riveting read by Gordon Tripp OBE, MA.

It relates how the arts ands science of weather watching and forecasting dates back at least two Millennia, with written records of weather dating back to the third century BCE,there is also evidence, reports Tripp, that the Babylonians were making efforts to both understand and predict the weather.

Cloud patterns were viewed as being of significance and weather lore began to develop when observers began to match what they could see to the weather that always seemed to follow them.

The Chinese, as one might expect, were also deeply involved with the study of the weather and putting into practice what they had learned.

The scientists of the Arab world were also keen to learn about the weather with people such as Ibn Wahshiyaa who began to predict weather based upon their observations of wind directions in about 900 CE, or 900AD as it is also known.

The book covers a variety of weather-related instruments that were developed by scientists such as Galileo and Torricelli.

We learn of Daniel Fahrenheit, of Celsius, and of the amazing work of John Dalton who kept a stunning amount of weather observations, 200,000 of them, over a period of 57 years.

In order to do this he had to design and make his own instruments to record temperature, air pressure, humidity and wind speed.

In America Benjamin Franklin was also keen on weather watching and recording.

We read of the pioneering, but often ignored due to commercial interests, of Admiral Fitzroy and of the importance of weather forecasting in maritime safety, and how wicked vested interests destroyed Admiral Fitzroy and his efforts to use weather forecasting to improve maritime safety.

The efforts of meteorologists to improve weather forecasting during World War 2 are covered as are later developments, including weather satellites and so forth.

It is a truly remarkable book and will make an excellent present for everyone who is interested in the weather.

It costs £7.99 and can be bought at the That's Book bookshop, here https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

Colour Sergeant Chesney V.C.

Colour Sergeant Chesney V.C. is a novel by Steven Baker.

With many accounts of the First World War, both fictional and factual, being published to mark the 100th anniversary of that terrible conflict, author Steven Baker has taken us back to an earlier and perhaps simpler time.

Like many of his contemporaries in Victorian Britain, Harry Chesney had a hard and tough childhood.

His mother died from tuberculosis and his father underwent what could be described as the living death of the alcoholic, unable to cope with the loss of his wife, he took his escape via the well known route of the bottle. Eventually he was overcome by the physical death that such an escape all too often brings.

As a result, Harry ends of in the place of last resort for many of the lower orders, the workhouse.

But Harry is made of tougher stuff than most and he decides to leave the workhouse in search of a better life through joining the British Army.

He rises through the ranks form a common private to the illustrious position of being the Regimental Colour Sergeant and the holder of the Victoria Cross.

His army career takers a sudden and catastrophic hit when, after there is an uprising on the North-West Frontier, Harry is the sole survivor from his platoon.

After a time he makes his way back to England and obtains in the position of being the guardian of Ravi, the illegitimate son of Captain Shervington, a now deceased hero of the regiment.

But then the Boer War comes and Ravi decides that he, too, must join up and fight for Queen and Country.

The novel is redolent of the Boy's own Story books, yet is sympathetically written and draws characters that are full and very believable.

It is published by The Book Guild at £8.99 and can be bought at the That's Books bookshop at https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

The Dream Factory

The Dream Factory is a rare debut novel in that it is obvious that, from the very introduction of the book, that the author has already got an established and very powerful voice.

It's a comedy thriller of a book and it is aimed at young people, though adults will also find much to recommend this book to them.

Written educationalist John Simes, The Dream Factory tells the captivating, yet enchantingly bizarre, story of three youngsters, Hendrix, Page and Clapton.

There was Peter, dubbed Pi, by a less than kindly teacher, Peter who could lose himself in The Dream Factory at will.

There story is multi-layered. There are betrayals that are grievous yet so utterly thoughtless that it actually makes them far worse than they might otherwise have been.

The story is set within the small and apparently peaceful English village of Dingwall.

But the village is only apparently peaceful.For there are violent kidnappings, escapes, love, between Peter and Navinda,  a spinster who is either an ordinary spinster or a gun-carrying spy, a Frenchman who could well be a criminal mastermind, the vicar who has a somewhat shady and secretive
history, a police force that fails to see the urgency of a call reporting a shooting incident: "I know a bullet when I hear one, Sergeant!" and there were dogs, and cats (but especially cats) and Om and the calming presence of Savaric, the ghost.

This is a curious book, the author has imbued each page with a dreamlike quality that helps to move the narrative onward.

It's published by Matador at £7.99.

John Simes is a name to watch out for in the future. It's to be hoped that this is the first of many novels.

You can buy the book at the that's Books Bookshop, here:- https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

Dorris Morris and the invasion of the neighbours

Doris Morris and the invasion of the neighbours is a truly wonderful book for children (and the adults in their life, too!) from author Janet Kelly.

It playfully and enchantingly tells the story of Doris who is an elderly cat who lives with the Morris family.

The Morris family includes Amy and Ted, aged just over four and eight, respectively.

Sadly for Doris whenever her family goes out her peaceful existence is shattered by the visits of Gangsta Cat and Lizzie.

These two scurrilous villains bully poor Doris and make her life a misery by stealing her food, bullying her and making a terrible mess.

Unfortunately poor doris gets the blame for their wicked ways.

However, Amy and Ted are not as gullible as their parents and they soon cotton on to what is happening, they realise who is really causing the problems so they decide to set a trap for the two miscreant moggies!

Their determination saves the day as their mother realises that it was not Doris who was being a naughty cat, after all!

This is a large format hardback book and it is sumptuously illustrated and is ideal for children from 4 to 6, though older children and adults will find something to love in this lively and thought-provoking book.

It will be published on 28 May and should be available for preorder at the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, here https://goo.gl/tn8Kiq.

It will cost £12.99.

Gay in the 80s

Gay in the 80s is a debut non-fiction book for author Colin Clews.

It is an historical and non-fiction account of what it was like to be gay in the 1980s in the UK, Australia and the USA.

It covers contentious issues such as Section 28 in the UK, the resurgence and growth of the New Right in the USA and the fact, astonishing though it might appear from the year 2012, that throughout a number of the States in the Commonwealth of Australia, Homosexuality was still illegal.

The 1980s was truly a dramatic decade for members of the gay community and what has now become known as the LGBT community.

There was the fight for the recognition of the rights of gay people and also the looming problem of AIDS which was, unfairly, stigmatised as a "gay plague."

As well as touching on these and similar issues, the book looks at the politicisation of the LGBT community and their involvement in a number of quite disparate issues such as the miner's strike, issues of policing, freedom of speech and so on.

The book will be a worthy addition to the bookshelves of people who are interested in gay history, the history of a decade that was a contentious and troubled time for a variety of reasons.

It is published by Matador at a very reasonable £14.99 and it will be available from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop which you can find here https://goo.gl/tn8Kiq.

Colin Clews is to be congratulated on a book that is both academically sound but also eminently readable.

Poppy's Seed

Poppy's Seed is a new novel from author Bethany Askew.

It explores a marriage between Peter and Emily Stanchester and is set in the English coastal town of Lyme Regis.

They are both finding the idea of grasping the fact that they were now into their retirement year a little challenging.

Peter went from being an important person who had work-related order and routine in his life to a person who was, unfortunately, no longer important and who no longer had work-related order and routine in his life.

And as for Emily? She misses the friendship of her former work colleagues and she misses her freedom,  too.

Onto the scene steps Poppy James. Poppy is an artist who is quite typical of a certain type of artist, she eschews convention, has a slightly spotty reputation and lives her life to its bohemian full.

She is unlike anyone that either Peter or Emily have ever met before.

They are both fascinated by this otherworldly creature and Peter is, not unnaturally, flattered when Poppy seeks him  out to ask him for advice.

But for what purpose has Poppy come into their lives?

Is there more, or perhaps, less to Poppy than appears at first sight?

And what, exactly, is Poppy after? What does she really want from the retired couple?

Apparently this novel was based on a dream that the author had and it does have a certain dreamlike vibe throughout it, it has to be said.

It's an interesting read which explores what happens when life intervenes.

It is published by Matador at £7.99 and it is available for purchase at the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop which you can find at this link here https://goo.gl/WRfFc7.

Sherlock Holmes To a Country House Darkly and other new adventures

Sherlock Holmes To a Country House Darkly and other new adventures is a newly published addition to the canon of Sherlock Holmes stories.

It is written by N. M. Scott and published by The Book Guild Publishing.

Within seconds of starting to read the first story I was utterly captivated as I was taken back to the Victorian era of swirling fogs, when Homes and Watson used their knowledge of science, medicine and the detective arts to right wrongs and bring justice where before there was none.

The stories are tightly plotted and the writing is of such a high standard that it might have been written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, himself.

There are stories of murder and revenge and ages-old retribution, of  devious land owners, violent robbery, of terrible secrets that became public knowledge under some rather unusual circumstances.

I am not going to reveal the plots of any of the twelve most excellent adventures, but what I will say is that if you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr Watson or of Victorian era detective fiction in general, you must buy this hardbound book at the snip of £9.99.

You can buy it from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop at this link https://goo.gl/WRfFc7.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have another story in this book to finish reading!

That's Christmas: A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all...

That's Christmas: A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all...: Everyone at That's Chirstmas would like to wish our readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous New Year. We would ...

The Enemy Within

The Enemy Within is a historical novel set in the recent history of the 1980s Miners' Strike.

For his debut novel former mining engineer Robert MacNeil Wilson gives his readers an exploration of the 1980s miners' strike.

It relates the story of Jim, who is a young colliery manager, an Paul, who is a miner, as together they battle to save their mine.

Half a mile beneath ground they face the miners' age old enemies, flood, roof collapse and fire.

However, the miners' strike drags them into conflicting sides of the conflict that tears asunder ties of friendship and of blood as friend is pitted against friend and family member against family member, rendering their pit village inot a battleground.

The novel also touches on the plight of the women of the pit village as they struggle to come to terms with the new reality that has been thrust upon them, as they struggle to make sense of what is happening and of the new reality that has become their life.

Based upon the experiences of Robert MacNeil Wilson when, as a young mine engineer of 24, he was, on more than one occasion, the only manager in charge when the mine was besieged by massed flying pickets.

The book is a riveting read and explains what happened and what went wrong. And who went wrong.

It costs £8.99, and can be bought here>>> https://goo.gl/zmYo4p.

The Magdeburg Relic

In his novel The Magdeburg Relic, author C. M. Chadwick takes his readers on an exploration of black magic, paganism and folklore in this, his debut novel.

It is an occult novel following in the fine traditions established by one of the founders of this genre, the late Dennis Wheatley.

In fact C. M. Chadwick states: "My book is a serious attempt to write a heavyweight occult novel in order to continue Wheatley's tradition."

It is his hope and desire that the book will be an enjoyable read for those readers who like exploring paganism, black magic and folklore.

The novel is set in the mystical English county of Wiltshire and follows the story of a vicar, who is also an occult investigator, Callum Dood.

He uncovers the conflicting forces of devil worship and paganism.

Togetrher with a group of trusted compatriots, Dood fights with a Satanic cult for possession of the Magdburg Relic, the rediscovered relics of Adolf Hitler.

It is the intention of the cult to use them for occult purposes; It is the intent of Dood and his helpers to thwart them.

The action takes place in a variety of locations, including Nuremberg, the site of Nazi rallies and to a necromantic ceremony, where the soul of Hitler is raised.

The action then moves to a mysterious crypt beneath the former home of occultist Aleister Crowley where the battle nearly ends with the death of Dood and his plucky band of fellow workers.

Later they face, at Carn Brea, in Wiltshire, the opening of a gateway to the underworld through which the Satanic cult hopes to draw legions of the former followers of Hitler.

However, they were not counting on the fact that Dood would be able to recruit the assistance of a pagan group who still hold firm to the old religion and who still converse in the Celtic language of their ancient forefathers. They hold in veneration the Celtic god Taranis and together both groups work together to defeat the cult.

But will they succeed? Read this thrilling novel to find out!

This book is definitely in the tradition of the late Dennis Wheatley and the only way one can tell that it is not a book by Wheatley is that there are references to modern matters such as emails. And, yes, I do mran that as a complement to the author, C. M. Chadwick.

It is published in hardback by Matador at £12.99 an d you can buy it here >>> https://goo.gl/zmYo4p.

The Seven Letters

In her debut novel 'newly minted' author Jan Harvey brings readers a poignant and moving novel that weaves a fascinating series of deeply interwoven stories that proceed through the decades of wartime Europe and toward the present day.

Claudette Bourvil is a timid country girl who, after her recruitment by the French Resistance, is directed to work in Paris, as an undercover agent within a bordello that is operated by the calculating and hard Madame Odile.

Whilst she is at the bordello of Madame Odile, Claudette meets and falls in love with one of the habitues of the bordello, a German Nazi officer, Fritz Keber.  

He is a deeply complex man with secrets of his own, which, when she discovers them, absolutely horrifies Claudette.

The story progresses to England some seven decades later. It is 2014 and Connie Webber is a witness when her friend the playwright, Freddie March, ends his own life by suicide.

Matt Varney, a kindly stranger, who is also on the scene offers her his comfort and they become firm friends.

Matt offers to assist Connie in the task of sorting through Freddy's possessions and they discover a cache of seven letters which are the key to the mystery of his mother.

The letters lead them to Paris. There, they meet a former prostitute who reveals the story of a maid who worked at the bordello who was, in reality, an agent of the French Resistance.

Connie and Matt follow the trail to a quiet village in the Normandy countryside where they discover a terrible truth relating to the fate of Freddy's mother.

The book will be published in February 2017 at £9.99 by Matador.

It will be available for purchase here>>> https://goo.gl/zmYo4p.

The Universe is a Machine

The Universe is a Machine is a debut non-fiction work by Chartered Engineer James Hughes.

In it offers a new and unique explanation of the science of what might have happened during the Big Bang, when our universe came into being.

It is a novel solution to the problem of where all the antimatter went after the Big Bang, why it is still in existence and the reasons as to why it has never, at least so far, been detected.

It is written in the form of a treatise which explores the so-called "smoking gun" of a clue that points to there having been a distinct mechanical process that took place during the aftermath of the Big Bang, superimposed, as Hughes argue, upon the thermodynamic and nuclear processes that are linked to the evolution of the early stages of our universe.

It is the current orthodoxy that the antimatter was utterly destroyed in the events of the aftermath of the Big Bang.

However, Cambridge alumnus and chartered engineer James Hughes argues that this was not the case.

He has a unique explanation to what happened to the antimatter, where it is and why it has not -at least, yet!- been subject to detection.

This paperback book is published in paperback by Matador at £78.00, though a Kindle version is available for £68.00.

It is available for purchase or download at our shop>>> https://goo.gl/zmYo4p.

That's Christmas: The Funniest Stuff

That's Christmas: The Funniest Stuff: This is the latest book from Colin West and it's going to be a must buy Chirstmas gift for the children in your life!" It's...

Under the Knife

Under the Knife is a fascinating new book by autohr Gulzar Mufti.

A retired urologist with decades of experience in the UK and abroad, Gulzar Mufti brings his readers a wide ranging array of medical and surgical stories from all over the globe.

Some of the anecdotes are light-hearted, some dramatic,  some tinged with sadness, but they are all very real examples of what happens in medical establishments the world over.

It also shows the human side of the doctors, the surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and other healthcare professionals who look after patients to the best of their abilities and, sometimes who go the extra mile and then some in order to help the sick people who are in their care.

Read how Professor K was able to make a diseased appendix just 'pop out', how the Kashmiri barbers dealt with hair and also with other matters such as teeth, removal of earwax, draining of abscesses and circumcision, too.

Also read how a simple typographical error was, actually, quite well received and how not everyone a doctor meets should be fully trusted!

This book is a must buy Christmas gift for everyone involved in medicine and also, everyone else, too!

It is published by the Book Guild at the modest price of £8.99 and is available for purchase from our own book and gift shop here>>> https://goo.gl/AzQ0XD but please do remember you might need to use the express delivery option as it is so close to Christmas.

Portals of Discovery

Portals of Discovery is a fascinating new book by George Norrie, the second Baron Norrie of Wellington, New Zealand.

Lord George Norrie has had a fascinating life. He has served as a member of the armed services as a soldier, worked as a horticulturalist and is, by inclination, an entrepreneur and has served as a parliamentarian.

In his memoir which is frank and honest, he raises some very interesting points. For example he argues that the choices that we make during our lifetime should not, usually, be considered to be mistakes.

He concurs with the Irish author James Joyce, they are not to be considered to be mistakes, they are, "portals of discovery," or gateways inot new worlds and are opportunities for bus to learn more about life.

Lord Norrie is a delight as he does not take himself too seriously and employs a self-deprecating wit and casts an eye on contemporary life.

He details the story of his life that begins in the Gloucestershire of the Second World War, to South Africa, New Zealand and the Middle East.

He shares with his readers an important account of the vital role that the House of Lords plays in the examination and reviewing of new proposed legislation, pointing out some changes that he was able to introduce to legislation as it progressed through the Upper Chamber on key environmental matters.

His time in parliament was brought to a somewhat abrupt termination when reductions in the number of hereditary peers allowed to sit in the House of Lords was reduced, but he is still very active in helping to look after the natural world.

The key themes of this memoir are self-knowledge and the importance of looking for new understandings.

It is published by the Book Guild and in hardback it costs £14.95 and is available here from our own bookshop and gift shop >>> https://goo.gl/AzQ0XD, but do please remember if it is a Christmas present, do please use the express delivery option.

Broccoli and Bloody-Mindedness

This is the story of Antonia Lister-Kaye as she takes a highly illuminating look back over her roller-coaster of a life.

She was born prematurely and was not a wanted child, in army barracks in the year of 1931.

She had cerebral palsy, yet she had a mind that was sharp and she had what was described as "a sense of fun."

Her childhood was chaotic and tinged with rage, some naughtiness and a few escapades and narrow scrapes.

Somehow, and it has to be said, the odds were somewhat stacked against her, Antonia was able to attend university and after leaving university she took up a career as a teacher in London.

She discovered sex and found that she quite like it and, after a few exciting and exhilarating years she, perhaps unexpectedly, got married to Hugo.

This brought about adventures of their own, as Hugo took her off to live in the African country of Nigeria.

Some time later they move to South Africa where Antonia discovers apartheid and realises that she hates it, which brings her suppressed rebellious nature to the surface.

She decides that she will make her way into Black zones that are normally forbidden to white people.

How does she do this? By the simple expedient of selling coffins ad teaching black students.

The South African authorities find her attitudes if not in breach of the apartheid regulations, certainly somewhat disturbing so they "invite" the family to return to the UK.

Domestic tasks were beyond her -due to three small children- and she eventually suffers from a breakdown in her physical health, with resultant chronic back pain.

Eventually Hugo leaves her and things get a little chaotic.

She finds that teaching is now too physically demanding and so she takes the decision to retrain as a psychotherapist, which results in more years of work that she found utterly fascinating and rewarding, in the main.

In later years she has campaigned for the re-legalisation of cannabis for medical use and when asked recently by her doctor how she had survived so long she responded with the improtal line: "Broccoli and bloody-mindedness!"

The book is illustrated with photographs and it is an autobiography that really shoulds be bought as a  Christmas present for those who like autobiographies about real people.

It is published by Matador at £7.99 and is available for purchase here >>> https://goo.gl/AzQ0XD but od use the express delivery option if you ant it before Christmas.

The Conisbrough Chronicles

This book, written by McMullen Country, tells the history of the Conisbrough family down through the last 1,000 years.

Seen through the eyes of several different narrators, we read the history of this great family as they amble through the last Millennia as they interrelate and interact with other families and characters, often with utterly disastrous consequences. Usually for them and not for the Conisbrough family members, however!

We see how the family participated -even sometimes if only in vaguely tangential ways- with the great and the good and the small and the not all that good, really, figures of British history.

We learn of what things were really like in the Middle Ages (it's filled with stuff you probably never knew until you picked this book up)  the goings on (diverse and interesting)  at the Court of Queen Elizabeth I, what the English Civil War was like (at least from the point of view of the Conisbrough family) and the dark doings that took place during the Industrial Revolution.

We meet greedy people, mad people, sad people and bad people and the third part of the book brings us right up to date with the relations between the Conisbrough family and the modern world.

And the great thing is? The entire book is all culled from the fertile imagination of McMullen Country, as the Conisbrough family is a work of fiction!

He reports, somewhat gleefully, that his "proof reader said she had never read anything like it!" which he, probably wisely, chose to take as a compliment.

This book will make a nifty stocking filler this Christmas so please quickly your copy from our book shop, here >>> https://goo.gl/AzQ0XD. Probably better to use "express" options for delivery, now.

That's Christmas: May it Please You, Madam

That's Christmas: May it Please You, Madam: May it Please You, Madam, by Neil Hickman, is just the type of book that I love. It is sub-titled a little book of legal whimsy and it c...

Salvage

In  Dublin author's Bernadette Quinn's new novel, Salvage, she explores a situation of marital crisis and destruction.

Based on events from real life -not those of the author- the novel tells the story of a typical Irish couple, Pam Cronin and Pat McElroy.

They meet, by chance, at a seminar. He is a youthful and ambitious architect, she is an equally youthful and equally ambitious newly qualified medical doctor.

They meet again and quickly realise that they are falling very deeply in love  and quite soon they are married and have two children.

However, their married life takes a change for the worse when Pam wishes to return to work as a doctor. Perhaps somewhat inexplicably, Pat forbids this from happening.

In order to appease her husband, Pam  acquiesces to his arguments that she should be a stay at home mother and concentrate on raising their two children.

This is, however, the start of what eventually become serious problems within their marriage.

With the passage of time their relationship deteriorates more and more. Pam attempts to raise these important issues with her husband but he dismisses her concerns. As far as he is concerned they have the perfect marriage and any problems that Pam perceives are only within her own mind.

Perhaps in order to shock him into realising the severity of their marital disharmony, Pam suggests a trial separation, he is angry and very dismissive of the idea. But demands that if they separate, that he would seek custody of their two children.

Aware that their marriage is, in fact, dying, Pam realises that she must now make plans to create a new life for herself, a life that does not involve her husband or her children.

However, fate takes a hand when Pam is severely wounded when she attempts to save a child who is in danger of being run down by a bus.

She is alone in her hospital bed  and she begins to think about her life and her family. Will she be able to continue with her life as a wife and mother or could she decide to carry out her plans for a new and different life, facing the world, alone?

This is an emotionally charged and highly realistic novel and will make an excellent Christmas present for those for whom Mills and Boon is not their cup of tea.

It is published by Matador at £9.99 and can be bought here >>> https://goo.gl/AzQ0XD.

Emotions of a Book

In his book "Emotions of a Book" author Guido Parisi explores the links between the author and his novel.

In a way that many might feel follows on in the tradition of Six Characters in Search of an author, the important 1921 play by fellow Italian Luigi Pirandello, this arguably equally important work explores the relationships between the author and the book that the author is creating.

Does the book have a personality of its own? Is it, in fact, a living creature in its own right?

Parisi argues that this point of view can be extended to all other artistic categories, the musical, artistic, dramatic, painters, sculptors and so forth.

Written by lecturer, teacher and a professor of literature, Emotions of a Book is a work that belongs on the bookshelves of anyone with even a passing interest in the arts and the meaning of life.

Although a work that touches on a great many different, yet, in reality, related themes (the arts, history, the nature of love and friendship, truth and so on) it is written in a style that is easily accessible by anyone who cares to read it.

The ideas that flow through and from this book are important and this book will make a excellent Christmas present for anyone who loves the arts and life in general.

It is published by Matador at £10.99 andis available for purchase here >>> https://goo.gl/AzQ0XD.

Rasmus

Rasmus is a dark and entertainingly cynical take off of the television industry, written by P J Vanston.

Rasmus. Exactly who, or what, is Rasmus?

He appears to be a TV visionary, a producer of reality television shows, but he has a desire to push, pull and cajole the genre to either scale untold heights, or to plumb the lowest levels of some post-Dante vision of Hell.

Take your pick.

His programming corrupts all who participate,  all who watch it and his rivals in the television industry, worldwide.

Great and terrible things happen, people will die live (if you'll pardon that expression) on TV, celebrities will be consumed, no, make that celebrities will be eaten and all for higher ratings.

All culminating in Death Hunt compared by the bouncy Alicia McVicar, where the name of the game is delete or be deleted.

Of course, nothing like this could ever happen in real life. Or Could it?

Not for the feint of heart this book is published by Matador at £8.99 and will make a superb Christmas present who like their fiction to be thrilling, satirical and just a little off the wall.

You can buy it here from our own book and gift shop which you will find here >>>   https://goo.gl/m5aVoo.

That's Christmas: The Primacy of Your Eye

That's Christmas: The Primacy of Your Eye: The Primacy of Your Eye is a fascinating book by author, artist and qualified art historian Allan W. Beckett. It is a handbook that belo...

That's Christmas: The Rhyming Diary of Jason Smith

That's Christmas: The Rhyming Diary of Jason Smith: If you have a teacher or a child to buy a Christmas present for, then you really should get a copy of veteran schoolteacher Trevor Cattell...

Snake Ring at Risk & Other Stories

Snake Ring at Risk & Other Stories is a refreshingly brilliant collection of short stories from author John Holroyd.

The stories are aimed at children and contain good, positive moral underpinnings, but children of ages 9 to 99 (and beyond) will find these stories equally enchanting.

 You will reads about the Witch that wasn't, the not stupid at all boy who should not have been called Pie, a kitten who was full of mischief, the mystery of what the old lady in black was really singing and that's all in the first story!

There's the exciting new game that Sammy invented for himself, which resulted in him working to free a planet from an influx of giant snails, but it was only a dream. Or was it?

There are stories of revenge that was misplaced and erroneous, and also what happened when the Snake Ring was at risk.

The book costs £7.99 and is an essential read for everyone.

It is published in January and you can pre-order your copy here at our book and gift shop >>> https://goo.gl/m5aVoo.

Mr Churchill's Driver A Murderer's Story

If you are a lover of mystery novels Mr Churchill's Driver A Murderer's Story should be high up on the list of books to buy in 2017. (It is out in January 2017.)

It is written by Colin Farrington and is a stunner of a debut novel.

The book is intriguingly described as being based on "real events" and "events that may be real."

It is July 1940 and Britain stands alone against the dark and brooding menace and threat that was Nazi Germany.

What if, the book posits, Britain's Premier, Winston Churchill, had met with the Irish leader Eamon de Valera?

What if Winston Churchill had agreed with de Valera to unify Ireland in return for the entry of the Republic of Ireland into the war?

Is it possible that they might have even discussed terms from Germany to bring an end to the war?

The novel is largely the memoir of William Gilbey. It commences with the story which had been told to him by Bert, his father.

Bert, it transpired, had been a driver for Winston Churchill. He claimed that he had driven the Wartime Premier to the Welsh port town of Holyhead for a clandestine meeting with the Irish
Taoiseach, Eamon de Valera.

William's own story is a little complicated because as the novel commences he has just been released from prison after serving 12 years for murder.

It is his intention to find out the truth about the life of his father who was also found guilty of murder, but who was executed for his crime and was notorious as being the last man to be hanged in Britain in 1964.

He also plans to go straight, but not before retrieving stashes of jewelry and cash secreted by his gang.

But his efforts are not going unobserved. He has raised the interests of three groups, the British Secret Service, his own former gang members and Irish Nationalists.

They believe that his father may have informed him of the existence of documents relating to secret peace negotiations and there's the other matter of antiques and money smuggled from Northern Ireland to England during the war years.

This book is published by Matador at £8.99 and will be available for pre-ordering here >>>   https://goo.gl/m5aVoo.

That's Christmas: Chasing Cloud

That's Christmas: Chasing Cloud: If you have to buy a Christmas present for a lover of historical fiction, here's a book that will fit that bill perfectly. Chasing C...

That's Books and Entertainment: All About Cruising

That's Books and Entertainment: All About Cruising: All About Cruising is a new and highly amusing look at cruiseships and those who cruise around the world on them. It is a mixture of car...

That's Christmas: The Key to the Half Worlds

That's Christmas: The Key to the Half Worlds: Andrew Chaplin's debut children's novel, The Key to the Half Worlds, is published by The Book Guild at £8.99. It tells the excit...

That's Christmas: Deathling of Dorn

That's Christmas: Deathling of Dorn: Deathling of Dorn, by John Timmis, is an ideal Christmas gift for the lovers of Fantasy Fiction in your life. It tells the story of the ...

All About Cruising

All About Cruising is a new and highly amusing look at cruiseships and those who cruise around the world on them.

It is a mixture of cartoons and the written word all crafted by qualified Yachtmaster and former Royal Navy member "Boz."

Boz takes a look at the history of cruiseships and holiday cruising, pointing out that perhaps the first cruiseship master was actually Noah? And that other early proponents of the cruising life were Polynesians, Vikings and the like.

He lets us look at what life is like on modern cruiseships from the point of view of the crew and the passengers.

He also, to coin a phrase, lifts the hood on the esoteric world of the Private Charter Cuisers and luxury full rigged sailing ships. Although he does say something about them that does, somewhat, dispel their mystique. But what this is you can find by buying this excellent book  here >>> https://goo.gl/m5aVoo at £9.99.

It's a great Christmas gift for the armchair traveller or for those people who have been on, or who are going on a cruise.

That's Christmas: Hidden by the Leaves

That's Christmas: Hidden by the Leaves: Hidden by the Leaves is a new novel by S D L Curry, which draws upon his extensive knowledge of the history of Medieval Japanese society. ...

Cancer A Journey's End

In this very moving book Prashant Naik gives an account of his wife's amazing fight with cancer.

In the year 2012, Tanvi Naik was given the diagnosis that she had breast cancer.

She commenced her course of treatment with hope and optimism and with a loving, caring family (her husband and two young daughters) she was firm in her resolve that the only option was her full recovery and that death would not result from her cancer.

She actually said: "That's for other people!"

However, the treatments for her breast cancer did not work and it was realised that her cancer was far more aggressive than at first thought.

Sadly, the major fear of the family came to pass, the diagnosis was that Tanvi's cancer was, after all, terminal.

But Prashant did not want the incredible story of his wife's brave struggle to go unrecorded and unnoticed, so he has written this book as a loving memorial to her fight against her cancer.

This book will be an ideal gift for anyone who has been touched by cancer or who needs to counsel or treat people who have cancer.

It is published by £8.99 and is available for purchase via our online bookshop >>> https://goo.gl/m5aVoo.

That's Christmas: The First English Explorer

That's Christmas: The First English Explorer: Ask most people who the first English explorer was and they would probably come up with a whole range of different names. But they would a...

Living With the Leopard

Living With the Leopard is the latest novel from author Maggie Allder.

It is the follow on novel to Courting Rendition.

It relates the story of a young and recently wed couple, Tom ands Carrie.

They look to have a bright future ahead of them, despite the fact that they are both members of a religious sect that a concerned government has determined is "extremist."

They are inhabitants of a somewhat stable community so they are, to an extent, protected from the problems caused by poverty and discrimination in the outside world.

But when they are invited to become activists, they become targets of surveillance by the government.

They rapidly find themselves targeted by the Anti-Terrorists Task Force (the ATTF) and are bewildered by the changes in their once settled and ordered lives.

They find themselves involved with a group that organises an escape route to assist dissidents to escape the clutches of the government.

They even find themselves offering shelter to a person who is wanted by the government.

When Carrie falls into ill health they find that their benefits are revoked and they eventually come to realise that they are no longer able to know who, within their community, is trustworthy or not.

They find their religious faith and even their marriage is at risk and they conclude that their own escape is now the only valid option. But who can they trust?

Can they make one last, desperate gamble to achieve their freedom together?

This is an interesting and thought-provoking novel and will make an excellent Christmas present for the lover of cerebral fiction.

It is published by Matador at £7.99 and is available from our very own shop which you will find here >>> https://goo.gl/m5aVoo.

That's Christmas: The Inventing Tubes

That's Christmas: The Inventing Tubes: The Inventing Tubes is a new book by Bryony Supper who, after surviving a career as a children's TV star, has reinvented herself as a ...

That's Christmas: Dead End

That's Christmas: Dead End: Dead End is a new crime thriller by novelist Daniel Pascoe. (You may well have read his previous novel The London Sniper, published last...

That's Christmas: Hoping for the Best

That's Christmas: Hoping for the Best: Hoping for the Best is an amazing debut book from Sarah Berryman -non-fiction, bless her!- about what it is really like to become the moth...

That's Christmas: Death in Winter

That's Christmas: Death in Winter: Death in Winter is a new crime novel from veteran crime writer Ian McFayden who is certainly going to please his fans and new readers alik...

That's Christmas: James and the Amazing Gift

That's Christmas: James and the Amazing Gift: James and the Amazing gift is a wonderful book that will make a stupendously great Christmas gift for young boys and girls. It is debut ...

That's Christmas: Beyond All Doubt

That's Christmas: Beyond All Doubt: Beyond All Doubt is a new crime thriller novel from the pen of Evesham author Paige Elizabeth Turner. Intrigued by the recent advances i...

That's Christmas: The Great Wizard Wars

That's Christmas: The Great Wizard Wars: The Great Wizard Wars is a fantastic new novel for children of 7 to 11 years of age and their mums, dads, grandparents and older siblings ...