Stepping Into My Shoes

Stepping Into My Shoes is an truly amazing autobiographical book by businesswoman, entrepreneur and business coach by Dr Catherine A Baudino.

I had heard of Catherine Baudino several years ago and how she had begun working for Robert Maxwell in 1987 after an appearance on what was a real life precursor of The Apprentice.

But when she arrived for her first day of employment with Maxwell she found that the job didn't, really, exist. Not only that she didn't have a desk or even a phone.

It was interesting to read this story in her own words and to learn that rather than running away, Catherine faced down Maxwell, scrounged up a desk a phone and an office and also created a role for herself within the Maxwell Corporation.

Catherine is honest about growing up in a dysfunctional French family in London. 

However, Catherine was able to learn from her parents, she learned how to be both rebellious and also at the same time to learn to conform.

She describes something that I, personally, know a good deal about, unfortunately,  which is Imposter Syndrome. 

Catherine points out that "Imposter Syndrome is a collection of feelings of inadequacy, despite evidence of success." 

You think you are a fraud, that eventually other people will find out what a failure you really are. 

Obviously, you'll not want to go for that promotion because, surely, if you obtain the promotion everyone will soon see that you cannot possibly succeed in it. So don't bother to apply for it.

Catherine points out various methods and tools that you can use to rid yourself of the ridiculous weight of the monster of Imposter Syndrome. 

Catherine is also a strong believer in network marketing. However, she points out that many networking methods are not too useful and might even be counterproductive. Anyone who reads this book will be able to spot where they might be going wrong with their networking efforts. I know I did! Catherine points out the link between connecting v networking.

Catherine also tells readers how they can say yes and no, how to set boundaries, the role of humour in business and business negotiations, which Catherine points out can be very important.

Catherine shares some very interesting lessons that she learned the hard way and shares with you, her readers.

Such as you always have a choice that you could make, and take the chance to change. How to never give up, beliefs that you have which might limit what you can do, why you should ask and how dispense with the fear of asking. 

How to learn how to ask for help, how to understand what non-verbal communications are and how to watch and listen.

She points out that people, women especially, need to dress for success, even at times when modern office dress codes are changing. (I am thinking of a managing director who wears a suit jacket with a pair of designer jeans!)   

You'll learn how to learn that being confidant is a good thing, but which should not be confused with arrogance.

What men and women can learn from each other, time management, but with a special Catherine twist on the concept of time management. 

She also gives detailed advise on how lone ladies can travel in safety, how to cope with poor heath and threats of mortality.

It's a stunning book and is of great benefit for women and men who are in business.

And what's the thing about Catherine and shoes? Read the book and learn all about that!

It is published by Baudino and Company at £21.99 in hardback.

The ISBN details are:-

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1399927612

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1399927611

It's available at a discount at Catherine's website https://drcatherinecoaching.com/book.

Diana Remembering the Princess

Diana Remembering the Princess is a book that is a must purchase publication for those who are fascinated by Princess Diana.

It's 25 years on from the tragic event that cost Diana her life and this book by Inspector Ken Wharfe MVO and Ros Coward with Linda Watson-Brown is a remarkable work.

Inspector Wharfe worked very closely with Diana, Princess of Wales because he was her personal protection officer who was personally responsible for the round-the-clock security both within the UK and also abroad for six years from 1978 until 1993.

His own memoir Diana; Closely Guarded Secret was a smash bestseller when it was first published and also subsequently when it was re-published in an updated and revised edition in 2016.

Ros Coward is a journalist and author of many popular books on a wide variety of topics. She was specially selected by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and the estate to write Diana: The Portrait, which was published in 2004 and consisted of a staggering 400+ interviews all with people who knew Diana well.

This book paints a picture of a woman who was dedicated to her charity work, who felt betrayed and let down by the entourage who surrounded her husband Prince Charles.

However, the book also reveals a somewhat capricious, stubborn and very wilful woman who would often do whatever she wanted and damn the consequences. Including deliberately goading and upsetting Prince William whilst he was in goal for his school football game. Even though Wharfe had advised against this when she had told him what she planned to do.

Her behaviour, he noted was becoming more and more erratic and a danger to herself. And he took the logical decision to cease working as her protection officer.

He points out that she took the decision to totally withdraw from having any official police security cover within weeks of that time. A flawed decision that many, including Wharfe, believe ultimately brought about her own death.

The Diana we see in this book is an interesting and intriguing person who was capable of great kindness, for example, in regards to her charity work, but who was also capable of acts of great cruelty, especially when that was totally uncalled for and when it really mattered on a personal and family context. What mother, for example, would deliberately try to tease and upset her own child in front of his fellow team members and schoolfriends whilst he was taking part in a football game?

The fact that Diana's name is linked to "The Diana Princess of Wales Anti-bullying Awards" yet she was seen, in public, actually bullying her own son and witnessed doing so by her police personal protection officer (who criticised her to her face for doing so) is something of a conundrum. But there were many conundrums about Diana.

If you want to learn more about Diana, Princess of Wales this book, published by Bonnier Books (www.bonnierbooks.co.uk) at £20 in hardback, this book is an ideal book for you. 

However, you might learn some things that you'd rather not know. But that's entirely up to you!

 

How to Live When You Could be Dead

How to Live When You Could be Dead is an amazing and very moving book by Deborah James.

You should, Deborah asserts, live your life as if you d not have a tomorrow. That you should live your life today, the way you want to live it.

Deborah points out in her book that she was alive when she should not have been. Should have been dead, in fact.

She refers to the film/movie Sliding Doors, pointing out that in another movie she missed the sliding door and "departed this wonderous life long ago."

When she was 35 years of age Deborah was stunned by a diagnosis of an incurable bowel cancer. She was given less than an 8% chance of making five years. 

Five years later she realised that her only logical option was to live "in the now" and to value each day of her life as it happened.

Deborah tells her story in this remarkable book, how she decided to blog about her experiences using the Instagram social media platform using the sobriquet of @bowelbabe.

As a result she became a widely read and popular columnist, the author of F*** You, Cancer and a much listened to podcast broadcaster and presenter, which included the chart-topper You, Me and the Big C. 

This year Deborah was awarded a Damehood in recognition of her amazing fundraising for cancer charities and also for her tireless campaigning for bowel cancer awareness.

The book is a record of how all this was from Deborah's own point of view. The high points, the low points, moments of hope, bleaker moments and how she and her family coped and thrived amidst the diagnosis of untreatable bowel cancer and the many people and new friends she met on her journey.

Deborah died on 28 June 2022.

The book is published by Vermilion, which is an imprint of Ebury Publishing at £14.99 in hardback. 

Ebury has pledged to pay £3.00 from the sale of the book in the UK to the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK.

This book belongs with every nurse, GP or specialist who interacts with people with cancer and their family members. It should be required reading for them. And for people with cancer and their family members, too.

I would like to issue a special request. Please share this blog post review with all your friends and your followers on social media accounts. Thank you. 

Jerusalem by moonlight

Jerusalem by moonlight is a novel from Roger Butters.

He takes an alternative look of the first ever Easter, from the perspective of the four Gospel writers.

It's the year 30AD and in Judea, the Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate is worried. He is finding controlling the restless and potentially rebellious populous of the area he is charged with governing.

It's a terribly volatile location, freedom fighters (or terrorists as the Romans viewed them) are attempting to expel the Romans from Judea. 

Knife-wielding murderers are roaming the city during moonlit nights slaughtering those they view, rightly or wrongly, fellow citizens who are traitors or sympathetic in some way to the occupying Roman forces.

It's soon to be the feast of Passover. A time when feelings of Jewish nationhood and religious feelings are expected to be at their highest for years.

There's one man who could be a force for good or bad. The religious leader from Nazareth, Joshua bar-Josef. 

As a man who is preaching love, the forgiveness of sin and the soon-to-be overthrow of all temporal powers, what is it that the Jewish religious leaders find so problematic about him?

This is an interesting and well-written examination of that first Easter.

It's published by Troubador at £10.99.

The Judas Case

In The Judas Case, a novel set in ancient Nazareth, author Nicholas Graham ably recreates 1st Century AD Jerusalem.

After almost two years of hard work and planning a secret agent infiltrates the close entourage of a holy man from Galilee.

Yehuda of Kerioth was one of the most able spies that the harsh Temple Guard had ever created.

The Temple Guard wanted to know exactly what the intentions of Yeshua of Nazareth were. Did he really intend for his followers to take over and install him as King?

The spy pulled off the greatest task of his entire career. But he disappeared and two days later his corpse was discovered.

Was it suicide or was it murder? The Temple Guard needed to discover the truth about what had happened to their man, so they call back into service the retired spymaster Solomon Eliades who had a personal stake in this investigation, as he had recruited and trained the spy.

However, his investigation is fraught with problems from his own past within the Temple Guard and then another issue arises which impinges on the investigation. A very important corpse has gone missing.

It's a remarkably well-written novel which raises some interesting issues from those distant times.

It's published by The Book Guild at £9.99.

Coming Home to You

Coming Home to You is a book by Caroline Britton and illustrated by Alex Jones.

It's basically a guide for you, to help you nudge yourself, gently, back you your own self.

Feel disconnected from yourself? Unsure of where you should be, where you should be going?

If so, this book is for you.

It will help you to become truly honest with yourself, how to get back to yourself, how to learn to heal yourself, to grow, how to reflect on yourself, how not to allow other people to take you for granted, but, more importantly, how not to take yourself for granted. Are you taking yourself for granted? The chances are, you almost certainly are taking yourself for granted. And Caroline will show you not only how you are doing this, but also how to stop taking yourself for granted.

Are you demotivated, feeling lonely, exhausted, detached awash in a sea of negativity? Caroline can appreciate this and will be able to help you get beyond these problems and many more.

The book is published by The Unbound Press at £14.99.

https://www.theunboundpress.com/books.

Second Chances Don't Grow on Trees

Second Chances Don't Grow on Trees is an interesting book by Patrick J. McLaughlin.

It's a true story that is unusual and fun-filled and very well written.

It's even more interesting as the story is all 100% true!

It relates the story of how a former teacher, one Patrick "Paddy" McLaughlin, became responsible for looking after a disparate group of people all who are troubled in one way and another, all social misfits and troubled folks who are from a tougher-than-tough working-class slum area.

He works with them and for them to find redemption and rehabilitation, proving that they were worth much more than they thought they could ever be worth. And showing what a remarkable individual he is.

His job was to get them all, by a miracle, back into gainful employment and back into productive, settled lives.

However, as Paddy cheerfully points out he had some demons in his own life which he successfully battled against.

Paddy realised that the one common factor was that they had all been failed pretty badly by the education system.

He struck on the idea of launching his own specially created homemade small college, dubbed The People's College.

The curriculum of this remarkable college also includes a strong commitment to creative writing and also on cosmology, which has helped boost their sense of self-worth.

One of the key points was that Paddy was able to establish not what his students didn't know, but what they did know. Something that had never been done before.

It's an amazing book. Which raised an interesting question in my mind. Why aren't their more People's Colleges in the country?

If you work in education, especially people with who have previously been failed by the education system, then you must buy this book.

It's published by Troubador at £9.99.

Missing Presumed Missing

Missing Presumed Missing is a new novel from the pen of Paul Harris which is an adventure story aimed at children aged 9 to 11 years.

Michael, the protagonist of this novel is twelve-years-old. He's a somewhat anxious young man, he has a difficult relationship with his mom and dad and is suffering from bullying at school.

What does Michael find to worry about? Anything and everything, unfortunately!

One day he takes the fatal decision to take a short cut through the nearby Spinney Wood. Michael suddenly finds himself in a weird, parallel world which has some deep, dark secrets. For example, what had happened to all the children who had gone missing.

The biggest, most nasty bully at the school is called Jonty. He has gone missing. But Michael know where Jonty is. 

Michael has befriended Melanie and Ben and he decides to make the return to Spinney Wood, where he hopes he will be able to rescue Jonty and uncovering the truth of Spinney Wood.

Will the three friends rescue Jonty and return to safety with him? Will they even be able to make it home in safety?

What are the secrets of Spinney Wood? Will they be revealed at long last?

It's an exciting story which will be well-received by children aged 9 to 11, That is if their parents and older siblings will allow them to get the chance to read it!

The book is published by Troubador at £7.99.

Circle Dance

The protagonist in Circle Dance is Miranda. 

The novel is set in the London of the 1970s and Miranda is looking for something in her life. She wants romantic love and some purpose.

New Age activities are the buzzword of the times and such activities are becoming more and more popular and she throws herself with great gusto into a range of self-development workshops.

Into Miranda's life comes a healer and clairvoyant Cassie who predicts that Miranda will have a happy future.

Eventually Miranda joins a creative writing class which is run by Jocasta, who is, unfortunately, both manipulative and promiscuous.

Miranda finds herself  drawn into a love affair with Julian. Julian is a very talented poet, but he is very highly sensitive. 

Unfortunately when Miranda needs him most, Julian shatters her by an act of gross betrayal.

Thus begins a strange three person dance between Miranda, Jocasta and Julian. 

Why are two highly intelligent women drawn so inexorably into the orbit of such a troublesome and self-centred man?

How will this impact on the destiny of Miranda? Will her friend's predictions for Miranda's life come to fruition, or not?

With the assistance of the paranormal and Cassie, Miranda's future life takes shape.

The book is published by Troubador at £9.99.

Bertrand & Wally Tackle The Clove Hitch Virus

Bertrand & Wally Tackle The Clove Hitch Virus is a new story from the inventive pen of Eric Carroll.

It tells the story of a dreadful pandemic that threatens the very existence of the insect kingdom.

The deaths of many millions of insects are reported and Bertrand, who is a beetle, and his friend Wally, who is a woodland wasp meet up with famed earwig scientist, Professor Clapperstein after an exciting journey through Lower Tinklewigglebottom Wood, at the professor's important research establishment.

The professor has made a remarkable discovery at a human landfill site, a discovery that will take them all on a wild journey through both time and space.

They meet up with aliens and medieval knights, but can they find out about the Clove Hitch Virus and discover a cure for it?

It's aimed at younger readers but older readers will also enjoy this book as it is a really fine quirky delight of a read.

It's colourfully illustrated by Bryan P. Ceney.

It's published by The Bookguild at £9.99.

Juliette – A mother's story of hope in the face of adversity

“Juliette is the heart-moving story of a little girl whose short life transcends the time she came to stay.”

A Christian who lost a child to perinatal death has authored a book to help others facing their own tough situation find the courage and hope to embrace life beyond their present hardships.

In Juliette, Aude Lombard recounts her deeply moving story from the moment she and her husband Baptiste received the prognosis that their little girl wouldn't live past birth, not only by sharing its profound painfulness but also the frequent moments of light.

With courage and frankness, she relates the long eight months during whicj Juliette grew inside her and beyond, describing the journey as one “full of joy, peace and revelation” that often felt like gifts from heaven.

Aude says: “To reduce our story to that of parents who lost a baby with Trisomy 13 would mean missing out on the many learnings that came with our journey. I have never felt so close to God as I did through this challenge, right to the end. We learned that life has meaning and a purpose no matter how short.”

The book addresses a range of topics likes finding peace in the face of pain, bonding with your unborn child, when prayer ‘seems’ to go unanswered and rebuilding faith and trust. As such, Juliette will appeal to anyone facing a personal difficulty as well as those who enjoy books about the miraculous resilience of the human spirit.

The book doesn't shy away from the reality of Christian suffering. In its pages, Aude attempts to find “a balance between encouragement through faith and staying anchored in what’s real”.

It was only after her loss and during the grieving process that she turned to that age-old question people often ask when faced with similar tragic experiences: “Where is God in this?”

Aude says: “I wasn’t able to imagine how God would be able to use this. I couldn’t see past my hurt. With time, new perspectives opened, and with them peace and transformation came … gradually, I found the road to confidence.

The central message of Juliette is that God always delivers the right resources to face life’s adversities. We may not always know what we need, but God will provide the “boosts” that help. The book also reminds readers that is it healthy and natural to embrace their emotions by “leaving room to share what [they] are feeling, along with [their] fears and questions”.

Aude says: “This second part of the journey is just as rich in its teaching and is worth being valued. Sometimes, we can run after an instantaneous change, when there’s actually a maturing in the process of living out the challenge we are facing.”

In the book, Aude describes the changes she saw in her character, emotions and perspective. She learned that God is in the present, not in the past or future, and that this is where we will locate the resources of strength, joy, peace and love.

Whether readers are seeking inspiration or encouragement, in Juliette they will discover a heart-moving story full of hope in the face of adversity — because while sadness passes, joy remains.

Juliette – A mother's story of hope in the face of adversity

Aude Lombard

Published Summer 2022

Paperback: £13.99

ISBN: 978-1-3999-1735-3

Kindle: £6.99

Pages: 126

Reginald Belcik and the Mystery of the Diamonds

In Reginald Belcik and the Mystery of the Diamonds we read how Reginald Belcik becomes entangled in the mysterious death of a woman. 

Reginald digs for answers into the young woman's death, but this is complicated by the fact that he is rapidly falling in love with her mother.

Reginald is a widower and a retired engineer who lives a solitary life in a nice apartment complex. All is perfectly normal until he receives a totally unexpected visit from the president of the apartment complex's  residents association when he is suddenly asked to take over the position as the manager of the apartment complex. The vacancy had occurred because, unfortunately, the young lady who previously held the position had been murdered.

Reginald accepted the position as manager, takes possession of the keys. 

It was then that the situation becomes even more complicated, when Reginald discovers a shoebox filled with diamonds.

Reginald decides that he needs to investigate what had happened to the previous manager, but his investigations become complicated by the fact that he is falling in love with her mother.

But there is another murder, this time of a police detective and what involvement does a robot have in all of the mayhem?

It's a thriller novel from The Book Guild and is priced at £9.99.

Mus-Iggle

In the latest book for children by John Benneyworth, Mus-Iggle, we read about music, about learning to sing, to play and also to write music.

When Mus-Iggle was a tot, his dad, who is a jazz musician, wanted Mus-Iggle to learn to play music.

 But unfortunately he could not learn to play music. Of course this made Mus-Iggle very sad.

Mus-Iggle's mother was also a musician, in fact, she is an opera singer. She wanted Mus-Iggle to sing for her, but he could not sing for her. This also made Mus-Iggle even more sad!

However with the arrival of a new music teacher at his school. His new music teacher showed hm how he could "talk" with crochets and quavers and pretty quickly they were able to chat together in harmony. 

Mus-Iggle loved the fun this generated and very soon Mus-Iggle was writing songs and music.

In fact, Mus-Iggle eventually became a successful musical composer. 

The story is well-told and the illustrations bright and colourful.

It's published by Troubador's Children's books at £7.99. 

Learn about all the other Iggles at www.igglebooks.com.

Love in a Time of Pestilence

Love in a Time of Pestilence Is the fifth collection of poems from author and poet Heather Goddin.

It touches on a wide range of subjects, from being trapped at home during lockdown, how the phone became our dearest friend, how we kept in touch with friends and family some of them many, many miles away. How hugs became virtual simulations of the real thing.

Heather writes of flowers and of a caged bird, trapped whilst yearning to be free, of pleasures both small and large, taken when and how we could during the lockdown.

Heather muses on a humanist funeral, and ponders on hair cuts that just couldn't happen due to the lockdown. The village, she realises, will soon know who is or isn't a natural blonde! I hadn't actually thought of that!

Heather touches on many other matters, including rituals of ancient days and of dreams both futile or otherwise, of wishes wished and promises promised.

I like writing poetry. I only wish that I had the facility for writing poetry that Heather Goddin posses!

It's published by Troubador at £8.99.

Igor and the Twisted Tales of Castlemaine

Igor and the Twisted Tales of Castlemaine. You probably know about Igor. Igor was the assistant to Victor Frankenstein's dedicated but troubled assistant who worked with Frankenstein in his laboratory. 

But who was Igor? Where did he come from? What were his origins? And what happened to Igor when he managed to screw up enough courage to leave his abusive master and Frankenstein's Castle?

So pleased you asked Igor wound up in the village of Castlemaine. If you thought Frankenstein's Castle was weird, then wait until you see what happens in Castlemaine! 

The village is set deep within the Carpathian Mountains and appears to be subject to a curse. Or several.

There are ghostly happenings a-plenty and almost all the inhabitants seem to be perverted on one way or another.

Igor meets up with Esmerelda, the stunningly beautiful daughter of the homicidal local innkeeper. Esmerelda is also prone to the occasional outbursts of violence. Only natural, given the circumstances.

Esmerelda and Igor soon find themselves with a more than plentiful amount of trouble and fun. Maybe fun. 

They find themselves tangling with mediums, monsters, maniacs and murderers (that's the Ms covered!) a nun (oh dear! That nun!) and things spiritual and also demonic. Oh, yeah and some Zombies, of course.

Readers follow the duo as they stumble and stride through a variety of amazing adventures together.

It's written by long-term friends and horror movie fanatics Ian J. Walls and Richard L. Markworth.

If you ever thought "That's odd! Whatever did happen to Igor after all the fun and frolics with that Count?" buy this book (from Troubador, £9.99) and you'll learn more than you ever thought possible.

The method of reducing funeral costs is particularly enlightening. Or something.

The Madness of the Faithful

The Madness of the Faithful is a new novel from R H Williams.

All over the world a mysterious incident renders everyone to lose their consciousness for a brief moment in time.

But when everyone returns to awareness every aspect of whatever faith they had previously adhered to was stripped from them.

Those who had previously believed in God were left feeling bereft and numbed.

The cause of the event was unknown, but some people believe that the only possible cause of this cataclysmic event must have been a single, powerful outside agency.

However, some people are resentful of those who still seem to have some religious symbols in their life and wish harm on them, including violence.

We are introduced to Paul who is a middle-aged widower who is a recovering alcoholic. He had leaned very heavily on his religious beliefs to help him deal with the tragic loss of his wife.

However, after the incident that cost everyone their faith Paul begins to see his wife again and she leads him to a coastal village in Wales that holds particular significance to him and his wife, as it's a place that held great significance for them based on a visit during their honeymoon.

Paul becomes an important part of village life and together Paul and the other inhabitants work together to help each other deal with their altered world.

However, those who support the External Force are a danger and Paul needs to help protect what his now his new family from them before it is too late?

It's a beautifully moving book that explores many important themes and raises some important questions. Including what would we do under such circumstances?

It's published by Troubador at £10.99.

New Brighton

New Brighton is a new science fiction novel from the pen of Helen Trevorrow.

It's evening and Robyn Lockhart, resident of Brighton, which is a coastal city in East Sussex and some 47 miles south of London, is meeting up with her boyfriend Vincent. They are getting ready for a night on the town, but a storm is threatening. 

Robyn works as a waitress, she lives with her mother and her sister, Alice. In fact, Robyn often looks after her sister.

Whilst they are in the nightclub the storm breaks with a ferocity not seen in living memory. 

During the storm a large and rusting ship is washed up onto the beach. Early the next day the ship has already been removed from the beach and taken to a dock area where it is guarded. But why? Why would the authorities be interested in restricting access to an old, rusting hulk of a ship?

With the connivance of a friend of Vincent they manage to access the ship and Robyn finds something that seems, on the fact of it, to be utterly impossible. Almost magical, in fact. She pockets it before they have to flee the ship.

However, afterwards Robyn learns that her mother has had to travel to the hospital in London with Alice because Alice's illness has struck again.

Vincent decides to travel with Robyn to London. They learn that the trains to London are all cancelled due to the storm. No problem! They'd get the coach. but the coaches are all cancelled, too. 

On the spur of the moment Vincent decides that he would steal a motor scooter for them and they would ride to London. When they discover that the road to London has also been cancelled, that it ceases to exist not many miles out of Brighton they realise that all they know and remember about their lives including remembered trips to London probably never really happened.

The land between Brighton and where London should be is filled with row after row of polytunnels in which plants are growing.

If there is no London where have her sister and her mother gone? And why does Robyn keep meeting people who she thinks she should know, but doesn't?

After Vincent is savaged and seriously wounded by a polar bear which Robyn is able to kill, with Vincent's shotgun, she finds herself in hospital and meets her sister.

Suddenly Robyn is back in reality. Or is she? She has split up from Vincent (apparently) and Robyn begins to realise that things are just not right. And what's wrong with feeding the penguins of Brighton with the odd muffin or two? 

She keeps on being able to look back into the past and begins to learn that things just don't look right and that she and her new (old?) friends must work together to combat a dreadful, evil enterprise. And what is the role of her mother in this? And what did happen to her father? 

But now Robyn has to fight for her new cause, for Vincent, her sister and the baby girl that Robyn is now carrying.

The book is published at £8.99 in paperback and £14.99 by Red Dog Press https://www.reddogpress.co.uk.

You can buy it direct from Red Dog Press, Amazon and other retailers.

This is the best science fiction novel I have read in many years. I think British Science Fiction has an important new voice in Helen Trevorrow.

How good is it? I would wake up in the middle of the night and instead of going back to sleep I thought "I'll just turn the light on and read a couple more chapters."

Survivors of Origin

In the new novel from Paul Swaffield, Survivors of Origin, we meet Fred and Mary Quicklock. Times for Fred and Mary are, alongside many of their contemporaries, suffering from hard times in 17th century England.

However, their dire situation shows some signs of improvement when the son of Edward Buckingham, a wealthy ship owner, is brought into their lives.

Meanwhile the evil slave trade is making the participants of that dreadful enterprise very wealthy indeed. And others are eager to muscle their way into this vile but lucrative industry.

For some reason their son Ezra is drawn to a life on the seas. 

Due to a bad decision he swiftly finds himself in a world of greed, danger and violence. However, he also found companionship and love.

Captain Isaac Dunsmoore is in command of a brand new and sleek ship called the Rebecca-Ann. It's first voyage was a trans-Atlantic voyage from England to Belem, a port in Brazil, on the Amazon Delta mouth.

Rothwell Spurt is a ruthless pirate who is fleeing from the British Admiralty. He wants the Rebecca-Ann, as does the corrupt rulers of Belem, Garcia Paz. It looks possible that the maiden voyage of the Rebecca-Ann could be its last.

But Captain Dunsmoore has a new recruit to his crew, Ezra Quicklock and he and the first mate Horace Clunk, Taylor Potts seek out the help of the indigenous peoples of the area, the Tupi tribe and the enslaved Africans. 

Can the crew and their allies defeat Spurt and Paz and save the Rebecca-Ann from the clutches of Spurt and Paz? 

And can they restore peace, harmony and order in the port of Belem?

This is a swashbuckling novel which deserves a place on the bookshelf of every fan of this type of salty seagoing novel.

It's published by The  Bookguild at £8.99.

Burning Secret

Burning Secret is an exciting novel by R J Lloyd that is based on the extraordinary true life story of one of his ancestors.

R J Lloyd was working hard to trace his family tree. he had managed to trace it back to the 16th century. But he was unable to find any trace of his great-great-grandfather Enoch Thomas Price. It seemed that he had vanished without trace.

So, what had happed to him? After many years of false starts and dead ends a cousin called him with some exciting news. His cousin had found evidence of what had happened to Enoch Thomas Price all those years ago. 

A Californian called Susan Sperry had recently taken her retirement and finally had the time to search through a box of documents that her mother had given her three decades previously.

Susan Sperry found references to her great grandfather, Harry Mason, a wealthy hotelier from Florida who had died in 1919. What possible link could there be between poverty-stricken Enoch Thomas Price and wealthy hotelier Harry Mason? It transpired that they were the same person!

The story that writer R J Lloyd uncovered was one of poverty, violence, betrayal and triumph. And he has used his skills as an author to fill in the blanks.

It's 1844 and Enoch Price was born into grinding poverty. However, Price was an ambitious young man and he travelled to London to seek his fortune as a bareknuckle fighter. However, bareknuckle fighting was a murky world operating at the edges and often beyond of lawful society and soon Price finds himself in the clutches of an unscrupulous illegal moneylender well-known for his use of violence. 

He is, by now, a married man with three daughters and he is facing ruin and imprisonment. He decides to flee England for Jacksonville, Florida. The decision to abandon his wife and three little girls reportedly haunted him for the rest of his life.

By the time he arrived in Florida, Enoch Price is no more, replaced by Harry Mason.

By a series of adventurers in his new country, Harry Mason plays a vital role in the development of the growing city of Jacksonville, all through a variety of schemes and risk-filled enterprises. 

However, he is wracked with guilt over the callous way he abandoned his wife and three daughters and he makes contact with his wife, pleading with her to join him in Florida. However, she feels she cannot trust him and declines his offer.

Mason weds again, though bigamously, and he fights to keep his true identity a secret. However, his public life is one of significance and success and he achieves political prominence, becoming a member of the Florida State House of Representatives in 1903.

His business enterprises he boosts via a range of practices, not all of them honest and there is talk of him becoming the Governor of Florida. However, what good is it if a man gains success in his business life if his personal life is filled with bitter self-recrimination? 

He planned to return home to England and face the music but the intervention of the Great War and the subsequent virulent Spanish Flu put paid to his plans.

It's a well-written, poignant story of how one decision can change the outcomes of the lives of many.

It's published by Troubador at £10.99.

From Wolf to Supermutt

From Wolf to Supermutt and everything in Between is a book by canine behaviourist Erika K Goshi.

Erika adopted a dog called Mila and, perhaps naively, believed that because Mila was a mature dog and not a puppy that she wouldn't really have to do very much with regards to training Milla. Oh, how wrong she was!

She quickly learned that Mila had a passion for chewing expensive Persian rugs. And decided to annex the living room for use as her personal canine toilet area.

When someone asked her to do anything, sit, come, stay, etc, Mila wouldn't comply. Instead she would greet each command by hurling herself onto her back in a submissive pose and decline all requests to even consider moving.

Loud noises, such as thunderstorms and firework displays would send her into a total panic and she would run around manically. 

And even the merest sight of another dog caused a very extreme reaction.

Erika had to learn about canine behaviour in order to try to work out how she could help her rescue dog. In fact she got s deeply interested in the field of canine behaviour that she eventually qualified as a canine behaviourist herself.

In her comprehensive and information packed book readers will learn about how to deal with pee and poo, how to deal with smelly dogs, the chewing of carpets, house soiling, how to cope with demodex mites and your canine companion.

There's canine obedience, training and the like. Play and even the unwillingness to play, how to choose the right breed for you, the right types of food to buy, special diets that might be required, healthcare for canines and so much more are crammed into this 482 page book.

It's an excellent book and is well worth buying, especially if you or someone you know has a rescue dog. It is published by Matador at £13.99.

However, a puzzling omission is that there are no illustrations at all, no line drawings or photographs. 

Jubilee Book Sale

Books are for sale from 70p in a special Jubilee Sale.

To celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee, online book retailer www.Books2Door.com is having a ‘regally brilliant’ sale with books from as little as 70p.

With books for all ages, this specially hand-picked collection features non-fiction and fictional books including titles about Her Majesty.

Book customers can also get your hands on some bargain books from only 70p across a wide range of interests and topics.

The Jubilee Bank Holiday Sale runs online at www.books2door.com from Monday 2nd June at 6.00am through to Sunday 5th June at 11.59pm.

The Calloway Sisters

The Calloway Sisters is a vibrant new work from published novelist and history buff K. A. Lalani.

Set during the affluent post-Edwardian period in the Australian city of Melbourne, the Calloway sisters are enjoying everything that life can offer them.

However, all is not as it seems an the past secrets, errors and indiscretions of the family member of their parents' generation have a harmful impact on their otherwise blissful lives.

But the world they know is soon to be damaged by the advent of a devastating war in Europe that soon sucks in countries of the far-flung British Empire as Britain itself becomes drawn into a conflict between nations on Continental Europe and further afield.

Agnes and Sarah become volunteer nurses and find themselves facing challenges that they and other medical staff were totally unprepared for.

Back at home in Melbourne those who remained find themselves compelled to face up to problems and sins of their own.

The story begins in 1913, the year before the Great War commenced and it grabs the reader by the hand and drags them quickly into a story of gossip, of blighted love and of deliberate, calculated humiliation.

But then the Great War came and with it destruction and death.

K. A. Lalani brings to life the period of the post-Edwardian era and the dreadful conflict that saw much sacrifice and bravery from many who were involved, but especially the Anzac troops and the nurses who accompanied them, the Anzac Girls.  

It's published by The Book Guild at £9.99. 

The Little Pen

In her latest book published author Wendy Williams brings her readers a new hero. In The Little Pen Wendy introduces us to a little pen.

He has had enough of residing at the bottom of a handbag. He wants to get out of the handbag and to see something of the world. 

But he is more than a little bit nervous. A bit too afraid to go on an adventure. But eventually the opportunity to escape his humdrum life arrives. And he bravely grasps hold of it.

What will happen next for the little pen? Will this be the beginning of a new, exciting life for him? 

What happens to him? Will he see the world? What will he write?

The story is very well written and sharply and colourfully illustrated by Elena Kochetova.

As a writer myself I guessed that Wendy's book might be based on a pen of her own and Wendy confirms that this is the case, it's based on her favourite pen which has travelled the world with her.

It's aimed at children between the ages of three to five and their parents and grandparents, too.

It's published by Matador at £6.99.

Still Standing, the Flip Side of Denial, Depressional and forgiveness

Still Standing the Flip Side of Denial, Depressional and forgiveness is an autobiographical book by Mwangala Lethbridge. Zambian Mwangala had it all. She was an architect, a mother and had political aspirations.  

But a cruel and severe motorcycle accident put paid to all that in a blink of an eye. Family members gathered around her hospital bed in Lusaka and prayed to God to deliver her and sent out heartfelt pleas on social media channels being friends and other people she knew to donate blood in a desperate appeal to help her survive the night.

However, within five years Mwangala had earned an MBA from Manchester University, successfully completed the Virgin Money London Marathon and had instituted a programme to offer educational empowerment of girls in her home area of Zambia, through the auspices of the Mwangala Mwenda Foundation.

In her book Mwangala tells her story which commences with a tragic accident but then reaches a heart-warming conclusion which shows how, with the help and assistance of family members, friends and on some occasions, total strangers and medical professionals, specialists and the Lord, that a person can succeed against all odds.

It's an extremely well-written and very powerful book that will uplift and inspire the reader. Mwangala takes her reader from the depths of despair to the heights of accomplishment and self-realisation. 

It's published by Troubador in hardback at £12.99.

The Snake That Bites Its Tail

In The Snake That Bites Its Tail Robin Farnham is a retired magazine publisher who awakes in hospital after his suicide attempt fails. However, upon awakening he is made aware that he is a murder suspect.

Jane Foster is sixteen and after many years of sexual abuse at the hands of her adoptive father she launches a vicious attack on him after which she flees to London and freedom from his abusive behaviour.

Over the next fifty years readers meet up with Robin and Jane's lives are intertwined, but it isn't until the Millennium year, 2000, that they actually meet up.

During their lives at several points they are both treated by Dr Peter Lakmaker, who was their psychiatrist.

Robin has led a stressful life and he has been involved in three murders and wants to know why this has happened to him.

As for Jane, well into her adult life she is still traumatised by her adoptive father's terrible sexual abuse and yearns for a loving, close family relationship.

However, her search is confused by an ouroboros bracelet that depicts a snake eating its own tail, which Robin wears and which seems to have strange, prophetic powers.

However, a highly poisonous Indian snake called a Krait makes an appearance and it seeks vengeance. But why? And who against?

It's an interesting and somewhat enigmatic novel.

It's published by Troubador at £10.99 and is written by Bob Farrand. 

The Fatal Oath

The Fatal Oath is the third standalone novel in the Oath thriller series. It explores issues relating to prejudice and inequality within education.

The story is set in the year 1957 in a very elite public school, Blackleigh, in Yorkshire. However, all is not well at the school. It's a hotbed of emotional problems and seething, hidden antagonisms and hatreds.

The teachers were not in charge, the people who were really in charge were the prefects, who ruled the school with an iron fist within an iron glove. Meting out violence to any junior pupils who they took against.

Jonathan Simon is 16, in his third year. He is conscious that his Jewishness is held against him and he is mocked and derided for the birthmark on his face.

The unofficial "official" rules of the school forbids snitching. The staff have no power, including, perhaps especially, the new temporary headmaster, Mr Wood, who is ineffectual and very, very weak.

So who does wield the power at Blackleigh? The senior pupils who are the prefects and who are not backward in coming forward with violence against any pupil they deem to deserve it for any reason or no reason.

Into this educational maelstrom comes Bobby Stuart who is an American transfer student. He has his own anxieties about being accepted so it's perhaps not unnatural that they gravitate toward each other and become friends.

However, trouble comes in the form of three very vicious and ruthless House Seniors, Gabriel, Hausman and Murray. They have gathered around them a coterie of sycophantic, dedicated followers.

But the Seniors are not without problems within their own ranks. Rivalries, internal differences and when one of them gets a gun things start to get very, very complicated and very, very dangerous indeed.

An exceptionally well-written book crafted by a master storyteller it brings to life a time when public schools were capable of being quite nasty places indeed.

It's published by the Bookguild at £8.99.

The Gift of Time

In The Gift of Time author Julie Walker explores the world of the COVID pandemic.

During the pandemic lockdowns and restrictions, like many people, Julie Walker suffered severe anxiety, both in her own right and also for the other people who were forced to stay at home with her.

However, unlike most people traumatised by the lockdowns and restrictions, Julie Walker is a novelist and she decided to mine her recent negative experiences for golden nuggets for a novel.

She has written a novel about six strangers who all experienced life during the time of COVID in six different, individual, ways and all who experienced  very divergent results.

Readers will learn about Elisabeth. Elisabeth has autism. She has never found that her autism held her back in her life. Except, of course, when something disturbs the equilibrium of her day-to-day life.

Alejandra has altered and changed, but she is not aware of this. There's something about her husband that she has ignored throughout their married life. The unpleasant fact that she must now come to terms with is that her husband is actually a narcissist. But now she has acknowledged this, it's not something she can ignore. Once seen, she can't unsee it.

Mary Ann lives an isolated sort of a life. Almost as if she in in a cage of some sort. She lives this lifestyle as a combination of both circumstances and, to an extent, choice. with the new way of living foisted upon her, what will she do now? Is it time for her to reassess her life?

Giuseppe yearns to be able to flee to his homeland. But he can't do this. For he has his own mother to think about and there are his own health issues to take into consideration. But are these real concerns or a shield against him having to make a decision?

Clayton is fully aware that he is coming close to the end of his life and he is painfully aware that he must take the last opportunity to fix things in his family that he believes need fixing whilst he has enough time left. But does he?

As for Annchi the wide world beyond was something she was unaware of, pretty much. But she'd learn about it and more besides.

They all were craving the gift of time to learn, to grow, to repair, to regroup. But the gift of time came with a price. For their "gift" of time came about as a result of the COVID lockdown.

How could they cope? How could they deal with the lockdown? Ignore it and hope for the best? Learn how to cope with COVID and their lives beyond?

It's a very captivating novel and Julie uses her skills as a storyteller to create some characters that you will love and some that you will not particularly like!

It is published by Matador at £10.99.

Roll Over Rhymes

Roll Over Rhymes is a new book that is ideal for children and their parents and other older family members to read together and share the fantastic, vibrant and colourful illustrations.

It's co-authored by Suzanne Sasse and June Laurie.

It's a rhyming book aimed at children and it is intended to help them learn about acceptance and empowerment.

It is a collection of ten newly created fairytales that are told in rhyme. The stories include new takes on some familiar characters, unexpected plot twists, humour and the stories are given fresh, new modern day settings.

But each story still includes some lovely magic!

There are genies, Cinders, Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots, a queen, a boy called Pete, Witches, a Wolf who learns a very important lesson and a Princess who has different ideas about how her life should progress.

It is published by Troubador at £7.00.

Lotus-Eating Days

Lotus-Eating Days is a memoir written by Caroline Repton.

It tells the true story of two very different people who came from vastly dissimilar backgrounds who, however, met and married.

Geoffrey Christopher Tyrwhitt Repton was the eldest child of a middle-class English family.

Whilst Theresa Repton (nee Pang Kim Lui) was the 13th child of a family of Chinese immigrants living in the British colony of Singapore.

In her fascinating and extremely well researched book she tells their stories. How, although they grew up on different sides of the world and had very different backgrounds, the common bond they found was that they had both survived the Second World War in the Asian warzone.

Christopher had been a prisoner of war forced to work on the Burma-Siam railway, whilst Theresa was a young woman working in Japanese-occupied Singapore.

Caroline Repton brings to life a whole variety of characters from witty former prisoners of war, loving siblings, cousins who were in the armed forces, idiosyncratic spinster aunts, ex-girlfriends, chipper colonials.

The story is told in their own words by means of a wide range of letters and diary entries from the 1930s to 1959. And Theresa's tape-recorded memories put to tape in 2000.

As well as being very well written the book is profusely illustrated with a delightful array of intimate family photographs and wartime postcards.

It's published by The Book Guild at £16.99 in hardback.

Common Sense

It's 2029 and there has been a major upheaval in the world of British Politics. The Common Sense Party, which campaigned on eliminating crime has swept the board in British Politics, claiming an astounding 400 seats with Labour and the Conservatives limping in with 99 seats each.

Broadcaster David McDougall is the joint leader of the new party and is a shoo-in to be Prime Minister. 

Except there has been a sort of a palace coup within the new party and the new Prime Minister is Bob Goodwin, rather than David McDougall.

In his debut novel, Common Sense, Colin Wreford examines what might happen in the not-too-distant future.

At first the new party has the full backing and support of the public as it works hard to put into practice its new policies.

However, things soon start to look a little less promising as corporal punishment and the death penalty are brought back and gay marriages are declared illegal.

The story open with an interview between TV presenter Sara Molan and new Prime Minister Bob Goodwin. 

Soon their professional and personal lives become interlinked and his lust for Sara starts to cloud his judgement.

Inevitably protests about the new and draconian laws develop but the public and the establishment is shocked at the severe punishments that are meted out to the protesters and the actions of Prime Minister Goodwin range between a little bit odd to utterly weird.

Former co-leader of the party David McDougall forms an opposition to what he sees as the excesses of Goodwin. Can Goodwin defeat McDougall? Can Goodwin corrupt and manipulate Sara, a former colleague of McDougall, to keep the McDougall, the public, the media and opposition politicians under control as he battles to remain in power for his full five year term of office as he continues to try to mould the UK into whatever it is he wants to to become?

As he continues his machinations the situation in the country rapidly heats up and disorder and violence rapidly breaks out.

Who will win? Who will survive the worsening political maelstrom? 

Wow. What a wild and thrilling ride, with a twist in the tail.

I do hope to read more novels by Colin Wreford, he's a good new voice in the world of thriller fiction.

It's published by Matador at £9.99. 

Jay Blades Joins Forces with Literacy Charity to Inspire Adults to Learn to Read

I am a fan of the hit BBC TV programme The Repair Shop. And Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades will be participating in a new BBC documentary which will follow his journey as he faces up to the challenge of learning to read as an adult with charity Read Easy UK.

As Jay Blades is such an erudite presenter and is a highly skilled furniture restorer, it's a surprise to discover that Jay came to reading very late in life.

In fact Jay concealed his lack of reading skills until he was in his 30s, after he struggled to learn to read as a child. 

It's an unfortunate truth that Jay isn't alone. Because a staggering quarter of all children in England leave primary school like Jay, unable to read  as well as they should.

Almost seven million adults in the UK have very poor literacy skills. And many of them are too embarrassed to come forward to ask for help.

An inability to read properly has an adverse impact on all aspects of daily life. For example, reading signs, checking bills, reading urgent letters, registering to vote, voting itself or even being able to grasp health information. It also makes it hard to support their own children’s learning.

In the programme Jay meets other people who are on the same journey with Read Easy. Viewers will meet Jacky Smith who began learning to read in her 60s. Why? The main driving force was her desire to read with her 7-year-old granddaughter and to help her sister who has become partially sighted.

Jay also meets Jeff George, who at age 32, said: "The most important thing for me is to be able to read stories to my son who has just started school. That’s my goal. I’d also like to be able to understand more at work, and have other options career-wise for the future. Reading will open those doors for me. If I have a chance of something better I’m going to take it”.

Read Easy UK has 50 affiliated groups around the UK with over 1,100 volunteers providing free one-to-one reading coaching for adults who are unable to read. Readers meet volunteer coaches twice weekly to follow ‘Turning Pages’ an adult reading programme originally developed to help prisoners to learn to read..

Says Ginny Williams-Ellis, CEO of Read Easy UK, “Research shows 2.4m adults in England can’t read at all, or can barely read. Not being able to read as an adult is excruciatingly embarrassing for most adults."

She went on to say: "It generally follows years of humiliation at school, when failure to learn to read in the early years will have brought about a lack of ability to take part in the rest of the curriculum as they got older.

“For the vast majority this wasn't their choice, or their fault. It was nothing to do with their intelligence. There are many different reasons why a child might not learn to read in their first years at school. 

"For some, undiagnosed or unsupported dyslexia, or unidentified sight or hearing problems, may have stopped them from learning. Others lacked learning support from parents or carers, or problems at home may make it difficult to concentrate at school.

“Phonics wasn't taught in most schools for many years from the 1960s and consequently many children did not learn the crucial decoding skills needed to make sense of text. It is arguable this had an impact on literacy levels in the UK generally, but it was a particular problem for those who already faced other challenges. So, however difficult it may be, nobody should feel embarrassed to admit that they didn’t get the skills they needed when they were children.

“I would urge any adult who is unable to read properly to have the courage to come forward, like Jay, and ask for help. It really is never too late to learn.”

To find out more about learning to read as an adult with Read Easy visit www.readeasy.org.uk

Had my mother not stepped in and taught me to read and write I believe that my literacy levels would be much lower than they are. My teacher, who, it transpired, didn't even have a teaching qualification(!) couldn't cope with my dyslexia. 

Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51 will broadcast on Wednesday 26th January at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

Incidentally there are a whole tranche of adults in their 50s and 60s who were initially taught to read and write with the Initial Teaching Alphabet, which proved to be an utter disaster as the plan was for children to have to forget the ITA that they had learned and then to re-learn to read and write using standard English. Many grew up to have severe literacy problems which still negatively impacts on their lives as adults to this day.

You can learn more about the Initial Teaching Alphabet debacle here:-

https://theliteracyblog.com/2015/05/14/i-t-a-a-great-idea-but-a-dismal-failure/

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/ita-initial-teaching-alphabet-anyone-else-a-victim.94314/

https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1371807-McNee-Coleman-Great-Reading-Disaster-was-look-say-introduced-to-damage-childrens-reading

Logistics: A Christmas Story

Logistics: A Christmas Story is a new novel from published author Chris Coppel.

Holly Hillman was abandoned at the age of two and a half. She was then raised in an austere fashion. She was kept well away from anything whimsical or fanciful.

Not for Holly were things that other children of her age took for granted. Elves, fairies and Father Christmas meant nothing to her. Because she was taught that such things had no existence. 

Harmless fancies that helped children cope with the harsh realities of life were kept from her.

By the time Holly was in her forties, she was the Chief Executive Officer of a Fortune 400 company. She had reached the top of the company by dint of her own hard work. And also by keeping distractions and social attachments out of her life.

But, despite living a life that others would find unattractive and limiting, Holly was perfectly happy in the life that she had selected for herself. In fact, as far as Holly was concerned, her life was perfect and she wouldn't have it any other way.

However, her company was due to merge with a powerful Asian conglomerate and, as part of the due diligence process that always surrounds such mergers, she was required to have a health check, which also required a DNA sample to be taken. But what exactly was the Ling Chow Group up to? 

However, never in her wildest dreams could Holly have been ready for the results of her DNA test. For the DNA test revealed the shocking truth of her amazing and unique ancestry. 

Holly must face a stunning truth about herself that must change not only how she views herself but also life in general and alter her concept of what reality is.

She finds herself in a world of talking reindeers, elves in business suits and of mysterious NDAs and the chance to meet her real father. 

It's a fantastic and fantastical story that is very well told and which contains a great many allegorical truths about life, childhood, business practices, politics and much more besides.

It's published by Troubador on January 28th at £9.99.

Peaky Blinders The Real Story

In his book Peaky Blinders The Real Story historian Professor Carl Chinn MBE tells the real story of The infamous Peaky Blinders gang that were active in Birmingham.

Far from the romanticised version portrayed in the popular television series, the members of the gang were not very nice people. And Professor Chinn should know. On of his ancestors was a member of the notorious gang.

And Professor Chinn should know. His great-grandfather, Edward Derrick, was a member of the gang.

He married Carl's great-grandmother, Ada Weldon. Her married life was extremely unhappy, because Derrick was and abusive, drunken bully who would often smash the house up when he was drunk. On a number of occasions his wife and child would need to seek refuge in the communal brewhouse (the washhouse)  or in the house of Lil's Granny Carey.

She was known as Old Mother Carey and she was a much loved inhabitant of Studley Street. Why wouldn't Derrick pursue his wife and child into Old Mother Carey's house? Like many thuggish bullies Derrick was a coward at heart and was fearful of her several powerful sons.

After putting up with years of his abusive and violent behaviour she took the unusual, for that time, step of divorcing him, using the "Poor Person" under the Supreme Court rules.

Ada died in 1925 aged 39 of stomach cancer, whilst Derrick lived until 1964, in the Midlands town of Nuneaton.

Carl states in his book that he has nothing but contempt for his Peaky Blinders ancestor, who he described as "wife-beater, thief, wastrel and violent ruffian., he was typical of the Peaky Blinders."

He further points out that, unlike the glamorised Peaky Blinders depicted in the television series, they were not dressed in fashionable clothing, they did not "have a certain charm" nor did they "have a certain sense of honour" and the working class of Birmingham had no respect for them and, in fact, they were "mightily relieved" when the Birmingham Police ended their reign of terror, under the direction of the then Chief Constable Charles Haughton Rafter.

Carl then goes on the point out that after the real Paky Blinders were put down, some of the members created the violent and formidable Birmingham Gang which was headed by the real Billy Kimber. 

In 1921 the gang fought a violent, bloody battle against an alliance of London gangs, led by the real life Darby Sabini. The real Alfie Solomon was also involved. They were fighting for control of protection rackets and pickpocketing groups on the racecourses of southern England. 

Interestingly Carl points out that there were no fights in Birmingham, the fights took place in southern England.

He points out that some of the Peaky Blinders gang fought in the First World War and those that returned to their home city were more law-abiding.

Carl tells the pre-history of the Peaky Blinders, of the street gangs that preceded them, the Sloggers of the 1870s, whose name derived from the 1820s bare-knuckled fights and was a term describing a person who could deliver a powerful blow.

He also reveals the story that the Peaky Blinders name was bestowed upon them because it was rumoured that they had disposable razor blades sewn in the peaks of their caps and that in a fight, they would remove their cap and slash their opponent in the face, thus trying to blind them.

The book is a detailed and highly readable account of the real story of this infamous street gang and is very well illustrated with a number of archive photographs.

There are also interviews with people who actually witnessed the events and the book has a comprehensive endnotes section.  

Incidentally, Carl Chinn's family were involved in illegal bookmaking and later legal bookmaking and I should point out that my cousin on my father's side, Ted Rogers, was also a bookmaking contemporary of the Chinn family in Birmingham. It's a small world!

The book is published by John Blake Books at £8.99 in paperback. 

Let's Kill all the Lawyers

In Let's Kill all the Lawyers Author, GP and ethicist Tim Howard introduces us to the story of how, despite the fact that Doctor Nick Malenkov has done his very best for his patient, "the bastard" as he describes him, has issued him with a High Court Writ over his medical treatment of him.

Obviously, Nick will need legal representation and he appoints a solicitor, Antonia Grey, to fight his corner.

Antonia is a very capable solicitor but she is not free of baggage: Her marriage is tottering along and she is beset with personal problems. 

Add to the mix Brooks, a very capable Barrister, who will face the High Court on the behalf of the defence and the defence team is complete./

But as the case gets to the High court Nick learns that the law and justice may not always be the same thing. That sometimes it is better, at least in court, to be clever rather than right.

And will a mistake that Antonia made scupper the chances of Nick to receive justice? Or were there other machinations that the defence could not be aware of?

The case is lost, but due to the fact that the judge was demonstrably biased and the fact that a vital piece of evidence is discovered, Nick's legal team is able to lodge an appeal.

Would the appeal court bring justice for the Doctor? And if it did... what might happen next?

It's a very well written and pacey novel.

It is published by Brown Dog Books at £9.99.

Seadogs and Criminals Book 1

Seadogs ands Criminals Book 1 is a novel by Alex Fisher.

The novel is set in Victorian England and the reader meets Joseph Winter who is a master criminal. In the teeming streets of London he is, with some irony, known by the sobriquet of Trace. Why? Because he never leaves a trace behind him.

But eventually things go very badly wrong for Trace, his reputation is smashed to pieces and his dreams of success smashed to nothing when a tip about a fabled treasure map fails to materialise. 

What can he do next? He decides to form a group of strangers who will be invited to join him in the hunt for the treasure in question. 

They take to the high seas and soon find themselves travelling to the ends of the Earth in a journey to unearth the vital clues as to the final resting place of the fabled treasure.

But eventually Trace begins to harbour doubts. Is this hunt worthwhile? What is he doing? Who can he trust?

It's a swashbuckling historical novel which will be a good read for people who like a tang of sea air in their fiction.

Published by Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd at £11.11 from Amazon or as an e-book for £2.84. 

A New Dark Age A Reckoning

A New Dark Age A Reckoning is a new novel from Ross Patrick.

It's set in the future. But not a distant, far away future, but a future that could be just around the next corner.

Society had began its long, slow collapse, crumbling around the people. 

Scarcity became more and more common and when most people could not afford to buy consumer goods, they began to riot. 

The ruling class was perturbed by the rioters and accused them of being antidemocratic.

Militarised armed police were sent out to deal with the riots.

However, with rising levels of unemployment tax revenues inevitably began to fall and larger corporations began to take over the direct funding of the police and the police became the armed wing of the corporations. This brought about battles between different business interests, all set about a background of a society in turmoil with falling standards of living and the very State tottering toward disaster.

Out in the provinces readers meet Esme Sedgebrook. Her future is mapped out for her. An arranged marriage, childbearing and a nice, safe domestic life. 

But what if this is not the life she opts for? What if Esme decides to flee her safe, comfortable life and join up with the uprising?

It's an interesting, dystopian novel.

Published by Brown Dog Books at £9.99 and is available from good book retailers and online.

The Crystal Palace Chronicles Star of Nimrod

The Crystal Palace Chronicles Star of Nimrod is a novel from Graham Whitlock.

From the very first page, readers will be hooked. Everyone knows that the Crystal Palace burnt to the ground on November 30, 1936. But who knew why it burnt down? The Alone Child, with his hidden box of used matches. The Alone Child knows.

85 years later, young Joe is bored and a bit lonely. His best friend has moved away, Joe loves his little sister, but she's annoying and Joe is a bit miffed that he is lumbered with the job of looking after her, whilst his Dad spends every hour that he can attempting to keep their struggling restaurant, Paradise, open.

Joe finds a broken compass in some bushes on the site where the Crystal Palace once stood. Without warning Joe finds himself plunged back through time to the year of 1888.

He meets a fellow teenager, H. G. Wells who gives him assistance along with Samuel Coleridge Taylor, the famed Iris Blondin, the daredevil daughter of the legendary tightrope walker, Charles Blondin, plus Doctor Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes and the Queen of the Gypsies.

Joe learns of a plot by a team of highly skilled and equally highly dangerous diamond thieves to steal a very famous diamond and with his new found friends he must work to thwart the gang and to learn of some mysterious and dark secrets of the Crystal Palace. He discovers that those secrets are, somehow, linked with the fate of his own family.

But what will happen to young Joe? Will he remain trapped in time with his new found friends? Or will he be able to find a way of returning to his own time and to his own family? Or would he be able to work out how he could retain both?

This is a very readable novel which has pace and a little bit of elan as it tells the story of Joe and his adventures.

It's published by Grass Roots Productions and is available at Waterstones, Amazon and other book retailers.

Although aimed at children of ages 11 to 13, older readers and adults will find much to captivate their minds.

It costs £8.99 and will make a superb Christmas present.

And the good news? It's the first part of a trilogy, so there's more to look forward to!

Graham has his own website at www.grahamwhitlock.com.

Sentenced

Sentenced is a memoir written by two apparently vastly different people; Victoria Oak, a London housewife with four children and Andrew Hawke, a British man  imprisoned in a notorious jail in Thailand. The ironically named Bangkok Hilton. Or, to use its correct name, the Bang Kwang gaol.

Victoria was travelling with her friends Alex and Alice, backpacking around the world. After five months of travelling they reached Bangkok. A 19-year-old British man called Michael hade tried to smuggle 3,000 pills out of Bangkok. Of course, he'd been caught and had been given a life sentence. Because his parents didn't have the financial resources to fly out to Thailand to visit him, they'd asked two British girls to visit him.

However, due to a mix-up they weren't able to meet him and they had asked Victoria and her friends to visit him in their stead. 

Victoria, Alex and Alice decided the next morning to make an impromptu visit to Michael, but as they'd arrived on the wrong day they were unable to see him as it was the visiting day of a different block. But without knowing the name of a particular prisoner, they wouldn't be allowed in.

Victoria decided to 'phone the British Consulate for advice and the extremely helpful receptionist there quickly gave them the names of three British prisoners who were being held there. 

So, they decided to visit one of the British prisoners who was being held there. The prisoner Victoria spoke with for that hour, the hour that proved to be very fateful for both of them, soon passed.

When Victoria returned home they began to correspond with each other in long, detailed letters. And this was the start of a lifelong relationship.

Victoria studied drama and English at Birmingham University and she married, became a housewife and had four children.

Victoria and her husband shared several passions, the chief ones being travelling and sports.

Victoria was able to complete the pilgrimage to Santiago in May 2012 and placed 2,000 prayer stones along the Camino asking for her friend Andy to be released from his incarceration.  

She had realised that her marriage had faltered and, in her mind, died, so when she returned she asked for a divorce. But this wasn't to be an easy, simple divorce, because it became a wearying five-year fight through the courts.

During this dreadful time Andy was released from jail and came to stay with Victoria at her home for almost two years. And during this time they collaborated together to write Sentenced. 

After her divorce Victoria took time out to do some more exploring, in South America, New Zealand and Australia.

Victoria then spent four years editing the manuscript, preparing it for publication. Just before the world was virtually shut down by COVID, she contracted pneumonia and Lyme's disease which left her weak and hardly able to function, this debilitation gave her the impetuous to get Sentenced ready folr publication within a year. Which she did.

It's a remarkable book well-written telling the life stories of two remarkable people and other people in their lives. It is also illustrated with a collection of photographs.

It's published by Grosvenor House Publishing at £10 in paperback, plus as an e-book. 

It's available from good book retailers and Amazon and will make an excellent Christmas gift.

The Fly and the Tree

In his new mystery novel The fly and the Tree, author and consultant neurologist Dr James I. Morrow brings lovers of mystery novels a great new read. 

So if you are looking for a suitable Christmas present for the mystery novel lover in your life (or maybe you are looking for a sneaky little self gift for yourself?) this is the ideal book for their (or your!) Christmas stocking!

We are introduced to a young and dedicated medical biochemist, Baz ("Don't call me Barbara!") Clifford. 

Baz makes a vital discovery during the course of her research work. But there's something wrong, or at least there's something that doesn't seem to add up.

Because the discovery that Baz has made casts doubt on the received wisdom that a young woman had died in what was nothing more than a terrible and tragic accident. 

However, the husband of the young woman and even the police themselves are not interested in what Baz has to say on the matter. They are all apparently convinced that her death was an accident.

But Baz has a very strong conviction that Cathy Marsden had, in reality, been the victim of a murder. 

However, there is one person who does believe in the theory that Baz is putting forward. A 16-year-old boy. What is his interest in the matter? He is convinced that Cathy Marsden was his own long-lost mother.

But who would have had the motive and the means to murder Cathy? And will Baz stir up problems when she continues her unofficial investigation? 

This is a very exciting, pacey read and it's a must read book!

It's published by The Book Guild at £8.99

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