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.