The Adventures of Plonk

The Adventures of Plonk is an utterly charming story of a unique little creature called Plonk.

Plonk was created by Joan M. Davies MFPS.

At the tender age of 17 Joan earned a scholarship to the prestigious Manchester School of Art.

She found herself on a six year training course, one of only six granted throughout the entire United Kingdom.

She gained distinctions in both anatomy and the history of architecture, studying under Mr Dodd, who had himself studied under Picasso.

An example of her art was praised by L. S. Lowry in an article in The Manchester Guardian, in which he described her as "One of the coming artists of the day."

She began drawing her character Plonk -based on the farthing coin- and the book The Adventures of Plonk was first published in 1944.

Recently the distinguished fashion designer Hussein Chalyan MBE asked for permission to use of the the Plonk illustrations for a Paris fashion show.

Joan M. Davies died in 1991 aged 69. And the book has been republished by her daughter, Elizabeth Gordon.

But now we can again enjoy the adventures of her charming character Plonk.

Nobody knew anything about Plonk. Nobody knew where he was from, or even how or why he was called Plonk.

He lived alone on an island in the middle of the sea. During the summertime he loved to bathe in the sea water.

In the winter he liked to skate in the ice and play in the snow.

But he became lonely. So lonely that he began to cry.

A witch who was passing by took Plonk high up into the sky, terrifying poor Plonk. She took him to her castle and she cruelly made him work, carrying her basket that was far too heavy for him to carry.

Eventually he ran away from the witch and he met an amazing array of characters and had a lot of wonderful adventures and was made to suffer by ignorant people until in the end a kindly gnome took pity on him and asked a good fairy to help Plonk go back to his island.

But that's not the end of this charming tail that teaches many important life lessons that are as valid now as they were in 1944.

This is an ideal book for children to read by themselves and also to have read with them.

It is published by Matador Children's Books at £7.99 and can be bought here at our own bookshop  https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

Light After Dark II The Large and the Small

In Light After Dark II The Large and the Small, author Dr Charles Francis attempts to explain the inexplicable.

Dr Francis makes an exploration of the physics and philosophies that appertain t5o the conceptual basis of modern physical theory.  

However he takes pity on us lesser mortals and very kindly has taken troubles not to include a whole wodge of equations, and has included sufficient explanations to make the book more accessible to general readers.

He points out that some of the so-called problems in modern physics has been caused by a lack of understanding of some people in the field when they have attempted to understand what one might describe as the more obtuse writings of colleagues whose only sin was to be perhaps not very good as communicators.

He explains that relativity and quantum mechanics are not two "disparate theories, as is sometimes suggested, but that together they form the logical conclusion of Leibniz' search for a fully relationist model of physics."

A lot of what you might think you know about physics may well not be entirely true. However, if you read this book you will find your knowledge of physics to be greatly expanded.

At only £14.99 this book will be a very valuable purchase for the layman or laywoman who is interested in physics, the lecturer or the student.

It is published by Matador Science and can be purchased at the That's Books Bookshop which you will find here  https://goo.gl/Ltov34.

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.