A LIfe Untold

Zara Heart wakes up in a hospital.

She is bewildered and totally disorientated. Utterly discombobulated, as one might say.

Why is she there? What happened to her? Who, actually, is she?

Who is the woman she sees linked to the life support equipment? Who is the worried man who is sitting at her bedside?

All will be revealed when she meets the Head Assistant to the Angel of Death, AKA the D. A.

He is a surprisingly charismatic fellow who tells her that she has seven days left to live, but first he will show her the previous seven days of her life.

But is her death inevitable? Will she journey to the Hereafter or is her time on earth not yet over?

And who will decide? And why did the angel visit her?

The book is by Dallaa Moussallati and costs £8.99 from Matador and is available for purchase at https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

The Silent Partner and other stories of truth

This is an interesting collection of short stories from author Juliet Castle, with illustrations from Jaye Gray.

The stories are obviously written out of great compassion and wisdom and love, there are stories of love, of devotion of loss and of redemption.

They are all written in a style that touches on the poetic and they speak directly from the soul of the author to the soul of the reader.

From the story of The Silent Partner (he is always there, but always silent) to stories of heartbreak and of pure love, every aspect of human life and emotion is to be found within these short stories.

And they are short. Very short in some instances, yet and yet... the truth is that even these stories, the shortest of these short stories, contains more wisdom and truths than is to be found in many much, much longer works.

You will read and re-read these stories over and over, always learning something new from them.

It's published by Matador at £8.99 (£12.99 hardback) and you can purchase it here at https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

A Life Between Us

A Life Between Us is a new novel from author Louise Walters.

It tells the story of two sisters, one who has been dead for 40 years.

Due to a childhood accident, Meg, twin to Tina Thornton, dies. 

And for the next four decades, Meg carried a devastating secret, the fact that she blames herself for the death of he twin sister.

Until one day, one fateful day, during a visit to her elderly Uncle Edward and his sister, Lucia, hard, bitter, Lucia, she makes a discovery that completely shatters all that she thought she knew of the day that her sister dies.

She knows how her sister died. But does she? Does she really remember what happened, or are her memories not true?

And Tina is not the only member of her family who harbours some fairly dark secrets of their own.

Exactly how did Meg die? Did anyone kill her? Or was it a tragic accident that took her life?

Tina also examiners her relationships with the rest of her family, Uncle Edward, Simone, her French aunt and her estranged parents.

It is a compelling novel of family rivalries, dysfunction, loss and pain.

It's published by Matador at £8.99 and can be bought here https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

Condition

Condition is one of those thriller novels that grabs the reader by the throat and will not let go.

The story begins in 1966 and RAF Flying Officer Dan Stewart is in trouble, he has been involved in a 'plane crash and he is literally watching his body being consumed by the fire that is raging through the cockpit of his plane.

He awakes from a coma in hospital some six months later, to be greeted by his wife and his daughter, Claire.

But where is his daughter Lucy? And is it his imagination or is there something going on between his wife and Doctor Adams, the medic in charge of his case?

And why can he not recall the mission that he was taking part in when his plane crashed?

And there was the puzzle of his injuries. He had suffered almost 100% burns in the fire. And had survived. How was that even possible?

 And how was it that when he saw his utterly horrific injuries in the hospital, the medical staff, apparently, could not?

And if he had been in a coma for six months, how come his accident had only occurred two weeks before he came out of his coma?

And what of the second accident, whilst he was under the care of the hospital that had, apparently, taken place?

He seems to be hallucinating, but which of the events that are taking place are real and which are the hallucinations?

Who can he trust? His wife? The Doctor? His nurse?

And what medical treatment do they want him to take? What is it? What is the purpose of it?

Dan doesn't want to take it. Is this due to paranoia caused by an injury to his brain? Or does he have a genuine reason for not wanting to take them?

Are his hallucinations and weird dreams a product of his illness, whatever that is, or are they trying to convey some sort of a message to him?

It's said that the truth will set you free, but what if the truth that is, apparently, being hidden from Dan, was so monstrous that it would kill him?

And what were the red pills prescribed by Doctor Adams actually designed to treat?

And what, exactly, is this hospital for? What conditions do they deal with? Burns and severe physical traumas, or is it a facility for treating neurological conditions?

Are the staff, or some of them, lying to Dan and his family?  

And why are all the other patients, including a child, called Alice, all suffering from almost exactly the same devastating burn injuries that are, apparently, afflicting Dan? And how was it that the sarcastic patient Gary knew which patients, including Dan, were not taking their red pills?

And why can't Dan's family see his horrific injuries?

If he just started taking the red pill again, all would be well, he has been assured. But if that were so, why had he stopped taking them in the first place?

The basis for this novel (the first in a series of three) are some rather unpleasant medical experiments undertaken by the military, those experiments are still very highly classified, so classified that the author can only allow a hint of them to be shared.

The novel is, according to Alec Birri, "disturbing science fiction based on disturbing science fact."

This has got to be one of the best science fiction books that I have read in 40 years, in fact it reads like a book written at the height of the British Science Fiction explosion. Maybe this is the start of a new renaissance for British SF?

But don't take my word for it, buy this book at  https://goo.gl/wdCFDG for £7.99.

It is published by Matador and I am eagerly awaiting the subsequent books in the series.

Whiter Than White

Whiter Than White is a novel by veteran Pakistani police officer and writer J. J. Baloch.

It tells the compelling story of Hoor who is a faithful, Pakistani woman who lives her life within the confines of the society in which she exists.

It tells of her personal journey through life, how she protects her honour and her womanhood, bit J. J. Baloch also uses the story of Hoor who make penetrating observations on the issues of how women are treated within Pakistan.

The author takes several themes and deals with them all extremely well, women's rights, or lack thereof, how women are often treated badly by the legal system and society in general, even to the point of being punished when they have actually not committed any crime.

The book is interesting as it looks at the problems that women face in Pakistan (a place where misogyny is real and very dangerous) and is written by an insider.

It is published by Matador at £8.99 and can be bought at  https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

Unto the Skies

This is a biography of Amy Johnson, the pioneering English aviatrix who was the first femlae pilot to fly, solo, from Britain to Australia.

The daughter of Danish born, but naturalised British, Hull fish merchant, it might seem that Amy was an unlikely candidate for aviation history, but this was exactly what happened.

Author K. A. Lalani has undertaken meticulous research into the life and background of Amy Johnson from her very early life right through to her tragic and early death when he plane she was flying in crashed into the Thames Estuary. Her body was never recovered.

As well as being a pilot, Amy became the first British woman to qualify as a ground engineer, defying those who told her that she would never become a pilot to qualify as a pilot, eventually performing her heroic 1930 solo flight from Britain to Australia.

The sad story of her death by drowning in the Thames Estuary has never properly been explained and her remains were never recovered, even though she had been mere seconds away from being rescued. Indeed, one of the people who attempted to rescue her, died as a result.

The book does a great deal to take the reader into the whole life of Amy Johnson, flying ace and woman and it is very well illustrated with a well-selected range of photographs.

It will be welcomed by lovers of biography, of aviation history and of the history of modern British women and her story remains an inspiration to all, males and females.

It is published by The Book Guild at £9.99 and can be purchased here  https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.

The Yellow Bills

The Yellow Bills is a very well written book for children, but it will also be enjoyed by adults, too, so it is an ideal book to be read by and to children.

Michelle McKenna has crafted an exceedingly wonderful story (with superb illustrations from Steven Johnson) that tells the story of Mya.

Mya is eight years old and she wants to be just like her uncle, she wants to be a pilot.

She finds a local flying school, which has a 100% success rate in teaching its pupils to fly, enabling them to wear the coveted pilot's hat. But there is a fairly major problem that might block Mya from joining the flying school, she is a little girl, a human little girl, and the flying school is for ducklings only!

The flying instructor Lieutenant Drake chases her away, but when he sees how upset Mya is, one of the duckling pupils decides to help Mya to achieve her dream.

She learns a great deal from her new friend, that birds as well as humans have Control Towers to help make sure there are no crashes, she also learns of the story of Officer Peacock, the first duck who was taught to fly, even though she was only born with one leg.

But there were problems that My encountered, after all, humans aren't supposed to be able to fly and there was also the obstacle of Mr Sour the teacher, the only duck without the coveted pilot's hat.

But with the help of her mum, can Mya defy the odds and Mr Sour? Can she learn to fly?

The book is a fun and exciting read, but it also teaches some very important life lessons, but in a way that is not over-worthy or preachy. Including the most valuable lesson in disability awareness that I have seen in many years.

Your children will love this book, you will love this book.

It is published at £5.99 by Matador Books and it is a must buy book. In fact, there should be several copies of this book in every library and junior school in the country.

You can purchase it here at https://goo.gl/wdCFDG.