The Cats of Butterwick Sands

In Gabriella Thomas' The Cats of Butterwick Sands readers will meet with the cats of Butterwick Sands.

The cats are lead by a very special cat called Percy. Percy is very clever, very dignified and also very popular in the small seaside resort town of Butterwick Sands.

Sadly, Butterwick Sands had seen better days and it is now a little bit tired and in need of some Tender Loving Care or TLC as it is also known.

You'll meet a whole range of cats in this book. Some are brave, some not very brave, some nice, some who are not as nice as they mother would have liked, some are funny, some a bit more serious.

You'll meet the cats in a series of stories which all culminate in all of the cats, under the leadership of Percy, working together to restore the town's caravan park and its once bustling funfair.

The stories are all illustrated with charming line drawings from Ena Hodzic.

These stories are ideal for children and parents or grandparents to read together. And will make a super Christmas present.


It is published by The Book Guild at £7.99.

The Conquistador's Horse

The Conquistador's Horse is a story for children written by author Barry Cole.

It is set in North America during the years 1540 to 1550.

It tells the fictionalised account of historical events surrounding the events that brought horses to the American native tribes.

A Cheyenne hunting party with Tall Bull are crossing the Arkansas river, they are taking something of a risk, for they are entering the hunting ground of their enemies to hunt for some buffalo.

However, other men are crossing the same river, fierce warriors armed with bow and arrows, war-clubs and spears. They are wearing war paint. They were a war party from the Pawnee nation making their return journey to their home village after they had made an attack on the Sioux, their bitter enemies.

However, those two groups were not the only ones to cross the river. There were men of pale skin who were riding on horseback. They, too, were armed. But they were armed with swords and muskets. These were a group of Spanish Conquistadors, searching for a city of gold, Quivira.

The three disparate groups eventually met and Tall Bull would come across an amazing animal, the likes of which he had never seen.

These animals infiltrated his mind, inhabiting his dreams. They would change not only Tall Bull's life, but the lives of generations of his people to come. He had seen his first horses.

This is a very well researched and equally well written book aimed at children from ages 10 to 14.

It is published by Matador at £6.99.

Incidentally the author has also included an extra bonus story "The Birth of the Wolf Clan."

Rift Wars The Entity Within

Rift Wars the Entity Within is a science fiction debut novel from Nitin Suneja which is aimed at a young adult audience.

It tells the stroy of Jon Farrell who, at the age of 15, has to flee the ruins of the Roman catacombs. Unfortunately for Jon and his parents, his parents did not survive.

When he reaches the surface he discovers that the entire ancient cit of Rome, which he was visiting with his parents, has been devastated.

Eventually Jon finds his way to a military base and finds to his horror that the attack has been planet-wide and that only a small fraction of the human race was able to survive the attack.

As Jon discovers more about the attack from a highly technologically advanced alien race, he realises that he must do what he can to fight against the enemy.

Those in charge feel it is likely that another attack is imminent. However, is it possible that, by providing humanity with a common enemy, that the aliens have proved themselves vulnerable by their blunder?

Earth is not the only planet that was attacked by the enemy and other races visit the Earth in order to work together to provide a common defence against the attackers.

Humanity receives body armour, amazing weaponry and medical drugs to provide longer lives. And they take up the fight with the common enemy and become involved with the Rift Wars.

It's an extremely well written novel which is modern day Space Opera at its best.

It's published by The Book Guild at £9.49.   

The Horsekeeper's Daughter

The Horsekeeper's Daughter Is the true and absolutely amazing account of the life story of one 19th century woman's journey from a mining village in County Durham to the rainforest's of Queensland, Australia.

Sarah Marshall left her pit village during the wintertime of 1886.

She bravely used the Single Female Migrant Scheme to emigrate to Australia.

A battered and very elderly attache case has come into the possession of the author of this book, Jane Gulliford Lowes.

It had been the property of her Auntie Edie. Edie was not a familial aunt, she was one of that class of elderly female friends who had bestowed upon the the honorific title of aunt or auntie.

One day, Jane began to make a serious study of the contents of the case. And what she found was an astonishing story of bravery, courage and adventure starting in the 1880s in County Durham and into the 20th century in Australia and back to County Durham and Aunt Edie.

Although Jane points out that her book is not an academic work, I can confirm that it is very well researched and incredibly well written. It is laos well illustrated with historical and contemporary photographs.

It tells the story of Sarah Marshall, her marriage and of her family in Australia and also in County Durham.

The book is published by Matador at £8.99 and is a must have books for all students of social history.

Sleeping Through War

Sleeping Through War  is a novel from Jackie Carreira.

It is set in the year 1968. 1968 was a time of great political upheaval. The Vietnam War was raging, students were rioting, nuclear bomb test were commonplace, civil rights were being fought for.

Everywhere it seemed to be a highly volatile year, 1968.

But life for the vast majority of people had to continue as normal. As it always does.

There's Rose, a nurse living in London, Amalia who dearly hopes her son can get out of the life they live in Portugal and then there is Mrs Johnson who lives in Washington DC, who writes letter after letter to her son who is serving in Vietnam.

Like so-called ordinary people do, they do their best to live normal lives, with quiet dignity and a remarkable degree of bravery and courage.

It's an incredibly moving book that will bring smiles and some tears to those who are fortunate enough to read it.

It's published by Matador at £8.99.

The Man Who Lived Twice

Although this is a fictionalised account, the man featured in The Man Who Lived Twice written by David Taylor, Colonel George S Leger Grenfell, was very very real 19th century military figure.

Of Cornish extraction, he was an extremely brave soldier of fortune who fought on four different continents before emigrating to America to fight on the side of the Confederate forces.

He rode with the infamous Morgan's Raiders and was involved in a plot to create a Northern Confederation, for which he was arrested as a spy and sentenced to hang.

The intervention of the British government had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment at the Dry Tortugas prison where he was subjected to an incredibly brutal regime of what can only be described as torture, even though by that time he was in his early 60s.

His cell companion was the unfortunate Dr Samuel Mudd, jailed for his alleged part in the Lincoln assassination  plot.

But no matter how brutal the guards, Dr Mudd and Grenfell worked hard to save them from a Yellow Fever epidemic, which showed the mettle of both men.

After the epidemic Grenfell escaped from the prison in an open boat, never to be heard from again. The authorities presumed that he and his fellow escapees had drowned in the attempt.

But David Taylor wonders about what might have happened.

Grenfell was both incredibly brave, but also incredibly flawed. A wanted criminal and a fraudster, it's felt his desire for military glory was an attempt to atone for his earlier life of crime.

It's a powerful and well-written book which students of 19th century military history will be keen to own.

It is published by Matador at £7.99.

Sir Sam Fay Railway Manager Elite

Sir Sam Fay Railway Manager Elite This is the first ever full-length biography of one of the greatest ever rail managers of all time.

Sir Sam Fay's start in life was not, as one might have expected, in an industrial setting. He was born in rural Hampshire in 1856.

He started his working life with the London and South Western Railway. From humble, clerkly status, he swiftly rose through the ranks, becoming the General Manager of the new Manchester to London Great Central Railway in 1902.

During the Great War from 1916 to 1919. Sir Sam Fay had the onerous task of managing not only the rail system of the UK, but also roads and inland waterways.

He was responsible for the movement and transportation of troops, military supplies and ammunition. And also for ensuring that wounded troops were brought back to the UK for treatment and convalescent care.

He became involved with government ministers, senior politicians, top civil servants and generals, all of whom became reliant on him for his transportational expertise.

The book contains many interesting facts about Sir Sam Fay including that he was a well-read young man, that even after his Knighthood he still preferred to be known as Sam and that he was often mistaken, by his mode of speech, for a gentleman from America.

He explained this by pointing out that he spoke with a Hampshire accent and that the American accent was based on the Hampshire dialect which had travelled to America with early migrants from Poole Harbour and Buckler's Hard.

 In this biography John Neville Greaves has produced a most excellent biography of this eminent railway manager, which is a must have book for all railway enthusiasts and students of social history.

It is also conspicuously illustrated throughout and is an absolute bargain at £12.99, published by The Book Guild.

Looking for an ideal Christmas present for the railway enthusiast in your life? This is it!