A Candle for the Atlantic

A Candle for the Atlantic is an absolutely riveting memoir of her nautical adventure of a lifetime.

Back in 1992 Casualty Staff Nurse Rosie Redway met and fell in love with the love of her life in Whitby Harbour.

However the love of her life was called Helga Maria and she was a two-masted schooner.

With very limited experience of sailing at sea Rosie decided to join the mixed crew of seven of the Helga Maria as a medic and deckhand for a very exciting six month voyage.

They crossed the Atlantic following the course set by Christopher Columbus in 1492, facing mountainous waves and storms as they fought against the elements. However, they were also able to enjoy good, sunny weather at times.

The return journey from Newfoundland was dogged with problems including total engine failure which put the boat at risk as it was forced to drift, helplessly, in the teeth of severe northerly gale force winds and monstrous seas that threatened to send the boat to the bottom of the sea.

But Rosie had total faith in the Helga Maria and her captain, but could they get the crew safely back home?

It's a fantastic account of a voyage of discovery in more ways than one and it is illustrated throughout with some stunning photographs taken on the voyages.

It's published by The Book Guild at a very modest £9.99 and makes ideal reading for lovers of memoirs, specially those set at sea.

The Paper Chase

The Paper Chase is a new thriller from Ron Welling.

Harry Stone had sent Claire Watts to spy on a competitor of his, Rick Austen.

Claire has spun Rick a story about her past, a past which, for several reasons, she doesn't want Rick to know about. Including Harry Stone.

However, Harry Stone has a nasty habit of still being there and he is very angry.

Stone had owned a lovely mansion, Arrow Hall, but it had been burnt to the ground and, as a result, the pass codes for his secret Panamanian bank accounts had been lost, apparently for ever.

But Claire isn't too sure about that and, as a result, she decides to poke around in the burnt out ruins of Arrow Hall to find the codes. Because if she can, she believes these would act as an insurance policy against Stone blabbing about what he knows of her past.

However, Stone has managed to get himself into some strife with a gangland thug and finds himself forced to attempt to launder a quarter of a million in dodgy money.

He tries to do this through a supermarket concern that, unbeknown to him, Rick has a share in. When the operation goes belly up, things start to get very unpleasant indeed as everyone tries to make sure they come out of the situation well ahead of everyone else.

But who would eventually come out on top of the situation? Claire? Harry? Xavier or Rick?

It's a readable thriller published by The Book Guild at £8.99.

One in Four Are Birds

One in Four Are Birds, is a short but dark fantasy novel that explores the terrible impacts of domestic abuse.

It tells the story of local village girl Fiona. Unlike her compatriots who were ordinary girls who would be satisfied with settling down to married life with the ordinary boys of the village, Fiona wanted none of that.

She decided that she wouldn't just settle for the ordinary, she wanted something extraordinary. But sometimes people enter situations that are extraordinarily dreadful.

Fiona finds love with a handsome, dark stranger, the man who would, she felt sure, remove her from her ordinary,  humdrum life.

Her handsome, dark stranger, Sicarus, turns out to be and abusive husband, who can turn into a violent and potentially deadly bird who preys on his wife.

Eventually Fiona plucks up the courage to escape from her abusive husband with her children, but will the abuse stop even if she can make good her escape?

And how can she help other women who are trapped in the same or similar circumstances?

This is a thought provoking novel that uses allegories to examine the plight of abused women, who, statistics show, are one in four of women.

The book is published bu The Book Guild and costs £8.99.

Little Honour

In Little Honour we again meet Gina Gray, Freda her granddaughter and the rather charming DCI David Scott, in this, their sixth novel, all penned by crime writer Penny Freedman.

Gina's doing rather well for herself. Her job is great, her flat (though small)  is really rather perfect for her needs and David Scott is back in her life.

But into each life a little rain must fall and a familial crisis means that her daughter and her husband must come to live with her in her flat.

Following a spate of hate crimes post-Brexit a young Indian woman is murdered by strangulation only a few doors away from Gina's home.

David needs Gina's help with an investigation that means she has to enter the world of a chamber of barristers in Gray's Inn, a Shakespearean production (Measure for Measure) and there's the added complication of a clash with her younger (and more difficult)  daughter.

Freda (now ten) is staying in Kentish countryside in the home of her grandfather and is second wife, where they live in splendid isolation.

Whilst the adults back in London are dealing with their own mysteries, Freda uncovers a mystery of her own, involving a missing canine, which she has to solve by herself.

It's an interesting novel that unravels several disparate mysteries.

Published by Matador at £8.99.

Stoker

It's 1860 and whilst Lord Stoker is wandering amidst the Great Plains of the American West he finds a woman who has survived an absolutely heartless attack. So damaged mentally by her ordeal she had been struck mute.

So Lord Stoker decides that he will take charge of her nd take her to St Louis where he intends to leave he in the care of the authorities there.

But his plans are derailed by the explorer Richard Burton who has a place for Lord Stoker in his mission that has the backing of the British Crown.

Added to this already over-heated stew is the arrival of Buller, Lord Stoker's somewhat hot-headed and brutish brother.

More worryingly there appears on the scene James Maybrick who is not only a blackmailer but a vicious psychotic.

Whilst Lord Stoker attempts to guard the girl he has worn to look after, he finds himself dragged into a maelstrom of lies, violence and depravity.

Can Lord Stoker look after his female charge? Can he protect both her and himself from the bloodbath that is threatening to erupt?

And what, exactly, is happening? Who is the hunter, who is the prey?

It's a gripping novel from the pen of novelist Dick Warburton.

It's published by The Book Guild at £8.99.

History of France, Low Countries and Iberia

History of France, Low Countries and Iberia is a fascinating book by Jack J. Kanski in which he takes an interesting and interested look at the history of European statesmen and monarchs.

It's a concise and well-illustrated book that takes his readers through the histories of France, the Low Countries and Iberia.

Readers are provided with vital information about significant events and important individuals all of which played important roles in shaping the histories of those countries.

It employs an easy-to-follow bullet-point format with many interesting illustrations such as maps and paintings, which enables the reader to quickly and readily absorb a great deal of knowledge in a relatively short period of time.

They are not aimed at the academic, however. They are primarily designed for the interested layman. However, there is much to recommend them to academics who will also find the book filled with interesting facts.

It's published by Matador at £19.99. 

Tony Plumb and the Moles of Ellodian

Tony Plumb and the Moles of Ellodian is a debut novel from Devonshire's J. M. Smith.

It draws on her long experiences as a psychotherapist.

We, the readers, are taken through the therapy of a young boy as he attempts to come to terms with his life's story and the decisions of his parents.

We see his family life through his eyes and also through the lens of his multiplicity of fantasies as he struggles to understand things.

We follow him on visits to "Madsville" watch as he tries to dodge chariots filled with thoughts from his past.

Helped, or otherwise, by a social worker who is somewhat unconventional in her approach (rules, it transpires, are not all that much to her) who takes him to a spooky underground facility. Well, that's ms Bendy Leggett for you!

With the assistance of some helpful therapy and the guidance of some good friends, it seems that Tony is able to, eventually, get his stuff together.

But is there one final truth that he must unravel?

This book is aimed at younger readers, but should appeal across all age ranges.

It's published by Matador at £7.99.