Please Miss, We're Boys

Please Miss, We're Boys is a memoir that outlines what it was like to be a "Miss" (a female teacher) back in the 1960s.

This is the story of Susan Elkin who, in 1968 at age 21, is thrust straight out of a somewhat sheltered teacher training college into the midst of a difficult inner London boy's secondary school.

She has pretty much zero experience, is a somewhat naive young lady with a propensity to wear short skirts and she is facing boys from Deptford, London.

The boys she deals with are typical of inner city boys, they are brash, outspoken, rude, coarse of tongue but also touched with a charming vulnerability.

She concludes that what they would benefit from is some good teaching. And she sets out to make sure that this happens.

With the backing of a group of disparate helpers, colleagues who are honest, open, forthright and a little bit off the wall, she manages to pull it off, finding ways to get the lads to take it easy, to sit down and to get down to some learning and some working.

The book is filled with stuff that has a resonance for me. The children read Erich Kastner's Emil and the Detectives, as did I at about the same time in my secondary school, although we never had a teacher who like Mr O'Riordan who "just blew up."

It's an amazing well-written memoir which tells the reader a good deal about the school but also a good deal about the Deptford of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

It's published by The Book Guild at £9.99 on 28th July.

The Buttercup Field

The Buttercup Field is the debut novel from author D J O'Leary.

Warren "Tolstoy" Pearce inherits the manor house of his godfather, he also inherits the cricket field. But along with his inheritance there is also a major problem that comes attached to it.

For the land he now owns borders the Buttercup Field, which is a small strip of land that separates his cricket field from the road.

Jack Bentley, a local farmer, has laid claim to this piece of land on the behalf of the parish council, who fully intend to use the land for residential development.

The villagers are up in arms over the proposals, but despite their spirited opposition, it looks as if the plans to develop the land will go ahead, any way.

But a small candle of hope flickers when a public enquiry is called to look into the matter.

Both sides prepare their arguments, but then documents come to light that cast a shadow of doubt over the whole proceedings. The documents purport to dispute the real ownership of the land.

Who, then, is the real owner of the Buttercup Field? Who, ultimately, will be the victor? Jack Bentley, the parish council and the developers? Or someone else entirely?

And why were two furtive figures spotted, at the dead of night, digging in the field, by Ned, a retired farm worker?

It's a warm and humorous book which is also of a very human scale.

This book has been in the writing for 29 years and I, for one, am glad that it has finally ripened to full maturity!I do hope we don't have to wait 29 years for the next book by D J O'Leary!

It's published by Matador at £8.99 and deserves to be on the best seller's lists.

Master of Starlight

In Master of Starlight we meet the protagonist Leon Dabrowski. He is not merely a physicist, he is an exceptionally gifted physicist, a genius, in fact.

He realises that he has made an utterly astounding discover at the nuclear research centre where he works. He knows that, if his work is applied, that the world is on the very point of obtaining unlimited energy for everyone for the foreseeable future.

He and his colleagues are expecting awards, accolades and praise for the work that they have achieved.

But none of this happens and they find themselves thrust into a dark and alien world of industrial espionage. In fact they are treated almost as if they were a class of criminal rather than as highly respected scientists.

Then his fiancee, a gifted mathematician, Magda Tomala is kidnapped and finds herself held a captive in a sexual fantasy complex that is hidden deep underground.

Leon abandons his work to help a special unit of the Polish police to smash an international sex trafficking gang. 

He goes undercover and finds himself working covertly to spy on an emerging cult society in London, researching the truth aouit a highly organised world in which prostitutes are supplied for the wealthy.

By now the tables are turned on Leon. No longer the hunter he is now the hunted and everyone wants to know where Leon is. An oligarch who he is in the employ of, his work colleagues and the madam of a brothel with links to the Russian Mafiya. Some of the people who are seeking him are very dangerous people in deed. But there's more to the situation than meets they eye. For one of the hunters holds a secret about Leon's early life. A secret that is potentially shocking.

But can Leon prevail against them all and perhaps even learn to use what he learns to his own advantage?

A retired nuclear engineer, this is Keith Short's first novel and it's published by Matador at a very reasonable £7.99.

It's probably destined to be in the holiday luggage and read on beaches all over the world this summer.

Duty and Delusion

In her debut novel Duty and Delusion, author Shawna Lewis explores real-life community issues.It's set in the recent past.

The recession has just begun to be felt and money is becoming short.The treasurer to the village hall is in hospital, urgent repairs are required and there are also some bills that require settling.

The chair of the committee, Belinda, can best be described as long-suffering. She's careful and dutiful but she is also beginning to seethe with resentment toward those in the village who don't recognise all the hard work she does. Who believe that she is of no importance.

She is very determined to make some fairly big changes in her life and she begins to work against her antagonists to bring her enemies down.

Her husband needs to travel away from home to find owrk and her part time job at the library might be under threat due to budget cuts.

She finds  handsome young illegal immigrant living in the loft f the village hall and she takes an interest in him. Maternal, of course, as her own son is about to leave hal land her daughter has sert her heart on being a centre of attention and the school. But not in a way likely to make any normal mother proud of her.

She has a chance meeting with a woman by the name of Marnie. Marnie has lived a life that is full and varied, if not a little tough at times. This meeting brings about changes in their lives as they travel upon different, but similar pathways.

Each finds something to be jealous about the other woman's life, but curiously enough, as Marnie's life begin to improve, the life of Belinda seems to be getting worse, rather than better.

It's a novel that is quirky and moving and is a good first novel from an author who will hopefully have more novels published in the near future.

It's published by Matador at £10.99.

An Extra Shot

An Extra Shot is a continuation of the romance of Freddie and Jo-Jo.

What o you think you might do if you had a second chance, a second shot, if you will, at the teenage love that you thought had passed you by all those years ago?

You may have met them in their previous book, Another Shot in which they nearly reconciled but didn't quite make it.

Freddie was thinking of taking his life under a train, but he is saved by his best friend, Jack Sparrow, whilst Jo-Jo is alone in a hotel room, all but consumed by a dark secret that she has harboured fo most of her life.

Amy, Jo-Jo's daughter, convinces her mum to meet up with Freddie, again. He persuades Jp-Jo to go away with him for a long weekend in Devon in the West Country. It works, because they return home with their love reignited.

But will the secret that Jo-Jo harbours be enough to kill their romantic story once and for all, if she reveals it to Freddie?

Is the love of these two people enough to pull them through and to keep them together?

This story from Stephen Anthony Brotherton is semi-autobiographical and based on a first love relationship that he had at the ages that Freddie and Jo-Jo had when they were teenagers. (REVIEWERS NOTE Like Stephen I am an alumni of Wolverhampton University, interestingly enough.)

The book is published by The Bookguild on 28th July and costs £7.99.

It's aimed at readers of romantic fiction and should fit nicely in the holiday suitcases this summer.

Dreamcats II

In Dreamcats II (the sequel to Dreamcats) we learn of a world where humans and animals have exchanged places.

Felinestow is now under the control of a benign cat, Mayor Tina. But the former mayor, Claptrap, still years for power.

Cousins Elsa and David find themselves residing in the home of ex-police cat George. But soon George's brother Harry arrives.

He is visiting the town of Felinestow to take the chairship of a religious conference. But even before the conference can start, a dreadful disaster strikes!

With things in Felinestow in a state of flux with struggles to keep the peace, Mayoer Tina must send George and Claptrap on a high profile diplomatic mission to seek assistance for the town and its populace.

Can they get the help that is required? Will peace once again reign in the town?

This is a charming fantasy novel for children of ages, written by Christopher Best, a retired editor and financial journalist and writer.

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

Appetite for Risk

In Appetite for Risk we read Jack Leaver's story that is inspired by real events that took place in the aftermath of the war in Iraq.

John Pierce is a former Royal Marine who has a new but struggling business in the UK. It's proving difficult for him to generate enough income to support his wife and young family so he decides to use his connections in the capital of Iraq to see if he can use the situation in Iraq, a country desperate for rebuilding work to be undertaken after years of bitter conflict.

In 2004 he finds himself in Baghdad to get into the reconstruction gold rush. But when the whole country is falling rapidly into a full insurgency, he has to rely on his own Royal Marine training, his natural talents and the skills of his own local contacts to avoid becoming just another victim of the fighting.

Soon Pierce finds that he is treading on toes and he is in trouble with the government at home and he is soon in the midst of allied covert operations against Al-Qaeda operatives in Iraq.

Can this former bootneck make it through the ver-mounting chaos in Iraq to return home to his wife and family with his life intact and with some funds to show for his efforts?

Jack Leavers is a former Royal Marine Commando with over three decades of experience in the Royal Marines and latterly in private security, corporate investigations and anti-maritime piracy operations. and these experiences shine through in his powerful and hard hitting thriller.

The book is published by The Book Guild at £9.99 and will make an ideal summertime read.