Poppy Haviland & the Secret of the Lively Widow

Poppy Haviland & the Secret of the Lively Widow Father and daughter team Michael and Annabel Lively Barra have written the first in an exciting series of adventures.

Poppy Petunia Haviland is 12 years old and she is an aspiring actress. She loves to have adventures with her friends.

Poppy is also the daughter of one of the world's most famous movie stars. Which can be a bit daunting, at times.

Her family goes to live in a small town in an unexpected move and the sudden appearance of her mother Holly Haviland has an amazing impact on the town.

In the meantime Poppy discovers an old map within the ancient house they are renting which seems to point to the location of some buried treasure.

Poppy recruits her best friend and a rather odd neighbour to help her work out the clues in the map.

She discovers that their town was a key stopping point for the Underground Railroad, the secret method by which freed slaves were smuggled to freedom in non-slave states in the USA.

Furthermore she finds hints that her ancestors might have been involved in operating the Underground Railroad.

Can they discover the treasure indicated in the map? But who is the odd elderly fedora hatted man  who is dogging their steps? Will he or they find the treasure first?

And who was really menacing the friends?

Interestingly, the writing team is made up of Michael Barra and his daughter Annabel Lively Barra who is aged 9. They live just outside New York city with actress mum Katie and Amelia who is 6.

This is a great book, a really good thriller for children.

It's published by Matador at £8.99 and really does belong on the "must buy" list of children's books for 2019.

Parents and children will all love this book.

The Baby Box

The Baby Box is a book by Jane Hayward that is a frank and very open memoir about her tim3e in a mother and baby home.

It's 50 years after these incidents.

Her mother wanted to have an obedient, compliant daughter who would somehow magically skip right over the teenage years and jump from being an innocent child to a virgin bride. She points out that she realised that she and her mother were at war.

Jane moved to London and found herself living the dream of that time. New, interesting friends and exciting encounters.

She defied the rules set out for her by her mother but unfortunately she found herself pregnant and facing the anger of her mother who felt shamed and disgraced by what Jane had done.

And as a result Jane found herself in a mother and baby home, banished there by her "shamed" mother.

Adoption was the usual outcome of such a familial banishment, but Jane was made of sterner stuff and even the violence of her mother makes her more determined to do what is right for her and her baby and the father, Nick.

However, not all stories have happy endings.

This is a remarkably honest and courageous book

It's published by Matador at £9.99.

Region 6

Region 6 is a terrifying novel from Ian Krender  about an alternative dystopian thriller that examines what life would have been like in Britain if the Nazis had won World War 2.

It's set between the years 1983 to 1994. Britain is no longer Britain, it was renamed Region 6 by the Nazi rulers. The populace is divided into two groups, those who are fortunate, those who are not.

The story involves two repressed gay men, Thomas, who is of lower class due to his Jewish heritage and Stephen who is a reasonably wealthy man who has just joined the Gestapo.

His first mission for the Gestapo is to seduce Thomas, as the Gestapo believe he is a part of the resistance.

What will happen? Will Stephen stay loyal to the Nazi regimen and murder Thomas as ordered? Or will he take another path?

Will he side with the government or work to destroy and overthrow it?

It's a well written novel that is chilling because it's very plausible.

It's published by Matador at £9.99

Civic Revolution

Civic Revolution is a book from "serial entrepreneur" Ric Casal3e.

He has an optimistic view of the powers of ordinary citizens which he outlines in this, his debut book.

He points out that cities are the places that have the greatest influence over life on our planet.

Cities are, he claims, the biggest causes of global warming and pollution. But he indicates that our cities are also the potential solution to these very problems.

Until now, however, he felt that what was missing was a citizen's guide to how to effect change and turn the city where you live into "the seat of the solution."

Which is why he has written this book. You'll learn about climate change, public affluence, biodiversity, empowerment and more besides.

The book has a forward by Sir Tim Smit.

It's published by Matador at £9.99.

The Zeno Effect

In The Zeno Effect a new science fiction from from Andrew Tudor it's the year 2029 and there is no more United Kingdom.

England and Scotland are neighbours, of course, but the relationship is a little bit hostile so to speak.

Unchecked global population growth is causing even more damage to the environment.

A scientist who has become disillusioned with life and with humanity in general takes the decision to release a genetically engineered virus into the wild, which causes a rampant disease to rapidly spread round the world, killing millions of people and causing society to collapse under the horrors that this disease has unleashed.

The Scottish government's Scientific Liaison Officer, Alison MacGregor, was one of the first people to be given leaked data about the Zeno virus.

With Irene, her best friends' mother who is a Senior Scientific Adviser to the government in England and Jonathan Hart, the Director of England's Domestic Security Division, both disturbed by their government's attempts to cover up the fact that the ensuing pandemic cannot be stopped by vaccinations, and a young journalist called Julie Fenwick, they attempt to come to grips with a violent apocalyptic religious cult, maundering Border Reivers and a rising military dictatorship they must work together to find a place of safety.

But is there such a safe place? Can they find it?

I believe this book will become a classic science fiction novel. And I would not be surprised to see it turned into a film.

It's published by Matador at £8.99.

Strange Affairs, Ginger Hairs

In Strange Affairs, Ginger Hairs, a novel written by Arthur Grimestead, it's Hull, its 1998 and Ginger is 18, he's also broke, unemployed and single.

His parents seem to be indifferent to him and he wants to get away from them and also get himself a young lady.

His life is boring to an excruciating degree.

But then into Ginger's life comes a gold ring. And suddenly, everything changes for Ginger. But not necessarily in a good way.

He finds himself betrayed by the person who was supposed to be his best friend, caught up in a world of violence and crime and fleeing from some local bad boys who want to get what they view as their property back.

And the he meets ms Fish, And then he and ms Fish end up kidnapping Syd by clobbering him with a gun and shoving him in the boot of the car.

And then things began to get rather more complex and a good deal nastier that Ginger could ever have bargained for.

Can Ginger avoid the criminals? Can he evade the police?

And what might the future hold for Ginger, ms Fish, his parents and Syd? Might some of them have no future to speak of?

This is an exciting and quirky novel and you will find the music to accompany it at https://arthurgrimestead.com/.

It's published by Matador at £8.99.

The Isle of Wight's Missing Chapter

The Isle of Wight's Missing Chapter is a very interesting book that brings a fresh insight into the international history of The Isle of Wight.

Islander James Rayner has undertaken some very detailed research and he has brought together hundreds of sources, for the first time, and he tells the hidden (until now) international history of the island.

Through the years the island has played host to many international luminaries such as Mahatma Gandhi, King Cetshwayo the King of the Zulu nation, also Queen Emma of another island, Hawaii.

The island has also been home to a top Jamaican model, a cricketer from Sri Lanka and a famouus pioneering Doctor from India.

His research indicates that The Isle of Wight has been home to people of mixed races for at least the past two centuries and he points out why the island has an important place the black history.

He also looks at modern day international links including a poet from Iran and an author who hails from Poland.

The island has also been visited by many famous musicians including Miles Davies, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Wonder.

There were also a teacher and philosopher from Cameroon called Bernard Nsokika Fonlon, and a Berber who was described as the father of Berber nationalism, Mohand Aarav Bessaoud spent the last years of his life as a political refugee after the French government decided to expel him in 1978.

It's not a long book but it is very readable and is packed with very well researched facts about some of the fascinating people who came to live on The Isle of Wight.

It's published by The Book Guild at £9.99 and if you are interested in black British history, this book is a must have, in my opinion.