All Six Legs

Got a dog? Know someone who has a dog or dogs? Then you need to buy this book All Six Legs.

Written by dog behaviourist expert Denise McLeod this book is a worthy follow up volume to her debut book A Dog Behaviourist's Diary.

The book is a very valuable collection of "real world" stories featuring canines of all types, puppies, older dogs and canine education, all spiced very nicely with some humour, too.

Denise includes case studies written as stories. It contains the same information as other more technical documents, but in a way that is more entertaining, eminently readable and easily absorbed by all types of dog owners.

It's not only educational but also diverse, too. Each chapter is written in a storybook fashion, each chapter contains a key learning point for all dog owners. It's about dogs, obviously, but Denise has also worked hard to include the humans who live and work with their dogs.

It deals with a wide range of issues and emotions from joy to horror, or terror. There are stories of hope, joy and humour, too.

Some of the stories deal with genuine life-or-death situations and all dog owners will benefit from Denise's 'Turn and Face' technique.

The book will be an ideal Christmas present for all dog owners and also for professional dog trainers and breeders, too.

If you know all there is to know about dogs, buy this book because I can guarantee that you will learn stuff that you either didn't know or had simply forgotten.

At only £12.99 you cannot afford to be without this book. 

Seventy Thousand Camels

Seventy Thousand Camels is a very moving and inspiring memoir from Angelica A. Brewer.

Angelica was born in Rome in 1965. Unfortunately her home life was unpleasant, her childhood was harsh and lonely. She was not only abused by her mother she was also abused by so-called family friends. She was able to use her time spent at school as a refuge from the horrors of her home life.

Her mother was, sadly, a classic narcissist and, at the age of 16 Angelica realised that she could take no more of her abuse and ran away from the new home the family had in Australia.

Angelica lived for a time on the streets and in a youth refuge. She found love. But she realised later that her loving encounter was not real love after all and that she lost a good deal more than she had gained.

She then married Rhys, but this marriage proved to be troubled and more than a little stormy. She realises now (hindsight is a wonderful thing) that the marriage lasted far too long. But it did produce three children, including a boy who "lives with autism."

Divorced and still more than a little bit lost (but now with three children) Angelica decided that she would seek for love using the medium of Internet dating sites. These often proved to be less than fulfilling, chipping away at even more of her psyche.

However, a career move brought some peace and purpose into her life when she started working as a Juvenile Justice Officer working with and supporting young detainees who were aged 10 to 21.

After this she decided to move over to working with adult offenders, moving from one Australian state to another in the process.

Once there is met and fell for "Brew" who was a fellow correction officer. His love was genuine and true, and her gave her his full support, but her life continued on a spiral of depression and suicidal thinking.

Eventually, Angelica was able to recover and she has taken the opportunity to take stock of her life and share with her readers what she has learned so far.

It is a moving account of what happens to children born to parents who are, in reality, too damaged to be able to care for themselves, let alone look after children.

But it's also a fantastically motivational memoir that shows how, with love and support, even those who have been damaged can find peace, love and happiness and a real, genuine family.

You'll find sniffles, tears and some laughter in this book.

It will be a fine Christmas gift for the person you know who can benefit from the emotional support they'll find in this book. It should also be given to medical professionals who work with the children of abusive or uncaring parents as it will help them see the damages that can be done to such children. And it may give them some vital clues as to how they can be better prepared to help such children.

It's published by Matador at £19.99. 

Appetites

Appetites is a new collection of 19 short stories from the imagination of author Maggie Ling.

The book's sub-title is stories of love, sex and death and they are an eclectic collection of stories covering a wide range of emotions, moods and concepts.

There are stories of people who are watching, people who are being watched, of people who are lonely, people who are seeking love, of apparently philosophical debates, which mean much more than might at first appear.

There are stories about love, of unrequited love, of love lost (or not) and stories of sacrifice, and yearning.

The stories all have a certain feel to them, the characters seem to be people we either know or who we might know. We see them very vividly.

Is this because as well as being an author Maggie Ling has spent her working life as a successful cartoonist and illustrator? Perhaps so. When you read these stories you will see what I mean.

The book is published by Matador at £9.99 and will make a very acceptable Christmas gift for the short story fan in your life.

The Stolen Planet

The Stolen Planet is the second children's fantasy novel from author Pearl Denham. It's part of a trilogy.

Readers will meet again Eirwen, who they will have met in Eirwen and the Gossamer Rainbow.

At age two, Eirwen and her sisters were banished to the planet Earth. Now, at the age of twelve, Eirwen feels that she is ready to seek out the answers to a number of questions.

Her Nereid talents and skills are beginning to grow and develop. Skills she will need on her long and lonely voyage of discovery.

She will traverse the depths of the Earth's oceans, facing many monsters until she can eventually find the sea god, Neptune. It's her belief that Neptune will be able to answer the questions that she has in her mind and heart. Why was she banished from her home world to planet Earth? Why were her two sisters stripped of their Nereid form?

Adaro Kato, her giant squid enemy, is constantly following her, riding a giant Weta, a vicious creature, once thought to be extinct.

Can she best Adaro Kato? But Eirwen is not without support or friends. Galene, the goddess of the Near Sea, the Decapods and other creatures of the realm of Neptune become her friends and her allies.

This book is intelligently written and is for readers who are middle grade.

It's published by Matador at £7.99 and will make an excellent Christmas present for young readers who are ready to move their reading up a notch or two.

Doreen Warinner's War

Doreen Warriner's War is a book by Henry Warriner about his aunt, Doreen Warriner.

It tells the captivating story of an extremely gifted and talented young woman.

She was a young academic who gave up her Rockefeller Scholarship for travel in the West Indies in 1938. Instead she departed for Prague.

Once there she joined up with a tiny but dedicated group of like-minded people who were to be credited with the rescuing of thousands of anti-Nazi men and women.

But she did more. With Nicholas Winton, Jewish children. For this in 1941 she was warded an OBE.

This bbok is also the biography of her subsequent life, the loves and losses, all retold by her nephew using the words of her own diaries, letters and contemporaneous accounts.

Doreen joined the Political Warfare Executive in London. She subsequently worked for the Middle East Supply Centre in Cairo, then becoming Head of Food Supplies, a Belgrade-based job, for the United Nations relief effort created to prevent starvation in war ravaged Yugoslavia.  Both were male dominated words. But this did not cause any pause for Doreen. She took everything in her stride.

After the war's conclusion Doreen returned to the life of an academic, working at University College, London, where she served as a Professor there until she retired in 1866.

She built up considerable expertise as an expert on economics and agrarian difficulties in developing countries. Writing extensively on these issues, working on secondment, to a number of international organisations.

Last year, in 2018, 45 years after her death, Henry Warriner was able to collect, on her behalf, a 'British Heroes of the Holocaust' medal which was awarded by the British government.

It's an extremely well-written and well-researched work, which is a very fitting tribute to Doreen Warriner, a most extraordinary woman.

It will be a perfect Christmas present for anyone interested in the history of World War 2 or in strong, independent women.

It's published by the Book Guild at £10.99.

Umtata

Umtata tells the story of Barney. Barney is very well qualified for his chosen career.

Unfortunately his chosen career was that of a trained assassin.

However, he decides that he no longer wishes to be a hired killer, so he leaves his old life behind, seeking a more tranquil and peaceable existence.

He cloisters himself in a small town in Southern Africa. He is fully aware that there are certain people who want him captured or want him dead. Some of them are government officials, some are not related to any governments. 

He meets a grieving and lonely mother, Naomi, who is separated from her children. In fact she is unsure if they are even alive.

Barney decides that he will assist her in tracing her family, but as time progresses the situation begins to look more and more hopeless.

At the bleakest point, hope is renewed and it seems likely that he will be able to help Naomi find her lost children. But at what cost to Barney? Will his acts of kindness reveal him to the people who wish him harm?

What does he do next? What can he do next?

Author Brian Godfrey has brought us a real and complex character in Barney, a man with conflicting moral imperatives.

The book is published by Matador at £8.50.

The Legacy of Mr Jarvis

The Legacy of Mr Jarvis is a new novel from Jude Hayland which is based on a true story.

In 1966 Mary Foster is 12 years of age and her ordered, peaceful life is disturbed and fragmented by a precipitous move from a nice house in suburban London to a badly neglected Victorian house on the south coast of England.

However, she manages to forge a new friendship which provides her with some comfort in a world that is alien to her.

But suddenly there comes a realisation that her life is not what she thought, that there has been deceit and deception that wrecks her life, leaving her feeling bitter and full of resentment. But she feels it necessary to keep her silence.

It's now 40 years later and Mary feels that now, as a mature woman, she needs to know more. Times are now different, we are in a different century. The secrecy of 40 years ago now seems awkward and strange. And now Mary is anxious to uncover the truth.

But what if the truth is something she might not really wish to learn? Should the secrets of the past remain buried or should they be exposed to the light?

What should Mary do? Keep on seeking and learning the secrets of 40 years ago? Or not?

The book is published by Matador at £9.99.