Poleaxed

In the novel Poleaxed Peter Tyrer, emeritus professor of community psychiatry at Imperial College, London, takes his readers back to 1967.

An ordinary English town is hit with an extremely unusual event, as people suddenly start to fall victim of a mysterious illness, poleaxed and many of the victims die.

What is causing the disease? Virus? Bacterium? Poison? None of the experts knew and leading medical experts had started to argue amongst themselves.

However, an anthropology student who has recovered from the disease and two junior doctor combine forces to learn what is causing the disease.

Eventually the three realise that the ailment really only has the most severe impact on those who are suffering from severe anxiety.

They believe they have found the cause and they believe they have found the sollution. But have they correctly identified the cause? And if they have, will their sollution work? Or are they too late?

It is a pacey, exciting read which is solidly based in realistic scientific knowledge.

And it was written before COVID-19 became known.

It is published by The Book Guild at £8.99.

And the Sea Darkened

And the Sea Darkened is a debut thriller from new author Vicki Lloyd, who has an MA in Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes University.

The novel begins with a sound, or an absence of sound, that awakens farmer Magnus Bostock. He quickly dons his clothing, takes his shotgun and leaves the family farmhouse to discover what had disturbed his slumbers.

He finds something that no farmer would like to discover. But that's only the beginning of the problems for Magnus, his brother Nick and the rest of the islanders.

A young academic called Jasmine arrives on the island, she believes that if she can discover an ancient journal, that is hidden somewhere on the island, she will be able to uncover the cause of the killings. But can she? Is she putting herself in mortal danger?

Is there really a link with the past that has brought a curse down upon the family of the Bostocks?

Can Magnus and Nick, who are usually feuding with each other, discover the truth before it is far too late?

This is a thrilling read, created by someone who truly knows their craft.

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

 

Baghlan Boy

Baghlan Boy is a novel from Michael Crowley.

When he is just eleven years old, a strike from a drone destroys Farood Abali's family home in Afghanistan's Baghlan Province.

It kills his father and leaves Farood and his older brother, alone as the sole survivors.

His brother takes the family's flock of sheep and sells them, using the money to pay a shadowy 'agent' to take Farood to the West. He hopes that, eventually, Farood would be able to return with wealth to free them from their poverty.

The journey that Farood takes is a harsh one, he endures pain and suffering as he traverses Pakistan, Iran and Turkey kept in the boots of cars, or forced to hide in cellars and in trailers.

But by the time he is 19, Farood is incarcerated in an English jail, imprisoned, or so he claims, for a crime which he is innocent of.

But could Farood escape from his imprisonment? And if he could, what would he do? What could he do?

This is a remarkable novel which is an intelligent look at how and why people become refugees in our modern world.

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

I'm Fine, Thanks

I'm Fine, Thanks is a fictionalised account of a very moving memoir from Chris Doveton.

It's the prime of their lives for Chris and Anne. They are enjoying life in general and are especially enjoying their loving, vibrant marriage. 

But then tragedy strikes them as Anne is diagnosed as suffering from a rare but fatal genetic disease. For a decade the couple bravely shoulder this burden alone, keeping it a secret.

Following Anne's death Chris becomes a victim of a crushing grief. 

He learns that if he is to cope with his wife's death, he must rid himself of his "stiff upper lip" attitude. 

He becomes able to express his loss by opening up to people and learning that it's OK to cry and that often, "I'm Fine, Thanks" isn't a suitable answer.

Chris embraces therapy that saves his life and he finds himself able to reactivate his religious faith and to find love, again.

It's a moving book and an important one.

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

Leicester Rocks

In Leicester Rocks by Mike Hatfield, we meet Leicester's Stan Booker. 

It's 2015 (that's the year, not the time)  and we meet Stan Booker. Stan's having one of those: "Where did it all go wrong moments?" in his life.

He's in his mid-fifties, he doesn't have a job, doesn't have a wife (well, not since the divorce at any rate) and he really thinks that his desire to achieve rock God status as a guitarist will not come to fruition.

But! Along comes his lifelong friend Phil and all bets are off. Or on, perhaps?

Because Phil and he are about to start their own business and Mike forms a rock band called Leicester Rocks.

He also becomes romantically involved with  twice-divorced Mandy.

He knows that there's about as much chance of the band hitting the big time as there is for his team Leicester City winning the Premier League. another of his pipe dreams.

But what if the star is ascending for both Leicester Rocks and Leicester City? Can both stay the distance? Or will love and loyalties be tested to or beyond destruction?

It's a lively feelgood romp of a story and is published by Matador at £9.99.   

A Healing Place

In his new book A Healing Place, author Dermod Judge shares with his readers his very personal quest to find his healing place or places.

He points out that we are all born into a large world. And that for all but a privileged few, it's a cruel world.

He also acknowledges that he was born into a privileged family in Ireland, in a modest house in a desirable part of Dublin.

However, he goes on to explain that even the most privileged amongst us can still receive wounds that require a healing place to which we can retire to while we wait for the wounds to heal or for the hurt to fade.

We learn what he was able to learn. That some books are considered dangerous. Including the Bible, which as a child and a troubled teen, he wasn't allowed to read on his own. There wasn't even a Bible in the family home. He realised that he had to have the scriptures filtered through teachers and clerics for him.

This, he concluded, was that because books (such as the Bible) are considered as dangerous because these books had the very dangerous power to change the world.

This is why libraries are always burned and ransacked by the iron men.

In his book he shares a unique and very interesting series of insights into the human situation, drawing upon the combined wisdom of artists, writers, architects, naturalists and thinkers. But not, interestingly enough, not Nietzsche. (You'll find out why when you read the book.)

This is an amazing and invigorating book, which you will be able to use as a guidebook to your own healing places.

It's written with warmth, wit, wisdom and more than a dash of élan. 

There's also a section of notes for further reading. Or as Dermod puts it: "These notes add an embarrassing whiff of scholarship to this work which is no more than the product of a good library, Google and a mind and memory as capacious as a whore's handbag."

You need this book, because it's rather like a chat with the author over a pint of Guinness, Smithwick's Irish ale, or a drop of Irish single malt.

It's published by The Book Guild at £9.99.

Nomad Girl

Nomad Girl by Niema Ash is her memoir of life in the fast lane of the swinging sixties and toward more recent times.

A childhood dream of Canadian-born Niema was to travel the world as a genuine child of the sixties, this is exactly what she did.

During her travels round the world, basically from Montreal to Morocco and all points between, she met and became friends with people such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, bluesman John Lee Hooker and the Dalai Lama and had a whole host of adventures some planned but many not.

Whilst traveling across Africa (by hitchhiking) she and her partner Shimon realised that they were expecting a baby, so they returned to her home city of Montreal where they opened The Finjan, a folk and blues club that also served as a coffee house.

And then the adventures really began. There was motherhood, she gave birth to her daughter Ronit. Life with her new family, Shimon, Ronit and herself. But there was something else, something more that Niema needed.

The book is filled with characters that you will already have heard of, Diana Dors and The Bee Gees to name only two, but you'll also learn about characters that probably won't be known to you, such as Pistol Pete, Sonny and Brownie, and many more besides.

Niema introduces you to family, friends and lovers in this enthralling and honest account.

It makes for a remarkable read, although I can't help feeling that the absence of any photographs (save for two modern images on the front a and back covers) is a regrettable one.

The book is published by Matador at £13.99.