Stranger From Berlin

In Stranger From Berlin author Beverley Hansford brings her readers another intriguing novel.

After several years Tim Mallon meets up with an old university chum, Boris Smirnov. 

Boris has a girlfriend called Lena and Tim is puzzled yet intrigued by both the relationship between Boris and Lena. He is also intrigued by Lena. After all, Lena is a pretty and attractive young lady yet Boris treats her with contempt and humiliation, which doesn't seem to phase or perturb her in the slightest.

Boris suggests that Lena stays with Tim and, with some wariness, he agrees to the idea.

Over time they have an amiable relationship which, at least as Tim is concerned, develops into love.

Tim is puzzled that Lena is extremely reticent to talk about her past life. Does she have a secret that she doesn't want to reveal or to be revealed?

Suddenly their apparently idyllic relationship is brought to an abrupt end when Lena is kidnapped from Tim's own doorstep and she is taken back to Berlin.

Tim immediately departs for Berlin in an attempt to find and rescue her and to learn the truth about what has happened and the mystery surrounding Lena's life.

However, when Tim arrives in Berlin he finds that he is being drawn into a shadowy and mysterious world where nothing is quite what it seems and he quickly learns that outside forces are controlling the situation.

Who can Tim trust? Can he get himself out of the nightmare world that he has, somehow, fallen into?

It's a very readable mystery and will appeal to people still interested in the sometimes fraught relationships between West and East Germany only several years ago.

It's published by Matador at £8.99.

Bloody Dominions

Bloody Dominions is a new novel from author and historian Nick Macklin.

He takes his readers back to the years 58-56BC. Caesar has launched his campaign to conquer Gaul.  

He brings to life Atticus a gifted soldier and military tactician whose grandfather was a member of the legions and who served with distinction. Allerix who is the Chieftain of the Aduatuci who finds himself in the schizophrenic situation of, at times, fighting both for Caesar and against him. And there is Epona, who is the adopted sister of Allerix and also a skilled and fierce warrior in her own right.

The conflicts they engage in are brutal and the impacts on both victor and defeated are powerful.

The main characters are fated to repeatedly cross paths and swords as they are doomed by circumstances to be enemies. However, all is not what it appears. I will say no more on this point as it might risk spoiling the enjoyment of this novel by my readers.

Whilst reading this novel the reader is transported back to the open lands and the dense, dark forests of ancient Europe as they stand shoulder-to-shoulder with tribal warriors and Roman Legionaries as they fight for conquest or to keep their lands free of conquering enemies.

The battle scenes are particularly affecting, especially when friends realise they are fighting against friends.

It's the first novel in the series, so do keep an eye open for the rest of them. 

It's published by Matador at £9.99.

The Brotherhood

In The Brotherhood published author Martin M. McShane brings to readers a story that is based on historical events.

The Holy Order of Knights has become a powerful, influential and very rich body. So powerful, influential and very rich that jealous and covetous eyes are turned toward them. As these eyes belong to the Pope and the King of France the future of the Holy Order of Knights is far bleaker than its members can understand.

The Pope is fearful of them due to their power and the King is fearful of them because he owes them a hug fortune. For these two, different reasons, the Pope and the King desire the ending of the Holy Order of Knights.

They form a scheme together which causes the Knights to be lured to Poitiers Castle where skilled assassins lie in wait for them to wipe them out.

However, the massacre is not without witnesses and three brothers are able to slip away from their captors and they are able to flee for their lives to their homeland, England.

The French King cannot allow them to escape and he employs vicious mercenaries to hunt them down and kill them.

As they continue their flight to freedom the brothers fight amongst themselves and they quarrel over the best way to seek revenge against the King of France. But which brother will rise above the others and will his schemes succeed?

This is a stirring and thoughtful book and is ideal for people who like their novels with historical settings.

It's the first of a series of novels.

It is published by The Book Guild at £8.99 

The Magic in the Space Between

 

The Magic in the Space Between is subtitled How a unique mentoring programme in transforming women's leadership.

It is written by Ian Wigston with Hilary Wigston who have over 25 years of experiences as mentors and coaches to women.

A challenge was posed by both state and independent schools to Ian and Hilary. They rose to meet the challenge and put together a team of highly qualified and experienced leaders from the public sector, commerce and industry and the armed forces.

The team were able to enable almost 100 women to examine their potential to be successful leaders in the school system.

The programme was highly successful in helping foster self-belief, self-awareness and widened horizons. 

It has already brought about the launching of similar schemes in Australia, the USA and Canada.

Reading the book you will learn about stories of individual success stories, examining the lessons that can be learned from the programme. 

The book is published by John Catt and costs £14.00, though is a little cheaper on Amazon at £13.42.

I must admit to being puzzled as to why the name of Ian Wigston on the cover is much larger than that of Hilary Wigston, which seems somewhat ironic, given the purpose of the book.

Male Perspectives on The Value of Women at Work

 

Male Perspectives on The Value of Women at Work is a book from Susan Popoola.

Susan is an award winning consultant and her specialism is human value in the workplace, education and society in general.

This book takes a very timely look at the values that women bring with them to the workplace.

Susan explores a variety of male perceptions of the things that women uniquely bring with them to the workplace. They also raise a number of challenges that might impede the ability of women to be able to reach their full potential.

It also provides a reminder of how valuable women are with insights into how they will be able to more easily navigate through the world of work.

As for men it offers valuable insights into the value that women bring to the workplace and how to engage with them in a more productive way and how to support them within the workplace.

For workplace leaders it offers helpful insights into how policies structures and systems can sometimes create barriers and restrictions for women, meaning that they are sometimes unable to reach their full potential.

This book offers valuable guides how employers can enable themselves to provide a more functional and properly balanced and more productive work environment for everyone.

The book contains a framework to make sure that this can be implemented in the workplace.

It should be pointed out that the book is not just theory (but even theories can have their place in the workplace) it is based on interviews with men and women who are senior executives and entrepreneurs with many years of experience in the workplace.

The book is published by Mosaic Gold at £11.99 through Amazon and other retailers.

How to be a change Superhero

 

In How to be a Change Superhero by chartered psychologist and experienced HR expert Lucina Carney is subtitled "The business toolkit to help you to 'do' change better."

And that is exactly what this highly powerful yet eminently readable book does.

Lucinda starts her book with a very powerful and challenging question "When was the last time you experienced change at work -did you feel it was being done to you, or perhaps you were involved in trying to communicate or deliver it? Did the change achieve the promised results, or did it fizzle out? How effectively was it managed? Did it leave people energized, puzzled or cynical?"

Lucinda then goes on to point out that the reality is that change has become the new normal, but that many changes are still poorly thought out, badly planned, badly executed and ill-communicated to the workforce.

Rarely do we hear that managers or employees have been properly trained in how they should deliver change or how to work with it.

Lucinda makes the point that some people who are responsible for change, even those with 'change' or 'transformation' in their job titles are too often ill-prepared for dealing with the complex requirements of adequately dealing with and managing the process of change.

Of course, poorly managed change can result in reduced business outcomes and can even mean that people can be emotionally harmed by the change experience. 

Lucinda asks a very pertinent question: "Isn't it time to do change better?"

Of course it is! But how can people involved in implementing change make sure that they are capable pf doing change better? 

Buy Lucinda's change toolkit, read it from cover to cover and implement the valuable change lessons that you will find.

Learn how to explore what superpowers you can develop that will be helpful in implementing change.

Consider the responses toward change that are either driven by cultural attitudes or by human nature. These can either make the path of change smooth or bumpy.

You'll learn how to put together a change 'Master Plan' that will let you make use of the strengths of a team (described as your Change League) and have a clear understanding of how to plan and deliver large-scale plans for change in an effective manner.    

You'll learn how people can challenge or derail change plans because they don't understand why change is required, or because they have a need to be consulted because they think they should be a part of the change process or perhaps because they should be a part of the process. Or because they might have identified a challenge to the process.

You'll discover how courage can be a valuable tool, along with self-awareness, self-control, self-motivation, empathy and much more besides.

The book is published by Practical Inspiration Publishing at £14.99. It's available from Waterstones, Amazon and other book retailers.

If you are involved in HR from a modest firm of Solicitors in Mid Wales right up to a huge company with dozens of branches worldwide, this book is required reading.

You can also access the related free change toolkit at 

https://actus.co.uk/free-performance-management-resources/change-superhero-resources/toolkit/

Know More Lies

In the latest novel from Chris Gray, Know More Lies, we meet Robbie Howard. 23-year-old Robbie has no job, but he never seems short of a bob or two. This is because he is a streetwise criminal who can talk himself into and out of just about any situation.

The only person in his life who he really cares about is his ailing grandfather who still thinks that Robbie is gainfully employed and is unaware that the job that Robbie has told him about doesn't actually exist.

Robbie tricks an elderly charity shop worker into giving him a very high value donation of clothing from a local famous rock star.

But problems occur when the son of the charity shop volunteer realises what his game is.

What will happen to Robbie and his beloved grandfather, now? Can Robbie put things right before they get too badly out of hand?

Can he fix things?

It's a well-told story about characters the reader comes to care about and clearly draws on the experiences of the author when he worked as a mentor for young people.

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