Voices from Punjab

Voices From Punjab is made up of a collection of 15 true life stories that celebrate the resilience and strength of Punjabi women who are living in the United Kingdom.

You will meet Punjabi women involved in politics, leaders who have won awards for their leadership, inspirational philanthropists. But also "ordinary" Punjabi women, too.

They bring to the readership their personal experiences, including gender inequality, racism, sexism, and the differing family dynamics.

Learn about the highly valuable contributions that the Punjabi women of Britain have made to not only their community but also to the wider British society.

These stories are filled with the wisdom that these Punjabi women have learned throughout their lives and are now willing to share with you.

Read stories of how adversity was overcome, how families were able to obtain an education for their daughters in the Punjab when this was not encouraged, of charitable bodies that have been set up to empower women.

Read contributions from Lady Kishwar Desai, Dr Kamel Hothi, OBE, Kuljit Kaur Sharma, Kalbir Bains, Seema Malhotra MP and others.

This is a very important book and deserves to be in every school and every council library throughout the UK.

It is by Anita Goyal and Aastha Singania and published by Matador at £12.99. The author's royalties from the book's sale will go to help support the work of the Hemraj Goyal Foundation to support a livelihood project for vulnerable women and offer education for girls living in Punjab, India.

You can learn about the foundation at www.hgf.org.uk.

Vikings to Virgin

Vikings to Virgin is a book from author Trisha Hughes. You may have read her previous books Virgin to Victoria and Victoria to Vikings. If you haven't. you really should.

Although presented in a fictional format this is the real story of the Kings of England. Some of them reigned for many years, others had their reins cut short by illness, others because a rival for the Crown decided to have them murdered. Obviously being a King is not always the easy job that some commoners might think!

As Mel Brooks famously had a French King say: "It's good to be the King!" But in this book we learn that being a King (or a Queen, for that matter) had certain hazards, too.

This book is the first part of a new trilogy that will bring a new light upon the Vikings, the Normans, the Plantagenets, the Lancasters, the Yorks and the Tudors.

They were powerful, often brutal. The story of the Kings and Queens of England is shocking, heart wrenching, horrifying and, sometimes, funny, but perhaps not in ways that one might expect. Is that funny peculiar or funny ha ha? You can be the judge of that after you have read this stunning book.

Learn how their lives as princes and princesses shaped and moulded them for the roles in life that would be thrust upon them, then, sometimes, equally capriciously, it seems, snatched from them. Banishment if they were lucky, or the assassin's knife, sword or poison, if they weren't quite so fortunate. Or there was always the executioner's block and axe for when an example was to be made of them and their murder required some form of apparent legal propriety with which to bamboozle the citizenry and general populace.

The stories within this book are based on factual evidence where it is available and, when factual evidence is a little thin on the ground, helped along by well-researched and intelligent conjecture.

Read of the ruthlessness of the most bloodthirsty Viking, Ragnar Lodbrok. But read what happened when he met Northumbria's King Ella. But read on the learn of the dreaded fate that his vengeful sons meted out upon poor King Ella.

This book will be an ideal Christmas gift for the history buff or the lover of a good story, because as well as being a very skilful researcher, Trisha Hughes is an absolutely cracking storyteller!

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

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The healthy approach to building a business… without sleazy sales talk!

A new book that defeats marketing myths and sleazy sales tactics holds the key to success for therapeutic businesses.

I’ve Got Your Back (Rethink Press) by Helen Bullen, who is an award-winning clinic owner and qualified Osteopath, teacher, and experienced business mentor, explores five key principles to help therapists turn their passion into a money-generating business.

Helen said: “I have a passion to help as many therapists as possible continue doing the job they love while making an income they want.

"I learnt early on that many of us, as therapists, receive little or no training when we complete our respective therapy qualifications, and often it can feel you've been left to work it all out for yourself.

"Many therapists have little interest in business, but we all need some knowledge to make it in the therapy world.”

Helen speaks from direct experience of starting her own successful business from scratch, with no experience of sales or marketing and feeling incredibly uncomfortable about some marketing techniques.

She added: “It's tempting to look for a magic template which will attract a steady stream of clients. But some marketing methods can feel as if you are tricking, even forcing, your client into buying from you. Not a nice way to feel. I certainly had to wrestle with my misconceptions on marketing before I started to get results.”

Helen’s answer to this marketing dilemma is her own five step system called Commit to Achieve. These are five clear principles based on self-care, understanding why you want to run your business, releasing any self-limiting beliefs around success, understanding how to make your business work for you and taking effective action.

Helen added: “Quick-fix methods will not guarantee you more clients. In fact, quite the opposite. There is no secret method to make the clients just roll in. Instead, there are methods that work. Methods that will take action from you for the lifetime of your business, both consistently and persistently. These methods are what I have used to create my own successful business and now I want to help other therapists achieve the same.”

It costs £12.99 and will make an ideal Christmas for the therapist in your life.

https://rethinkpress.com/product/ive-got-your-back-by-helen-bullen/

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An Adventure in Education

An Adventure in Education Derek Esp MBE never expected or intended to have a career in education. But he did and he had an adventurous career, too!

Whilst at university he enrolled on an Education course and he discovered that not only did he have passion for learning he also had a love for passing on knowledge by being a teacher.

In 1959 he was appointed to the role of Youth Officer for Central Shropshire, England's largest inland county.

Not only did he have a passion for imparting knowledge, he also found that he had a natural gift for leadership.

After his start in central Shropshire, he worked in three counties as an education officer. Eventually he moved on to other roles where he was responsible for leading a number of educational initiative and was also responsible for helping to develop some new schools.

His last role was that of Director of Education for the county of Lincolnshire.

After taking early retirement  from working in local government he became an educational consultant, taking leading roles in a number of national projects.

He decided to take an active role in local politics, becoming a county council member and he became the chairman of a county educational committee.

In his entertaining and thoughtful book he records how educational was subject to a wide range of reforms between 1960 to 1990.

He was involved in a number of initiatives including County Youth Drama competitions, working with youth workers, the development of many different educational programmes and new schools.

It is an interesting book that should be on the bookshelves of anyone who has an interest in the recent history of education.

It is to be published by Matador on November 28th at £8.99.

Hedgehog Christmas

In Hedgehog Christmas David Hills brings you a heartwarming story of a new adventure for a young boy called Alistair and his good friend, Hamish the Hedgehog.

It's set just before Christmas and Alistair returns home one day to discover that there is an unusual and very sparkly box on the table in the family dining room. It was sent to him by Hamish.

In the box, Alistair finds Oscar, who is a small but very fun filled rabbit, called Oscar.

Upon the eventual arrival of Christmas Eve, Oscar insists on taking Alistair out into the snow-bedecked garden to play. Oscar takes Alistair through a hjole in the garden where they are faced with a gigantic door made of ice.

Mr Tilly, Hamish's rat friend and Hamish greet them at the doorway and instantly the friends are all off on an incredible Christmas adventure.

There's a hedgehog sledding race, an absolutely splendid Hedgehog Christmas party and the wonderful opportunity to have an audience with the Queen of the Hedgehogs in her sparkling palace!

Then Alistair wakes up in bed, in his own bedroom. So, it was all as dream, was it? Perhaps not. But to learn what happens next, you'll need to read the book.

It's published by The Book Guild at £6.99 and it has got to be on your Christmas book gift list for Christmas 2019!