All The People

All The People is a historical novel from Jeff Kaye set 200 years ago.

Everyone knows something of the dreadful incident that became known as the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester in 1819, when the Yeomanry launched a murderous attack on protesters.

In his novel Jeff Kaye examines what happened afterwards.

It's set 13 years after Peterloo, and Hugh Hornby Birley, the mill owner who led the Yeomanry on that dreadful day, still casts a malign shadow over Manchester.

Mary Burns, a nine-year-old girl is one of the workers in his factory. Her family relies on Mary's wages to survive.

The novel shows how she grew into  an ardent Chartist, working hard to better the conditions of the herself, her family and the people of her town.

The novel also introduces James Hull. James has been sent to Manchester as a religious missionary, but when he sees at first hand the desperate and miserable conditions of the inhabitants he decides to work to save their physical lives, leaving their spiritual salvation to others.

He has problems of his own as Elizabeth, his wife, is distraught over the death of their daughter.

Together James and Mary face down Birley, during the Chartist strikes in the year of 1842, which reactivate the memories of the dreadful event of Peterloo.

But was Birley really such a monster? Kaye takes a look at Birley that is quite  nuanced and well realised.

It's an important novel that reflects upon a very unfortunate piece of the history of Britain during the 19th century.

It is published by Matador at £8.99 in paperback and £16.99 in hardback.

Plague A Very Short Introduction

Plague A Very Short Introduction is a book by Paul Slack.

It is a part of the Oxford University Press A Very Short Introduction series of academic books.

It is a very important work on the plague. It identifies the plague, it discusses the Greek and Latin meaning of the word, how the plague spread, how the plague was treated by the medical practitioners of the day, the symptoms of the plague and how the dead were dealt with. On page 3, for example, there is a photograph of a London burial pit, which  was identified as probably having been used during the plague of 1665-6.

The book focused on the disease's history, major epidemics, times throughout history when it was sweeping through communities and also right down to more recent times, the early decades of the 20th century.

The book points out that due to advances in medical science and in public health measures the plague has become less of a severe threat to humanity.

It points out that the disease still exists and that there are episodic flare ups in various parts of the world and that it persists in animals.

Worryingly it points out that human cases have been rising since the 1990s, the WHO, Slack states, reports 1,000 to 5,000 cases every year.

Although it is a very short introduction Slack covers all the main points on the plague, who first identified it, when it was first isolated, the vector of the disease and so forth.

It costs £7.99 and is a must read for all medical students,health practitioners and students of the history of medicine and of history in general.

Tannadee

Tannadee is a humorous novel from author Maurice Gray.

The lifestyle in the Scottish Highland village of Tannadee is pretty good. Until the village meets with Gordon Weever who is a billionaire. Unfortunately Weever is also a total bully who has plans to construct an exclusive golf resort very close to the village.

The villagers are not sure what to do to put a halt to his plans. Because not only is he able to throw money around to get his own way, he is also starting to employ some pretty nasty dirty tricks. So, what can they do to deal with this interloper? Nothing? Just let him get away with it?

However, local schoolteacher Chizzie Bryson is not so sure and he decides to get the villagers to participate in some Highland Games to raise some much needed funds for a fight back.

When the weekend dawns, the villagers turn out to participate in the Highland Games.

But what if things didn't go quite to plan? And whose plan would be thwarted?

Would Weever win? Or could the locals play him at his own Highland Games?

It's an amusing novel published by Matador at £8.99.

The Audition Room. A down to earth guide, for actors

The Audition Room. A down to earth guide for actors is a truly wonderful book written by Sharon Sorrentino.

It is an absolutely vital guide for all actors, be they thinking about a career as an actor, part way through their careers or already fairly well established.

Because if offers working actors and graduates from drama school some practical tips and guidance on all aspects of their chosen career.

It reveals what show business is and what it isn't, how to get the attention of the people in the industry who you need to get the attention of, how to market yourself, how people get cast for parts and how you can get cast for parts, too, how to ready yourself to actually get into the audition room, what to do once you are there and what to do afterwards, too.

There is also a chapter on how to prepare for auditions for screen roles, such as technical considerations, camera techniques and ways of ensuring that you are doing things properly during the auditions.

It tells you what you need to research and who you need to research and also why you need to do this.

The book contains very useful hints and inspirations from to actors and directors. And remember, they started out where you are and they probably wish that they had a copy of   The Audition Room. A down to earth guide, for actors at the beginning of their careers, too.

There's also a wealth of resources which will be useful to actors for many years to come.

It's published by The Book Guild at £9.95 and this book should be given to every drama student no matter what the year they are studying in. It should also be bought by every director and producer as a good resource for young and aspiring actors.

Bryony: Harnessing the Power

Bryony: Harnessing the Power is a novel aimed at young adult readers from author Emma Hamilton.

Bryony is left destroyed by the belief that her boyfriend is cheating on her.

After a terrifying event, she decides to leave her trailer park home, so different from the real home she had known as a  young child, taking flight with Pierre. Who she trusted.

Pierre puts her in a trance, but to her horror and bewilderment when she awakes she has travelled back in time to 1863, totally alone in in grave danger.

Besides trying to find out how she can return to her own time she must first try to survive, somehow, in a time that is totally different OT her own.

She meets Pierre, and discovers that not only is he a former but now freed slave, he is also an immortal and that, somehow, their destinies are tied together.

They find themselves fleeing from a mysterious enemy, seeking help from a witch and from Native Americans and Bryony learns more about her own magical powers.

She finds love but can she find her way back to her own time? And if she could, would her problems really be over? And who could she trust?

It's an exciting story, published by The Book Guild at £8.99. 

A Life Force in Life Science

A Life Force in Life Science is a remarkable book about a remarkable person, it tells the amazing story of Ida Smedley MacLean.

She earned the reputation of being not only smart and very bright, she was also known for her charismatic personality, too.

She was born in Birmingham in 1877 and, at a time when women working in the sciences was still very much a novelty, she studied chemistry at Cambridge University.

She went on to perform pioneering work in biochemistry and was able to garner a number of international prizes and awards for her work.

During the Great War she worked with Chaim Weizmann (a future president of Israel) making great contributions to the war effort.

She founded the British Federation and then the International Federation of University Women and did sterling work throughout her life to improve the rights of women in the workplace.

She was also a key figure during the 1930s to enable Jewish women scientists and other women academics to find not only asylum but also work within the UK and the USA. Please bear in mind that she was also raising her two children and caring for a husband who was seriously ill.

Author of the book Penny Freedman has been able to tell the remarkable story of this most remarkable of scientists and women by relying on Idas's own letters and diary entries, plus memorabilia. To which she had unique access granted by Ida's granddaughter.

As well as being a gifted academic (a BA in Classics and Philosophy from Oxford, an MA in Linguistics from the University of Kent and a PhD in Shakespearean studies from the University of Birmingham, Penny Freedman is a published author of multiple crime novels.

She points out that Robert, her husband, who is a professor of biochemistry, became interested in Ida when he noted that she was the first female chairman of the Biochemistry Society in the 1920s. By chance he was allowed access to her lifelong collection of papers and memorabilia and was working on them whilst he was receiving treatment for cancer.

Subsequent to his death Penny realised that she could not see his work go to waste and felt strongly that Ida was a female and a scientist that people should know about.

The book is illustrated with contemporary images.

It's a very well written book and needs to be on the bookshelves of all scientists, lovers of biographies and people interested in the studies of women.

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

Zero Tolerance

Zero Tolerance is a novel written by a retired teacher who goes by the name of "The Old Grey Owl."

There are troubling times in the world of education. The Head of Humanities who seems to long for snow. In Norway.

A therapy dog that is put to sleep in order to save money, there's an Ofsted inspector who grades sexual encounters on a clipboard. As they are their own sexual encounters, that's probably not as creepy as it sounds, but even so...

What happened to the Deputy Head after the Year 11 Prom? 

What of the once great LEA empire, now whittled down to nearly nobody at all?

What of the Syrian refugee? What is he to make of it all? And what is the Secretary of State for Education really up to?

Of course, none of these events could ewer happen in real life, could they? But the former English teacher and deputy head and one time exam moderator for GCSE English exams who wrote this book might not be too certain about that.

It's a cynical, wry and amusing look at the British education system and many teachers will, upon reading it, purse their lips, nod and say: "I used to work with someone, just like that!"

It's published by Matador at £9.99.