Prince Hal and his Friend Jack Falstaff

Prince Hal and his Friend Jack Falstaff is a Shakespearean tale that has been retold by Alan Oberman.

Rather than being merely new words, the story is also set to new music by Alan Oberman and also is accompanied by evocative and colourful illustrations created by Robin Carter.

There are two CDs that accompany the book, the first CD includes the story with and without the music, whilst the second CD has incidental music and the story told through music, alone.

The narration is by Philip Bowen, and the musicians are Laura Greenwood (piano) John Hymas (violin) Alan Oberman (saxophone) Graeme Lamble (electric bass and guitar) Tony Egan (drums) Lu Mason (vocals) and Simon Fraser (flugelhorn).

The engineering and editing work were all undertaken by Robin Lamble and the work was recorded at The Institute, Llangamach Wells, and Penlanole, Rhyader, both in Wales.

The story is re-told in a more modern language, yet it is still able to capture what makes this story one of the best-loved of all the stories told by master storyteller, William Shakespeare.

It is published by Cambria Books at an exceptionally reasonable price of £9.99 and this book belongs on the shelves of every family in the Kingdom and also in every school in the land, too!

It is published by Cambria Books (www.cambriabooks.co.uk) and is available through That's Books.

The Compass Dances

The Compass Dances is a collection of the writings of poet Michael Pickering.

It covers the years 1955 to 2015.

Michael Pickering began writing poems when he was seven years of age, although this anthology of his poems starts from when he was roughly 20 and carries on until he was 80.

The subject range is breathtaking covering people, places, ideas, modes of thinking, dreams, realities, legends both modern and ancient.

There are also poems in the style of others (look out for the rather charming tribute to Hilaire Belloc) on page 266, for example.

Mr  Pickering has kindly and thoughtfully provided some footnotes and pronunciation guide notes for several of his poems.

He has used a wide variety of poetic styles throughout this anthology including some styles not much used in modern times and also some poems that are of a more experimental nature.

This is a fascinating and interesting work.

The book is published by Matador at £10.99 and is available from That's Books.

Fast Forward Music and Politics in 1974

Fast Forward Music and Politics in 1974 is the fourth book by Steve Millward.

He observes, sagely, that "It was a period of tumultuous change, the repercussions of which are still being felt today."

Steve's books have covered the time period between 1964 and, with this fourth book, 1974.

It was an amazing ten year period, and 1974 -when Steve started his first job- was an amazing year both musically and politically.

There was the oil crisis, an international recession, the Watergate scandal that felled a president, Richard Nixon, the strange case of Patty Hearst and the Symbionese  Liberation Army, the terrible situation in Northern Ireland, football violence, the increasing fervour of the National Front and more troubles besides.

However. All was not doom and gloom, because as well as being a time of political turmoil, 1974 was an absolutely stunning year for new music.

Billy Swan with "I Can Help",  Carole King was scoring remarkably well -her 1971 album Tapestry was joined three years later by her album Wrap Around Joy, from which were released two hits, "Jazzman" and "Nightingale."

Elvis Presley was enjoying his popularity and Paul McCartney's band Wings release of Band on the Run toward the rear end of 1973 was receiving both critical and popular acclaim. (REVIEWER'S WHINGE: I do wonder what happened to my copy of that!)

Another former Beatle, Ringo Starr, was also doing very well for himself. His version of "You're Sixteen" released the year before was a fairly major hit for him and the album he released in 1974, Goodnight Vienna did well on both sides of the Atlantic.

The book also touches on the rise of Bruce Springsteen, the advent of Punk music (the American and the British varieties) and other such luminaries as the Wolf Tones -with their Irish Nationalist songs, and a host of artistes of various stripes such as Flora Purim, Santana and who can forget the Average White Band's ultra funky song "Pick Up the Pieces"? You'd never guess that, far from being an American band they actually haled from Dundee in Eastern Scotland.

This book belongs on the bookshelf of anyone with an interest in the history of popular music.

It's published by Matador at £8.99. You can buy it through That's Books.

Chorus Endings

Chorus Endings is a novel by David Warwick.

Peter and his friends grew up in rural Hampshire directly in the years that were just after the Second World War.

Their lifestyle was a pretty idyllic one, they had carte blanche, in effect, to roam around the villages and countryside of their part of Hampshire with nary a care in the world.

It seems that in those blissful days there was always something to see and something to do and always an adventure or two just beckoning them on.

Jimmy the Saint, a local artist in their particular favourite and something of a hero to them all.

As well as being an artist Jimmy is also a fount of all knowledge of the folklore of the village and of the amazing characters who occupied it down through the years.

There was Chirper Edwards, a not especially good town-crier, Freddy the Fop and No-Good Naughton, Stoytan the Jutish warrior, Morgana the pagan goddess and also the less than favourable ancestors of the current Squire.

But was everything right? What if things were not as it seemed?

By chance, four decades later, Peter stumbles on information that changes all that he new about Jimmy the Saint, and Peter and his wife Helen find themselves attempting to find the truth of the circumstances that surrounded the sudden and apparently mysterious disappearance of Jimmy all those years ago.

They find evidence of murder and of madness of insanity, espionage and betrayal and it seems that his hero was centre-stage throughout all of these incidents.

And what role had the mysterious wealthy American played in this tangled web?

It's an interesting novel as it reflects very well the zeitgeist of the years post war up to the present day with new religions and cults springing up almost daily, or so it seemed.

To book is published by Matador at £8.99 and it's available via That's Books.

Get Lucky

A blue-eyed boy, a rebellious teen, a womaniser, a brawler, a boozer, an International art thief, gaol habitue of prisons in several countries, jail breaker, a successful entrepreneur.

These are not the cast members of the latest Hollywood blockbuster movie, they are the various attributes of one very extraordinary man, Paul Eagles.

Paul Eagles' autobiography opens with Paul at 22 stone in a hospital bed, chained to two prison warders.

His mind begins to wander over some events from  his past life. Art theft, a young lady called Joker at his side as he checked over the security system of the Singer Museum in Laren, temporary repository for a Ruben's. And likely to be more temporary than originally envisaged if Paul Eagles has his way.

He has made, both by legitimate and less than legitimate means, several fortunes and lost them in a variety of ways including being cheated by people who  he should have been able to trust, including his lawyer and a so-called business adviser.

But no matter what happened, who he had upset he always seemed to end up smelling of roses.

It is a book with a wide cast of heroes and villains of various stripes and types and of moments of deep sadness interwoven with his sardonic wit and humour.

It's a quirky tale and ideal for your last minute summer holiday reading if you haven't been on holiday yet.

It's published by Matador and costs £9.99, you can buy it from That's Books.

A New Day Dawning

A New Day Dawning is a new book by Edward Forde Hickey.

The book follows a group of children in the part of Ireland that is Tipperary and a hillside community therein.

The novel follows a group of children through their early lives as they learn the ways of life in Rural Ireland during the 1940s as their grip on who they are and their unique, individual personalities grow and develop.

Hickey knows the area depicted well, as he was born in Dolla, Tipperary. Where he still has a small hillside farm, together with a home in Kent shared with his wife and three children.

The setting of the book is, says Hickey: "the unreal world of Rookery Rally."

The format of the book is interesting as it eschews ordinary chapters for a series of vignettes of varying lengths, each of which relate to different events in a particular month of a particular year as the book continues from September 1945 and the cessation of the distant war right through to late September 1946.

We follow the children as they learn right from wrong, sometimes with horrible consequences, they learn to say their Rosaries ("inspired by the bespectacled Pope" in a message sent all the way from Rome.

They learn that killing is wrong and that some adults are not as nice as some other adults, and that's putting it very mildly as some of the adults in the area are, to put it mildly, not very nice at all.

Slipperslapper, for example is one of the most horrific characters that I have ever come across.

The book is published by Matador at £10.99 and is available from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, just to the right of this review.

Early Days

Playwright Caroline Mitchel Rehder has written two plays that are emotionally charged as they offer the theatregoer an insight into how suffering can begin in the life of a child.

The plays show two entirely different ways, that are all too common, in which a child can find themselves trapped and, as a result, can suffer horribly and, apparently it would seem, totally unnoticed by the adults that surround them.

In the play is "Contractual Obligations"  we see a mother who is incapable of forming that all important mother-child bonding. We watch the unfortunate consequences of this failure as they negatively impact upon the relationship between the two of them.

The second play is called "The Divorce."

It tells the horrible story of a child who disintegrates before the audience as the parents battle each other for supremacy in their divorce, yet fail to notice the horrible impact this event is having on their own child.

The plays are highly stylised and, should they be produced, would probably be best suited to all cast members being played by adult actors, rather than children.

The playscript is published by Matador and costs £9.99 and is available from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which is to the right of this review.

The Silent Land

Whilst undertaking research for his day job as a newspaper journalist, David Dunham realised that, for some reason, very little had been recorded about a British army regiment that had been, at the time, praised for having "saved the British Empire."

David decided to dig deep into the research archives to learn more about the regiment, but he did not use his research material to relate the history of the battle in which they fought,

Instead he used his research to tell the story of the humanity, of the people who survived, those who didn't survive and the great and abiding terrible griefs that this occasioned in their loved ones.

It is a detailed story that shows what happens when their are dreadful and terrible secrets within a family and how the shadow of the great and terrible Great War was a long a dark one.

It is the story of Rebecca and her mother, how Rebecca learned and had to come to terms with the way in which he mother died.

How the marriage to her one true love and her own venture inot motherhood brings about resolution and happiness for Rebecca, until the advent of the Great War, a maelstrom into which her husband, along with millions of men like him, were forced to enter.

Can she ignore the terrible things that have happened in the past? Or will he allow them to mar the rest of her life, spoiling her future as they had already spoiled her past?

This is a well-crafted debut novel published by Matador at £7.99.

It's on sale in the That's Books and Entertainment online book emporium, you'll find the entry to the bookshop just to the right of this book review.

Children of the Mists

Children of the Mists is a novel by author Lexa Dudley.

It takes us to the island of Sardinia to a time of long, long ago.

Set well over 200 years ago Children of the Mists is a Love story.

For the inhabitants of Sardinia, life had not altered much since the time of the ancient Romans.

It is a love story, but it tells what happens when revenge and the Sardinian concept of vendetta become enmeshed with a once pure love, the love of two young people, Raffaella and Antonio.

Devotion is set to one side because a death has occurred.

Honour must be avenged, ambitions befoul all they touch or influence.

But the love of Raffaella and Antonio is a strong love.

However, is it a love that can stand against what are traditions and a way of life that predates even the laws and customs of ancient Roman times?

This is a classical romance in the best sense of the term and is an ideal read for someone who wants their romance with some spark and a lot of heart.

It is published by Matador at £7.99 and can be bought from a variety of outlets including the That's Books and Entertainment online book shop, which you will find on the right side of this review.

Grand Vizier of Krar Fulcrum of Power

Fans of the Fantasy Science Fiction Grand Vizier of Krar novel Strings of Destiny, by W. John Tucker, will be pleased to note that he has published the second novel in the series, Fulcrum of Power.

After her dramatic discovery of the Occidental Communicator (a device of stunning power, installed by extraterrestrial visitors) Blan found herself trapped as a prisoner on the dreaded Slave Island.

She is forced to submit to the Black Knight at Austra Castle.

But now, Blan is going to take matters into her own hands and, though deep within enemy territory, she decides to make her own way and make her own unique mark on the situation.

However, she will not be allowed to face her enemies alone. And her protege, the worryingly brilliant and very strong-willed Memwin who, although only five, is proving herself to be someone who will not be thwarted in her ambitions. Hardly a surprise, when one considers that the Black Knight is her blood father.

The two friends come to a realisation that they are inextricably interlinked under the Great Plan. But can they possibly know or understand the great and terrible risks they are to undertake?

As events take apparently unpredictable and somewhat wild turns, they two expose themselves and, indeed, all of the denizens of Dabbin to the threat of a retribution that would be most terrible to comprehend.

It's a novel of love, tragedy, danger and retribution and excitement! Think Space Opera, think Olaf Stapledon, think E E "Doc" Smith, think big, because this novel's 474 pages has it all and more besides!

It's published by Matador at £15.99 and can be ordered now at the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which you will find over to the right hand side of this book review.

The Blue Pendant

The Blue Pendant is a novel by Valerie Duncan that is a novel from our near history, it tells the story of a growing and developing relationship between two women in the 1960s.

The novel launches in the year 1962 where the protagonists, Jo and Jenny, make their acquaintance in college. 

As their friendship ripens they realise that they share passions for music, the dramatic arts and poetry. 

Over the years their friendship becomes deeper and transcends mere friendship, becoming something much more than that.

To their other friends and the outside world they appear to be just good friends. But behind closed doors, it is an entirely different matter as true love blooms and blossoms.

However, Jenny becomes fearful that the true nature of their intense relationship will be revealed to the world so she makes a instant decision to leave Jo behind and flees for a new life in France.

Meanwhile Jo forges a new life for herself as a highly successful magazine editor.

The novel looks at their parallel lives, examines how they live their now separate lives as they attempt to move on.

Jo and Jenny both find a measure of joy and happiness in their lives but both feel that, somehow, there is a certain lack. That something is missing.

Can their love bring them back together? Or will they still be haunted, their hopes blighted and dashed by by that fear of discovery, that fear of what others might think, do or say?

This book is a published (in paperback) by The Book Guild at £8.99 and is available via The That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, just to the right side of this review.

End Point

End Point is the debut science fiction novel of Author Peter Breakspear.

The book is interesting as it was an entry for a competition in Writing Magazine to have a novel published by Matador Books.

And as the book is, indeed, published by Matador, you'll gather that it was the winning entry out of over 100 hopeful authors.

We find ourselves in a Welsh valley with Tom and his special team who are there to retrieve something that has fallen to the Earth.

Missions to Mars and Venus offer proof to the team that planet Earth has been the subject of intense interest from beings from other worlds for a considerable period of time.

They also discover evidence that the environmental conditions of our planet had been subject to manipulation and outside influence for thousands and thousands of years.

Suddenly a member of the team disappears only to be returned to the team but as a radically changed being.

What, exactly, is he, now? An enemy or just someone who is attempting to guide the team, to help them in their ongoing quest?

Even so, they find themselves subjected to numerous examples of misdirection. But, ultimately they arrive at the answer they have been seeking. Or is it?

Is the Biblical story of the Ark of the Covenant somehow linked in to the events they have been investigating?

Is this an End Point or is it really a Beginning Point?

This book costs £8.99 and is available from the That's Books and Entertainment Bookshop. You'll find that just over to the right of this review.

Ben and the Spider Prince

In this delightful follow up to Ben and the Spider Gate, in Ben and the Spider Prince, we learn that, once again, Lox and the Spider Wizard are in desperate need of the assistance and help of Ben, their human friend.

The Spider Princess is suffering from a dire illness and she is in need of the treatment of a specific, special cure.

However, the ingredients required for this particular type of medicine are all highly special and need to be gathered together so that the medicine can be made.

And it is Ben's task to find those special ingredients!

Can Gran give Ben a special secret that would be capable of keeping Ben safe from Spindra, the wicked sister of the spider Queen?

Written by Angela Fish, this is a charming and eminently well-written book for children.

Again, this book is beautifully illustrated and will be a great book for all children and adults from parents to grandparents and older siblings who like to read to their little brothers and sisters.

In a review Maria Grachvogel very wisely points out that it is "a story about loyalty and friendship."

It's published by the Book Guild in hardback at a very reasonable £9.95 and is available through the That's Books and Entertainment online bookshop, the portal of which you will find on the right hand side of this book review.

Buy it early for Christmas, that's my advice!

Clearful and the Queen

Once upon a time (well, not that long ago) a real little girl who goes by the name of Lali, invented a new word.

In the story of Clearful and the Queen, Lali and Abba, her big sister, decided that they should tell the Queen the story of the new word so they embarked on an amazing adventure, assisted by their speical pet cat, called Smokey.

After they invented their new word, "Clearful" they thought it best to tell the Queen that they had invented a new word.

So they wrote a letter to the Queen explaining all about the new word, which they had invented during a visit to their grandparents' house.

Much to their delight and surprise, the Queen writes back to them and even more spectacular, the Queen decides to invite them to tea!

They set out on a simply stunning adventure to travel from their house to Buckingham Palace to accept their invitation.

This is a charming and exceptionally well illustrated book written by  M J Exon (who in her day job is the Managing Director of BBH, a leading creative agency) and illustrated by Sid Russell, who is a highly talented artist and designer who is head of BBH's Design Department.

The book costs a remarkably reasonable £6.99 and will delight both parents, grandparents and children.

It is published by Matador and is available via the The That's Books and Entertainment book shop, which you will find to the right of this review.

The Conjurer's Mouse

The Conjurer's Mouse is a clever and light collection of rhyming short stories and other bits of random fun that are designed to keep all children and adults amused and entertained.

Authored an illustrated by Ann and Fred Onymouse (who have decided to tick the 'no publicity box' of life!).

The book is an amiable and delightful little diversion which is chock full of a wild melange of stories from a frightened rodent cafe owner, the benefits of humming, what happens at the alien's party night, a guitar playing kitty, a young rat with a problem, what monsters watch on their T.V. News.

What happens when a mongrel wants to enter a village dog show, what happens when you have a dinosaur for a brother and what happened to poor Ned Willow with his absolutely dreadful new pillow!

The book is published by Matador at £6.99 and is available from the that's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which is to be found at the right hand side of this book review.

Highlanders' Revenge

Highlanders' Revenge is a novel by a writing team made up of Uncle and Niece Paul and Victoria Richman in their debut novel under the pen name of Paul Tors.

Highlanders' Revenge tells the story of a Mash Man, the name of an outsider with a group of Highland soldiers.

This Mas Man is an Englishman, already marked by the loss of the love of his life by a murder and by the retreat before the advancing Nazi hordes of the Blitzkrieg.

His fellow soldiers are wary of this sullen and secretive outsider as they find themselves in Egypt where they find themselves battling an enemy ad natural conditions that test them to the very limits of their physical and metal endurance.
  
They find themselves caught up in one of the largest and most vicious battles of the entire Second World War, El Alamein.

The novel combines truth with fiction as it retells the exploits of the 5th Camerons, an amazing military unit as it saw action in most of the decisive and major battles of not  only the North African theatre of war but also of Western Europe.

Our two authors skillfully interweave the fictional life of Mash with the factual history of the 5th Camerons.

At only £9.99 this is a gripping military novel and, with its meticulous research, will be an ideal book for lovers of this genre.

It's available from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, just to the right of this review.

The Cow That Jumped Over the Moon

The Cow That Jumped Over the Moon is a new retelling of a classic tale.

Jooks, who is eight years old, has taken her favourite nursery rhyme, Hey Diddle Diddle, and re-imagined  it as a stunning new and very captivating story of what the cow who jumped over the moon did next.

Bored with his everyday life of continually leaping over the moon the cow seeks out new experiences and new adventures in a host of new environments and locations.

The cow journeys to the Earth where it jumps over Antarctica, leaps over a rainbow (with hilarious consequences!) bounds about over Ice Cream Land and eventually he decides that he has had more than enough mad jumping about adventures for one day.

But the cow discovers that he isn't quite the cow that he used to be!

To find out how the cow and why has changed, and how thrilled he is, you will have to buy this wonderful and highly charming book.

It costs a remarkably pocket money friendly £3.99 and with the highly colourful and delightful illustrations by Anna Kubaszewska, this new book will be a must buy for any child from 0 to 5 or so.

It is published by Studionesh Limited and is printed and published in Wales.

Jooks (who hails from Cardiff in south Wales) was inspired to write the book when she was singing nursery rhymes to her little sister, after she started to make up some new stories for her, Jooks decided to write her favourite one down and thus The Cow Who Jumped Over the Moon was born.

Ideal for children, their parents and grandparents this is a must buy book.

It is available from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop which is to be found to the right of this book review.

The Water Babes

The Water Babes is a first novel by retired successful text book author and editor Norman Whitney.

It's set in the perhaps unlikely milieu of a water aerobics class.

It brings together people of widely or wildly differing backgrounds, classes, races and religious.

Readers who are looking for a warm, humorous novel in which there is absolutely no violence or murders, will love this debut novel.

You'll witness smiles, laughter and some tears, and a variety of incidents events and accidents some funny, some not all that funny.

But this is a special day, for it's the last of their lessons and to mark this momentous event, they are going to hold a party in the evening,

Food and drink are shared in friendship, then as the night progresses, something more than mere nourishment is shared. Secrets are revealed, confessions made, some of which are mildly amusing, others which are, to be quite frank, a bit of a shock.

But there is also something else., too. The novel explores how, apparently totally different people are perhaps not as different as one might think.

In fact the levels of connectedness might be deeper than one might expect.

The book is also nicely illustrated, too.

This is a heartwarming debut novel and it is published by Matador at £9.99.

You can purchase it now at the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which you will find to the right hand side of this book review.

Day of Reckoning

Day of Reckoning is the latest crime novel by Keith Wainman.

It is set against a contemporary backdrop of the new age of terrorist outrages.

The story begins in the 1950s when a Muslim Brotherhood organiser has to flee from his homeland, Egypt, after a failed assassination attempt on the Prime Minister of Egypt.

Kamal and his family settle in Canada. One of his sons, Mo, marries an American woman called Kathleen Bush and he decides to take her name, becoming known as Mo Bush.

They have three sons, the last of these, Nathan, grows to maturity under the shadow of his older siblings who help run the farm.

In 1992, Mo asks Nathan to accompany grandfather Kamal on a trip back to the Middle East, which Nathan accepts.

He spends time with Kamal in Egypt and Jordan, learning of the struggles of his grandfather as a member of the Muslim brotherhood and he hears stories of the occupation from an Arab perspective.

When he returns home he decides to become a Marine, serving in Afghanistan.

 Some years later he makes a return trip to the Middle East with Kamal and he becomes involved with the "armed struggle" to the extend that he becomes involved in armed attacks on American troops in Iraq.

Eventually he is approached by one of the leaders. Would he be willing to participate in a major terrorist attack on Britain?

An attack that would bring about the day of reckoning.

However, for whom would the day of reckoning come? And for what reasons?

And what would happen if someone, somewhere, decided that they did not like Nathan's plan and decided upon a different course of action?

It's a fast paced and exciting novel that has the ring of plausibility in all of its 262 pages.

It is published by Matador at £8.99 and is available from the That's Books and entertainment bookshop, just to the right of this review.

The Ghost of Bowness

The Ghost of Bowness is another novel by author M J Evans that features police officer turned Private Eye Jordan Lewis and her friend and confidante, professor of Criminology, Jarvis Moon.

Jordon was enjoying a break from work doing what she loves best, just aimlessly wandering around in the beautiful English Lake District.

Ten years ago, a local girl had simply vanished and although the police suspected foul play, the body of Tara Marshall was never discovered and no leads in the case were discovered.

However, now Tara's friends are convinced that they keep seeing her in and around the area. How can this be? If she has come back, why has she come back? And why has she not contacted her old friends?

And who are the two women who keep meeting each other in the town?

Tara's friends decide to hire Jordan Lewis to get to the bottom of the mystery of Tara's disappearance and her apparent reappearance,  a decade later.

But then a series of murders and bizarre kidnappings begin to happen in the normally quiet Lake District.

Are they connected to the case? Whose is the skeleton that is discovered? And what is the meaning of the ghostly apparition that seems to be haunting the proceedings?

Why are other people running their own investigations? Who is following Jordan Lewis? And why?

And why does someone keep sending her their own copious files on the case?

And are all of Tara's friends quite what they appear to be? If they are involved in the mysterious events, why would they hire a Private Investigator?

Who is the mysterious figure who is controlling events from a distance? Are they involved in the murders?

I sat down in the sun early one afternoon to read this book and was immediately captured by it. In fact I only finished reading to novel after my wife insisted, several times, that I topped up my sun block!

It's rare that I feel compelled to finish a book in one sitting, but this book was one of those. It truly is a gripping thriller.

The pace of the novel is very fast and you will be gripped by the author's story telling abilities.

I could quite easily see Jordan Lewis Investigates, set in the beautiful Lake District and Lancashire, transferring to the television.

The book is published by The Book Guild in paperback and costs £8.99, it belongs on the shelf of every mystery reader.

You can purchase it -and M J Evans' other books, The Corpse that Danced and To Dig Up Murder, both of which feature Jordan Lewis and Jarvis Moon- at the That's Books and Entertainment Book Shop, which you will find to the right hand side of this review.

They will make excellent presents for someone you love or even a great gift to yourself!

Drying Naked

Drying Naked is an anthology of poems written by poet Theophanis Kleanthous.

The poems are an eclectic mixture of poems drawn from the rich and varied society in which we live.

The poem Drying Naked, for example, explores the intimacy of the very humble, yet important act of drying oneself.

After reading this poem drying myself will never again seem to be the mundane, ordinary act that it once appeared to be.

For such is the powerful imagery created by  Theophanis Kleanthous.

The other poems, A Kindness, Worshipper, A butterfly in love, Flowering for you, Disintegrating love, Impossible emotions and the other poetry in this work explore everything that there is about the human condition. Love, fear, hope, joy, grief, loss, knowledge, confusion certitude and more besides.

Christopher Shakespeare the man behind the plays

Christopher Shakespeare the man behind the plays, is a book by Malcolm Elliot that explores the possibility that the plays of William Shakespeare were actually written by his contemporary, Christopher Marlow.

The book claims that Marlow did not, in fact, die in Deptfords in 1593 but that he actually lived out the rest of his life in hiding, including a long period of time in Italy.

The book describes what his life might have been like, had he actually lived.

It suggests that there is evidence that the plays and sonnets were written abroad and not in England.

He reiterates the theory that William Shakespeare was merely a frontman who allowed his name to be placed upon the works to facilitate their publication.

The author owes, he acknowledges, a debt to A. D. Wraight and Peter Farey whose "pioneering work" showed that, according to them, the evidence of the death of Marlow in Deptford is "utterly unconvincing."

The reader is asked to believe that Christopher Marlow, the son of a Kentish cobbler, rather than William Shakespeare, the son of a glover, wrote all the plays and sonnets that are ascribed to the latter.

My one concern is that, the book seems to be filled with conjecture. We read that "we can imagine the young Christopher wandering around..." the ruins of the Abby of St Augustine.

We then read that Marlowe "would have been told of the execution ad burning of Friar Stone" that Marlowe "would have" heard or seen this, that and the other.

In his own area in the Midlands a young William Shakespeare would also have seen and heard a great deal, too. but this cannot, really, be said to prove anything one way or the other.

Malcolm Elliot proves that Marlowe was an excellent poet and a great playwright, but this does not necessarily prove that there could not have been at least two great playwrights and poets at or around the same time, Marlowe and Shakespeare.

However, Malcolm Elliot does argue his case well and scholars of Shakespeare and Marlowe would do well to purchase this learned and well-written book, which is published in hardback at £12.99, by The Book Guild.

It is available from the That's Books bookshop, which is to the right of this review.  

There There My Dear

There There My Dear is a satirical novel and a debut work by author Neil Mason.

Imagine, if you will, a former British Prime Minister who appears to be making a mockery of the entire political establishment of Great Britain.

Ex-Prime Minister Harold Connor has been waiting for a quarter of a century to do the right thing.

His own life was destroyed, but then he had nobody else to blame, as the destruction was wrought by his own actions and deeds.

His wife? Gone to her eternal rest.

Harold has lived in the dark and gigantic shadow of the world's biggest political secret.

But, in a way, Harold has kept a secret himself down through these long, lonely years. The secret? Was a somewhat dangerous idea. A desire to put things right should the opportunity ever present itself.

Fortunately or unfortunately it appears that fate, in the shape of media mogul Kyle Andrews, has presented Harold with the opportunity to put things right on a solid gold, diamond encrusted platter.

For Kyle Andrew is beginning to film a new talent show which, it is intended, will discover the next generation of politicians.

But Harold seizes this as the opportunity to put right a great wrong and to do this by make a mockery of the British political system.

But what had happened 25 years ago?

How could it impact on today's political life?

And to what end was Harold Connor manipulating everyone he came in contact with, including his own son?

And when his son discovers the truth, what then?

This is a book published by Matador at £8.99 and it is available through the That's books and Entertainment bookshop, which you will find to the right of this review.

The Ring and the Swastika

In The Ring and the Swastika author Sandy Jenkins explores the situation on Norway after the country was invaded and over-run by the German armed forces.

It tells the story of a half -Norwegian half-British Commando Captain, Erik Kingsnorth.

In 1942 he is landed in Norway as a radio-communications agent.

His instructions are to avoid, if possible, his Norwegian relatives, but he is seen by Bjorn, who is his cousin and a close boyhood confidante.

But it transpires that Bjorn is a traitor to Norway and is collaborating with the German occupiers. The Norwegian Resistance is unaware of who Bjorn is when they order Captain Kingsnorth to kill Bjorn.

He confronts Bjorn at dusk, but finds that family ties destroy  his resolve to liquidate his family member who is also his enemy.

Later Kingsnorth discovers a secret German U-Boat base and he narrowly evades death by the skin of his teeth, chased and shot at by German guards.

The action of the novel; eventually finds itself in Northern Russia as the war where he encountered Russian soldiers where his situation became even more desperate, as the Russians presumed he was a Norwegian collaborator.

Would he survive life in a Russian prison camp? Could he return to Britain? If not, what would return after the war was over?

This is a harrowing and well-written book by an author who clearly knows his history,

It is published in hardback by Matador at £12.99 (paperback £8.99) and can be bought from the That's Books and Entertainment online bookstore which you will find to the right hand side of this review.

Intrigue at the Castle

Intrigue at the Castle is the latest children's historical novel by Barbara Robertson.

The children enjoyed their previous ninth century Viking adventure and now they are suitable refreshed and eager for a second return into history.

Harriet, Jake and Matthew are again visiting their grandmother for the Christmas holidays and the visit the normally unassuming and decidedly unadventurous Ulfsthwaite Christmas Market when they suddenly find themselves propelled backward through time for another time travelling adventure!

This time the trio of adventurous children find themselves back to the year 1388.

They learn that it will be their task to foil a monstrous plot that is aimed at bringing disgrace and ruination upon the Lord of the manor, Duke Leofrik and of his entire family, too!

What of evil Duke Edmund and his vile and villainous family? Will their plan to  kill with poison the hunting dogs of Baron Rulf?

What about the jousting armour of the Duke's Knights? Will that be sabotaged, putting the Knights in danger of injury or even death?

Is it possible that Duke Edmund might be able to take the title of Lord of Ormsthorpe Castle away from Baron Rulf?

All of those might well have occurred those 630 years ago, had it not been for the intervention of our young and daring time travelling children!

But can they possibly win against the wicked and sinister machinations of their enemies in the Middle Ages?

The book also has some excellent line drawings and as well as being an exciting read it is also historically accurate so is a book that will educate as well as entertain.

It is available from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop which you will locate to the right of this review,

It is published in hardback by The Book Guild at £9.99.

Echoes of the Past

Echoes of the Past is the moving and interesting story of what happened to Gloria Ifill when she left her home in Jamaica to travel all the way to the London of the tumultuous and vibrant 1960s.

Share with Gloria her stories of growing to maturity in the island country of Jamaica, during the 1940s and 1950s.

Life in Jamaica was one of strict discipline both at home and at school and in the society of Jamaica as a whole. And woe betide anyone who thought to buck the trend! It never ended well for them!

Gloria's life was filled with love and also some heartbreak, when it transpired that he boyfriend Glenroy (aka Glen) was already betrothed to another woman. A middle aged school teacher, who was much older than either Gloria or Glen. Almost old enough, in fact, to be Glen's mother!

It was a considerable period of time before Gloria felt interested in the idea of dating again. But, eventually, she did date again.

Eventually she fell in love with Tony, who she married.

But then Gloria decided to move to London during the height of the swinging sixties without her husband, catching the England fever that seemed to sweep the island.

She applied to hospitals in the UK to train as a nurse and eventually found herself in Lewisham in London, where she attended night school classes to learn English, typing and shorthand.

She left her old life in Jamaica behind and began to make a new life for herself in England, settling down there with her beloved Tony and raising three children.

Gloria was able to achieve her childhood ambition to become a nurse working at that profession for a number of years.

It is published by Matador at £9,99 and it's a book that will bring many smiles and some moist eyes as Gloria tells her amazing and heartwarming story.

It's available from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which you will find just to the right of this book review.

Temples Along the Nile by Sarah Symons

Temples Along the Nile is a wonderful book by traveller and writer Sarah Symons.

It takes the reader on a gripping journey along the Nile, passing by and visiting all of the temples that are on the banks of this great river.

Sarah also shares with us facts on the Nile, both in recent times and in antiquity.

The book is copiously illustrated with photographs, mainly very effective black and white images, plus some colour,  that were taken by the author, although her vivid written descriptions also help to create a mind's eye image of what she is describing as she walks through and around the temples of the Nile.

There is also a very helpful map of Egypt.

From the first page, with a very evocative description of the arrival in Luxor, right through to the last page, the book is a detailed description of not only what the temples look like now, but what they would have looked like when they were places of worship for serious, devoted followers of the Egyptian Gods and Goddesses.

Readers join the author as she helps us marvel at the Colossi of Memnon (Kom el Heitan) The Temple of Hathor (Dendera) and The temple of Amun (Karnak) and many other of these ancient religious sites.

But she does more than that. Sarah Symons has taken a serious yet passionate look at the ancient temples of Egypt.

The book costs £14.99 and will appeal to serious and amateur historians, arm chair travellers and those who will be travelling to Egypt in holiday or to work on the archaeological digs in and around the temples of ancient Egypt.

It can be bought at the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop which is to be found to the right of this review.

Seventeen Gifts for Frannie and Jess

Seventeen Gifts for Frannie and Jess is a new novel by Nasser Hashmi.

It tells the heartwarming story of a strong and enduring friendship that grows between two Game Makers who meet as they are volunteering for the 2012 London Olympics.

Francesca "Frannie" Hartford has joined the team of volunteers, but she has just lost the love of her life, her husband and her Rock of Gibraltar, Donald.

Without his great support and love, can she still make it as a volunteer?

Despite her misgivings, she decides that she will still become a volunteer.

She meets a fellow volunteer Games Maker, Jessica. Jessica is different to Francesca. She is a young student, somewhat bolshy, very extrovert, outspoken and maybe a little bit intimidating to some as she can seem a bit overpowering.

But despite, or perhaps because of their difference,s they become very good friends.

Eventually Francesca realises that her friend Jessica is also suffering from a loss in her own life.

The novel is an intelligently and very movingly written exploration of their lives and how they interrelate with the other volunteer Game Makers, their own friends and family members and the other people they meet and get to know during the 2012 Olympic Games.

It costs £7.99 and will be an ideal novel to read this summer and during the 2016 Rio Olympics.

It is available via the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which you will find ot the right of this review.

Penny Farthing and the Man in the Moon

Penny Farthing and the Man in the Moon is a new fairy tale set in the recent past.

It is 1978 and in the tiny village of Pleasington, Lancashire, their lives a young girl called Penny.

Penny is a champion rider of her pink penny farthing bike which she spends her days riding through the village.

But she also has another passion, she loves to speak with the man in the moon.

She is a bright and keen young lady and she decides that she will participate as an official entrant in the very prestigious Pleasington Penny Farthing Race.

It won't be an easy race, for Penny will be competing against some first rate opponents, members of the elite Pleasington Penny Farthing Preservation Society.

But Penny decides that, with the assistance of her special friend, the man in the moon that she will have a good chance of victory in the race!

But who stole Penny's bike? What can she do about it? Can her friend, the man in the moon come to her aid?

The book is written for children aged 9 and over and it sensitively deals with the twin issues of autism and dyslexia that Penny has been diagnosed with. As has the author of the book, Mark Roland Langdale.

The charming illustrations are by Charlotte Walshe.

The book is published by Matador and costs £8.99 and is available from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which is to the right of this review.

The Butterfly Within

The Butterfly Within is a remarkable tale of triumph and disaster of joy and heartache.

It tells the story of a truly extraordinary woman, Rachel Brown.

Rachel was already a shining beacon of inspiration to everyone. She was a highly dedicated Special Educational Needs PE teacher, inspiring her pupils to do much more than they or their peers and family members might have thought possible.

Then there was the fact that she is also a highly successful and much decorated British Triathlete, having competed in a stunning 13 marathons in a variety of very different locations all over the world.

She also represented the UK at trhe Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Florida back in 2007. She then went on to become a GB Triathlon Age Group Triathlete and became our National Champion.

But that isn't where this book starts. It begins with two momentous events in Rachel's life. On day in 2005 she had a call from God to serve him, perhaps as a vicar. She researched how she could train to become a vicar whilst continuing her work as a teacher.

But then, a few months later, she received a diagnosis that was to change her life, a challenge that was the biggest challenge in her life to date. She was diagnosed with a brain tumour.

She wondered if she should put her idea of a religious calling on hold whilst she battled the tumour? But quickly she realised she would need to continue with both.

Rachel was convinced from the start that what was afflicting her was a brain tumour. But it took the medicinal profession a year in which three GPs and a visit to A&E blamed her symptoms on stress, on her training, on migraines.

They dismissed her concerns.  Apparently she had none of the "classical symptoms" and "looked too fit to be poorly."

During an appointment with Rachel's GP when Rachel told her doctor -as is her right under the NHS- that she wanted to be seen by a neurologist.

However the GP wanted Rachel to see an "eye man."

Rachel decided to take matters into her own hands and it took a private appointment with a neurologist to diagnose that she did, indeed, have a tumour that was growing behind her right eye.

It was a so-called benign tumour, but it was starting to press on the surrounding tissues. She decided to give it a name and so it was that Tommy became a major and very unwelcome part of Rachel's life.

She knew that her life was going to change for the foreseeable future.

She had a great support team,  there was 'her' Tim, her family and friends.

But there was something more, there was the iron will that made her a great triathlete. Rachel knew that she could use this inner strength to help her fight this new battle with Tommy.

During her journey Rachel found that there were many people who she could rely on for their support, both from her family, her friends and colleagues and her fellow athletes.

The book is not written in chapters, instead it is broken down into Parts, some very short, some a little bit longer.

It tells of the most important race in her entire life, the race to recover from her tumour.

It also tells what happened next and reveals something of her plans for the future.

Have these events changed her? Yes. And, it would seem that Rachel feels these changes are for the better.

She met a wide range of characters throughout her treatment, such as a lonely man who just wanted to play chequers, a female sex pest and some other interesting patients, all who had their own story.

It is a very well-written book and is friendly and humorous.

It is published by the Book Guild at £9.95 and can be purchased through the That's Books and Entertainment book shop, the entry to which you will find just to the right hand side of this book review.

This book is a must have for anyone who has been diagnosed with a tumour, or who had a family member or friend so afflicted.

It will also be very useful for Doctors, nursing and care staff who work with such patients and for hospital and council libraries, too.









    

White Horses, poems by Garfield Taylor

White Horses is a collection of poems by Garfield Taylor.

They are nostalgic and haunting pieces of poetry written by the author and largely taken from his memories of his beloved town of Scarborough and of other towns and locations in and around the coastal areas of the North of England such as Northumberland and Yorkshire.

However there are also fleeting glimpses of other far away places such as Cornwall and Cumbria, Lancashire and even Italy.

The poems are all deeply evocative and draw on a very deep well of the imagination and memory of Garfield Taylor for their inspiration.

There's the White Horses, of course. Then we meet McFee, with his highly effective, yet incredibly dangerous, foray into the world of homemade explosives, the penny that should have been a Pound, the cry of the gulls, the discover or non-discovery of sea holly on the beach, skipping and other fun on Shrove Tuesday (it appears that Shrove Tuesday is a much more fun day in Scarborough and its environs. Just read the poem on page 4 to learn what you might have being missing all these years!)

There's much romance in this collection of poems, the romance of the sea, both wild and tranquil,  the romance of beaches, of the coast, of seaside towns and of people.

There are stories both known and unknown, of the winter winds and the summer breezes, a multitude of ideas both old and new.

This delightful book of poems is published by The Book Guild at £12.99 in hardback. It's available from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, to the right hand side of this review.

The Arbitrator

Jim Brown had it all, he was a highly skilled and highly successful administrator, but he has fallen a long way and now, aged 153, he is languishing in prison, dying of a very nasty drug habit.

His crime? Apparently tax fraud. But the reality is that he has was jailed for killing a number of people on the planet Levita, after he met the gorgeous Narissa.

But then, the governor of the prison had called him from his cell. It appeared that he could still be of use to the authorities.

For after a reprieve he is to leave for the planet Pirrus in a distant solar system where he will serve as an arbitrator to try to bring an end to a rebellion and bring matters back under the control of the government.

Should he successfully complete his mission, he would be able to earn enough funds to begin the process of regenerating his body.

However, is all what it appears to be? The situation on Pirris is very finely balanced and things seem to be slipping out of Brown's grasp.

But at about the same time as he thinks that his task has been successfully completed, he meets with Gina, who is the child of one of the rebels. And he discovers through her that there is a plan by outside forces to launch an invasion of Pirrus.

But something is wrong within his own organisation. Is an insider working to make sure that his mission meets with failure? If so, who are they? What are their motives?

Can Brown thwart them and turn the tables on them and on those who are plotting against Pirrus?

The novel is fast paced and filled with characters that are flawed, but still for all that, very human indeed.

Brown is a ruthless and cynical man, yet can even he find redemption and a sense of worth?

But there are secrets that concern Brown that even he knows nothing of.

his is an exciting novel in the fine traditions of the space opera genre, yet interleaved with a great deal of philosophical speculation.

It's published by Matador at the price of £9.99 and will make an ideal gift for the science fiction fan.

You can buy it at the That's books and Entertainment book shop, which is located to the right habd side of this review.

An Annoyance of Neighbours

Neighbours. We have all had neighbours at one time or another in our lives.

And in her latest books, An Annoyance of Neighbours, Dr Angela Lightburn, writes about all you might need or want to know about neighbours.

A couple of years ago Dr Lightburn was a member of a group of residents who were working hard to develop community cohesiveness among the members of their local community.

One of the methods they decided to employ was to create and devise a Neighbourhood Plan to examine the provision of housing developments within the area.

Dr LIghtburn came up with a novel idea to promote the idea of community cohesiveness, she decided to organise a traditional "Beating the Bounds" ceremony, an ancient method of checking the boundaries of the parish, whilst also helping to bring the community together.

Many local families turned out to participate in the ceremony and it worked so well that it has been re-established as an annual community event.

This successful event caused Dr Lightburn to begin thinking about neighbours in general terms. 

Those neighbours that we love and those neighbours that we loath.

These musings eventually led her to start some serious research which, ultimately, developed inot her book, An Annoyance of Neighbours.

She asks questions about the types of neighbours that everyone might have had at one time or another, or who they might be experiencing, now.

Noisy neighbours, nosy neighbours, irritating neighbours, boring neighbours.

If you have ever had a neighbour like the above, then you will find this book illuminating and interesting.

Although Doctor Lightburn has a degree in Psychology and a PhD in Applied Psychology her book is not a dreary academic tome, it is a highly entertaining and extremely well-written book. Might that be as a result in the Diploma in Insurance that she picked up on the way? Possibly, but she asks us not to think about that, so we won't!

The book contains a great deal of highly valuable information on how to live near to and how to cope with difficult neighbours, but it is also highly humorous and bitingly satirical.

For example, did you know what type of fruit would tell you if your neighbours are sexually libertine swingers? Or the trick to employ in the middle of the night to wrongfoot nosy neighbours?

How to cope with the angry note writing nutters, sorry, neighbours, what to expect when your neighbour exposes themselves as a DIY fiend, what to do if you have hippies for neighbours, and the crazy cat lady neighbour. Dr Lightburn opines: "Once upon a time a little girl was given two kittens and that was the Crazy Cat Lady's starter kit!"

All types of neighbours are carefully and helpfully graded by a colour coded flag warning system, plus a very helpful and amusing list of nicknames for the neighbours we love to hate.

Incidentally we suffered from some neighbours who we find in that list. Are they the same people? Who knows? Perhaps they are!

If you work in a counselling setting and ever have to deal with people bothered by nutty or naughty neighbours, if you work in a Council or Housing Association office and have to deal with complaints about bad neighbours or if you, or someone you know, lives near a Neighbour From Hell, this book is a must have. 

It's published by Matador at the remarkably keen price of £7.99 and it might just about save your sanity.

You can purchase it at the That's Books Shop, which you will find to the right of this review. 

Without a paddle

Without a paddle is a new and very entertaining book by seasoned world traveller David Moffatt.

David Moffatt had no intention whatsoever of leaving the comforts and familiarities of his native Tyneside where he had grown up during the post-war years.

But his university tutor set him something of a challenge. Would he like to travel with him to the other side of the world to Mato Grosso, in Brasil?

His love life was a bit troubled, his beloved football team seemed doomed to relegation. So a year living in the Brazilian jungle seemed very appealing.

But the events that happened during the next twelve months were to change David's life forever.

David found himself thrust into an entirely different world. A world of real and genuine dangers and challenges, of no running water, no electricity, no 'phones and no radio.

But it did give David some truly awesome stories!

There was Taituba, the guide who David had to disarm when things started to get nasty.

But then David was bitten by the bug, well by the bug of travelling and several other bugs along the way!

There was the incident in which he saved an elderly entomologist who David had to save from the very wasps he was there to study, a dangerously incompetent camp cook, threats of kidnap, an unfortunate incident in the bathroom of a Cairo hotel, getting lost (caused by the right-hand swing factor) and trying to work out the exchange rate for eggs versus coffee and sugar.

We also follow David to The Gambia in Africa, Egypt and many other points around the globe.

It's a fascinating read illustrated with a number of photographs.

The book is published by Matador at £10.99 and is an ideal read for the armchair traveller.

You can buy the book at the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which is to be found to the right hand side of this book review.

Macboo and the Monster of Scab Hill

Macboo and the Monster of Scab Hill is a new novel by Jean McIntosh.

This is the latest fantasy story by Jean McIntosh that is aimed at children.

It takes an entertaining look at the troublesome and difficult journey that children take when they progress through their school days.

Who is MacBoo? MacBoo is a student. But he is no ordinary student! MacBoo is a student at the Lonely Dell Ghost Academy!

But unfortunately for MacBoo, things go more than a little awry and when he fails his tests, the headmaster decides to pack him off to Scab Hill. Where MacBoo will have to practice his ghosting skills!

He has just one week in which he must practice his skills. Then he must return to the Lonely Dell Ghost Academy where he must re-sit his exams. However, should he fail again, well, let'#s just say that he really doesn't want to contemplate his future should he fail again!

But there's a monster at Scab Hill! A monster with murderous intentions!

At the castle of Scab Hill, MacBoo meets up with three rather bothersome creatures. however, all is not quite what it appears to be and the four decide to combine their skills and resources to beat the monster!

Can MacBoo and his new friends beat the monster? Will he succeed or not?

The book is published by Matador at £6.99 and can be bought at the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which can be found to the right hand side of this book review.

The Rocky Road of Naughty Neurons Our Journey with Young Onset Alzheimer's Disease

Sylvia Bryden-Stocks's book, The Rocky Road of Naughty Neurons Our Journey with Young Onset Alzheimer's Disease, is a very important book.

Because it offers a vital insight into the shattering and highly emotional journey into the world of Young Onset Alzheimer's Disease.

Sylvia and Brian were husband and wife and they were enjoying a fantastic relationship that was filled with mutual love, respect and fun.

And then Sylvia found herself trapped in a new and horrible world, a world in which she had to quickly learn how to deal with Young Onset Alzheimer's Disease, when Brian was diagnosed with the condition.

The story that Sylvia has written takes the reader through a long journey, from their life pre-diagnosis to the trauma of the diagnosis itself and then through the new life that was thrust upon them as the condition progressed right through to the current day when Brian is in receipt of full-time care.

Sylvia was able to draw upon a wealth of knowledge of holistic healing and coaching which she was able to bring to bear to help not only Brian but also herself through the more trying moments.

The book is a very moving analysis of what happened, but it is also a highly useful guidebook for other people who are going through this very difficult process. I only wish that it had been available when a couple I used to know very well went through the same trauma of the husband being diagnosed as having Young Onset Alzheimer's Disease.

This book belongs in every library and in the resource section of every doctor's surgery and every hospital and carehome in the UK and anyone who is facing this diagnosis in themselves, a family member or a friennd also needs to have a copy.

It is published by The Book Guild and costs £9.99. It's available to purchase at this link https://goo.gl/WnXwQT.

The Squirrel that Dreamt of Madness

The Squirrel that Dreamt of Madness a debut novel by Craig Stone is a partly factual and partly fictional story.

It tells Craig's story. How he dreamt of writing a book whilst he worked at his job in the financial hub of the City.

So he decided to throw in his job and began writing his novel. But without a steady income he was unable to afford the rent on his flat, thus rendering himself as homeless.

What could he do then? Go and live in a park and write the story of how he had to live in the park.

He reasoned that if he was destined to be a writer than this book, if he finished it, could be the key to bigger and better things. And a return to society from Park Life.

The park he chose to live in was Gladstone Park which is in North London.

He sat under a tree and began to write about what it was like to live beneath a tree in a park in North London.

He decided that the book he would write would be so unusual, so very unique that it would catapult him out of the park once it was published and that it would put his life back on course again.

However, the narrative of the book might be a little bit uncertain and not completely truthful as Craig admits that the reader might be hard pressed to differentiate between the factual segments of the book and the fictional segments, which he created, whilst in the park, to entertain himself.

The book is published by Matador at £9.99 and is available through the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which is to be found to the right of this review.

You can catch up with Craig Stone at www.thoughtscratchings.com.

Kill or be Killed

Kill or be Killed is a new novel by Barry Johnson.

Jake Robinson is a former Captain in the Royal Military Police, he is Sandhurst-trained, and has a degree in Psychology.

He is described as a leader yet is also, perhaps paradoxically, something of a loner, too.

He was working with a special unit within MI5, yet he has taken the decision to resign from the unit.

In search of a job he finds a position looking after the interests of Jan Lotus, who is a skilled actress at home on both the stage and the big screen, she can also dance and sing.

She needs a bodyguard and Robinson is the man selected for that role.

However after he begins working for her, there is an assassination attempt on Jan Lotus that, unfortunately, succeeds.

With his charge dead, he realises that he must turn the tables on the killers and take them out, before they kill him and take on other targets.

What is the connection between battling drug suppliers?

Is he correct in his gut feeling that the murder contract on Jan Lotus was actually the work of a woman?

But if that was so, who was it? What was their motive?

Can he find this mysterious woman and deal with her?

Can he escape the machinations of the drug dealers and escape with his life?

This exciting novel is published by The Book Guild at £9.99 and will make a good book to take on your holidays.

It is the fifth Jake Robinson novel.

You can buy it from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, to the right hand side of this review.

Dream Catcher

Dream Catcher is a psychological thriller written by Matthew J. Hancock.

It tells the story of Michael Clocksworth, a man who has all the answers. He, literally, knows everything.

His professional life is well sorted. If he comes face-to-face with a mathematical problem or a question of a scientific nature, it seems that the answers come to him in a flash.

But his personal life is something entirely different, it leaves him totally stumped.

But then there is poor Nicholas Reverie. He is troubled by some particularly horrifying nightmares.

But then his nightmares begin to come true.

Nicholas is desperately seeking help to explain what is happening to him and to bring it to an end, if possible.

He realises that Michael could have the sollution to his problems.

 But will Nicholas be able to find Michael before it is too late?

And should he find him, would Michael actually be able to do anything for him?

This is a genuinely psychological thriller of a novel.

What would it be like to know everything? Would that knowledge do you any good?

Could it change things? Or not?

It's a relativity short book at well under 100 pages and is published by The Book Guild at £7.99.

It's on sale at the That's Books and Entertainment online bookshop (you'll find it to the right of this review.) and if you buy one book this year, please do know that Dream Catcher should be it.

Love in Lindfield

Love in Lindfield is a romantic novel by David Smith.

It centres on Lindfield, which was the home of Charles Kempe.

It relates the tale of Harry. Harry is working for the BBC, researching for locations for a BBC drama that will be set and filmed in rural Sussex.

Whilst in Sussex Harry falls for a savvy and independent local artist called Ellie.

Ellie is undertaking the task of cataloguing what had been the home of the famed Victorian stained glass artist, Charles Eamer Kempe.

This cataloguing was being undertaken under the orders of the current owner of the house, Serena Ross, who is described as being: "unscrupulous and domineering."

Ellie and Harry become involved, unwittingly, in a love triangle that has the potential for a tragic outcome. This love triangle seems to mirror the troubled romantic life of Kempe, himself.

They are unaware that the events that develop are the result of a passion that is both ghoulish and violent, growing from a terrible and insatiable greed.

During his research Harry keeps discovering hitherto unknown facts about the various loves of Kempe.

But Harry's interactions with the Ross family are troublesome, as they are somewhat dysfunctional, to say the least.

This well-written novel contains not only romance, but also mystery, heartbreak and homicide, so there is something for everyone.

It is published by Matador and is available in paperback at £8.99 and hardback at £15.99.

It is available via the That's Books and Entertainment online bookshop, which you will find to the right hand side of this review.

Jake Owen / American Country Love Song / 360 Video

The Trial of Maria Montrecourt

The Trial of Maria Montrecourt is a debut novel by Kay Patrick a thespian (RADA-trained) who has acted on Doctor Who (alongside William Hartnell) and was then an equally influential television director, including 20 years with Coronation Street.

It is 1899, and a young French girl, 18-year-old Maria Montrecourt, arrives in the Northern English town of Harrogate.

She is orphaned, yet is supported by a shadowy and mysterious benefactor.

Whilst Maria is struggling to find her footing in a strange and somewhat alien environment, she finds herself drawn into the early dawning of the battle for the rights of women.

But eventually the son of her benefactor hunts Maria out. And, gradually, over time a hideous and terrible secret begins to emerge.

Events that occurred many years before suddenly re-emerge from the past and these events have the power to alter the life that Maria thought she was living forever.

Soon Maria finds herself accused of monstrous sins and crimes and she finds herself alone, in a dark and dank cell, a guttering candle her only source of light, as she is on trial for her life, accused of a notorious and heinous murder.

Who is the mysterious benefactor? Why are they her benefactor? Why must they remain in the shadows?

Did Maria commit murder? Or was the whole case a ghastly mistake? Or was it something else?

This novel is not merely set in the latter part of the 19th century, it actually takes the reader back to that time, so evocative is the writing.

An ideal summertime read and extremely well priced at only £8.99.

It's published by Matador and is published in support of Alzheimer's Research UK, so every copy you buy (either from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop or elsewhere) you are helping to support Alzheimer's Research UK.)

Diet of Doubt

Diet of Doubt is a love story set amongst the rarified atmosphere of French high cuisine, written by debut author Margaret Christopher.

Lisa Saunders is a freshly qualified catering student. She has a somewhat stormy and unpredictable interview with an internationally renowned master chef, Marcel Peronnaud.

She is shocked but thrilled when he decides to appoint her as the newest trainee at his own restaurant in Paris.

She has to be careful, however, as she is fully aware of his reputation of being a lady's man, with his latest "affaire de cœur" often making the headlines in the tabloid press.

Could she, should she, be the first attractive young woman who enters his life who spurns his amorous advances?

However, all is not quite what it seems. Is Marcel really the Lothario of the haute cuisine demimonde? Or could there a great deal more to this man than his public image?

Whilst travelling through France with Lisa as he records his new cookery programme, she sees a different, much more sensitive side to Marcel.

During the ensuing months Lisa's resolve crumbles and she begins to fall in love with Marcel.

But then evidence comes to light that he may, after all, be nothing more than a player.

Is their romance doomed? Or can a miracle save this culinary "affaire de cœur"?

This is an ideal romantic novel for the holiday reading list so pack it with your sunglasses and your sunscreen!

It's published by Matador in paperback at a very reasonable £8.99 and is, as ever, available from the That's Books and Entertainment bookshop, which you'll find, over there >>>>>> to the right of this review.

Harold's Story The tale of an RAF Armourer in WWII

Harold's Story The tale of an RAF Armourer in WWII is the true story of Harold Marsh.

Harold's cousin, Daphne Davison discovered a collection of old audio recordings on a series of tapes.

The recordings were made by Harold so that his grandchildren would know of his part in the fight against the Nazi and their Axis allies.

Like many service veterans, Harold had not welcomed the opportunity to speak of what trials and tribulations he went through. But unlike most other veterans, Harold actually took the time and trouble to make an audio record of his experiences.

Daphne has merely transcribed the words of her cousin Harold. So the book is entirely his work.

It is also well, illustrated with photographs from the family album.

The story begins with Harold's early life in Seasalter on the north east coast of Kent, how Harold appeared in a carnival dressed as a penny collecting box and his sister dressed up as a butterfly.

Harold joined the Seas Scouts and the ordinary Scouts and attended summer camps and generally enjoyed themselves as young boys do.

He relates the amusing tale of how his grandfather, when using a new electric torch instead of his usual candle, attempted to extinguish the torch by blowing it out!

When Harold was about sixteen and a half he had a fancy to join the Royal Navy.However, his father dissuaded him from joining the Navy and suggested that he join the RAF, instead, which is what Harold did, a year or so before the beginning of World War 2.

However, he was too young to join under the Boy's Service scheme, so was advised to wait until he was seventeen and a quarter to join the RAF. Which he duly did.

The letter from the Air Ministry telling him to attend for a series of initiation tests at the Air Ministry in London.

He, and a large number of other young men, met in a large hall and took a number of different tests including a maths test and a medical test.

After the tests they were marched off to a Tube station and thence on to West Drayton in Middlesex where they began their training as RAF recruits.

The next morning they had a very good breakfast and ice cream at lunchtime and Harold began to think he might have made the right choice of military career!

After filling in forms, swearing allegiance to the King and getting a service number (648355) Harold was in the RAF. Complete with his own housewife! (You need to read the book to learn how and why this happened.)

After his initial training he was posted to Shrewsbury, Shropshire, where he was stationed when war was declared on 3rd September 1939.

Eventually he was posted to Pembrey in South Wales were his training as an armourer would commence.

Harold saw service in a variety of locations within the UK and abroad such as Singapore, from which he and his mates were evacuated in the nick of time, eventually arriving on a crowded ship in Columbo, Ceylon, now Sri Lanka.

They made their way to India where they saw service with American-made Mohawk planes which would sometimes shoot through their own propellers if the timing was set incorrectly.

Mention is also made of the problematic dhobi rash the cure for which was worse than the ailment!

The book then moves on to the post war years and is a moving and loving tribute to an extraordinary man and his loving family.

It is published by the Book Guild in hardback at £12.99 and is a very easy to read book.

It's available via the That's Books and Entertainment book shop, which you'll find just over the the right of this site.