A Slice of Life from a Vicar's Wife

Jean Jarvis was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, a market town in the East Midlands and part of the Portland estate within the Dukeries.

Her working life has been spent in schools in Worksop and Sheffield. She lived through the time when Britain was recovering from World War II. It was the time of Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley & His Comets.

She met and married the curate and became his wife and mother of two children.

During this time, she met John Betjeman, a friend of her husband. She acquired his fun name, “The Smasher”.

Her love of art and music continued throughout her life, and she became a church organist. Her love of painting is a set of fourteen stations of the cross, which was on show for a short time in Derby Cathedral.

This is the story of a long and happening life, told in slices.

A Small Tale of the Great Circle

While the First World War is regularly depicted by the nature of its horror, it was also a period whereby the excitement of inventions and the suggestion of an exciting time to come churned up the aspirations of some. Add to this the imagining of a treasure hunt in an exotic location and the excitement squashed fear.

All you had to do was survive, to learn how to sail. But there was the small matter of the interloper who could make the enterprise so much easier to accomplish. But that man was self-evidently unscrupulous, not to say demonic; it could all be sunk so easily by antagonism so hard to suppress. They all relied on the other and no one was being completely frank. They all lied, as we do.

A Smuggler's Snare

Tracey Foley leads an adventurous, suspenseful life, smuggling marijuana to the USA. The trails and tribulations of this dangerous and challenging lifestyle include attacks by pirates intent on killing and looting what they could. Shootouts, threatening to ram the attacking boat, the thrill of the chase and hope of the winds and seas picking up. One danger over, the next was the weather being typhoon season. Every risky day was forgotten when Mother Nature demonstrated its beauty in the calm, serene sailing days with albatrosses, dolphins, humpbacks and killer whales and playful sea otters. Hearts were in mouth when making landfall to offload, the coastguard being a smuggler’s snare. Read about the ingenious diversion plan and missions accomplished. Also, all hope was with the off-loaders making the rendezvous, escaping detection so the mother load made it safely. Many, many what ifs. Payday was also another risk. Will they be able to smuggle luggage loads of $100 greenbacks safely offshore or be intercepted? Job completed or 25 years in jail? A Smuggler’s Snare. 

A Soldier's Conscience

When a soldier has trouble accepting the acts of the regime he serves, how much can his conscience take? What should he do? Could he betray his comrades? These are the questions that faced a young Wehrmacht soldier, after being posted to a top secret base in France. After helping the civilian French resistance, the former soldier must reinvent himself and join the Italian partisans. If these resistance members found out his true identity, he could forfeit his life. With potential enemies all around him, can he betray his fellow countrymen and survive the war unscathed?

A Spider's Tale

Being the only young spider around, Tom is lonely and in need of a friend. He decides to set off on an adventure into the farmhouse, to try and befriend one of the inhabitants. Tom quickly learns that humans and their pet dogs don’t seem to share the same quality of kindness or desire for his friendship. Tom is beginning to think he may be lucky to make it out alive.

A Spoondrift of Pearls

This lyrical collection of poems is inspired by the tiny island of Eilean Bàn, lying off the Isle of Skye, the final home to Gavin Maxwell, author of Ring of Bright Water.
Lesley Kahney worked as a volunteer warden on the island for many months, observing the otters, seals and dolphins; absorbing the rhythms of the sea, clouds and nature.
Vivid and rich in description, the poems capture the detail in nature. We catch glimpses of a vanishing Scotland with bothies, otters and selkies. Using metaphor, symbolism, and mythology, her poems connect with the history and mystery of the island. Whether depicting seagulls, primroses or seals; the themes of life, death, hope, and impermanence linger at the heart of the poems.
With language that is both tender and raw, an emotional journey is taken through the ordinary and gilded with the microscope of the extraordinary. Here is an invitation to immerse yourself in the scent of sea mists and bluebells, and to give your attention in every moment to being part of nature. Whether a fan of Gavin Maxwell or not, these poems will speak to anyone who likes nature or to be by the sea.

A Spring Tale

With the cold and dark days of winter far behind now, the wonderful smell of spring in the air and the warmth from the sun’s rays, the first wild daffodils starting to unfold their bright yellow flowers, the smell of the primroses, the carpets of wood anemones, the bright yellow celandines, the smell from the wild violets to name but a few, just filled your heart with joy. Read on to find out the many wonders that spring time can bring.

A Squirrelly Tangle

A Rusty Tales Book

When a storm blows their tree down, our three young red squirrels are taken by one big mistake, far away from home. 

Join them on their journey back, leaping and flying from one adventure to another…and making new friends along the way. 

A Squirrelly Tangle is a poem for everyone who loves the wonderful wildlife we share our world with.

A Story of Hope and Happiness

This is a story of triumph over adversity – an absorbing, thought-provoking, sometimes amusing but often heart-rending account of British businesswoman Rosemary Bidwell’s struggles to set up and run an orphanage in Sierra Leone, West Africa, for orphaned street children – youngsters whose parents had been savagely killed in a truly awful civil war.

Read how, against seemingly insurmountable odds, Rosemary founded the Cotton Tree Children’s Trust charity in 2006 and set about raising thousands of pounds through donations, sponsorship, talks and myriad fund-raising events to give 20 African children a second chance in life.

Through her charity, Rosemary provided her charges not only with a roof over their heads, regular meals, clothing and general welfare and educational support, but love and affection.

Read, too, how Rosemary had to overcome all manner of obstacles on the way to achieving her goal: everything from corruption, bribery, fraud and interrogation by police for 11 hours without diplomatic representation to being falsely accused of child trafficking and suffering a suspected heart attack and having to be airlifted home.

Despite the trials and tribulations, Rosemary has overcome the many and varied setbacks she encountered over a period of 18 years. Today, thanks to her dedication, perseverance and Christian beliefs, the Cotton Tree children can now face the future with confidence and know that they have been given an opportunity to prosper in life that, sadly, has been denied to so many other Sierra Leone children.

A Story to Tell; A Secret to Keep

Family secrets are never a good thing – or are they?

A Story to Tell: A Secret to Keep is the compelling debut novel by Fiona Rich. This domestic noir is full of emotional depth, that slowly builds suspense leaving the reader hungry to delve deeper into the complex and challenging lives of Tim, Libby and Josh and learn more about the secrets that the family hold. It is a story full of intrigue and plot twists that will keep you guessing until the end.

Each of the main characters have faced something traumatic in their lives, they all have their own dark secret that impacts on them psychologically; a secret that could damage the relationships of those closest to them. But will the choices that each of them make to resolve their personal crisis and overcome their psychological traumas release them from their inner turmoil, or lock them in an endless conflict of guilt and deception?

A Strange Awakening

This is the story of a young boy growing up and how, although he is not aware of it at the time, he is destined for something beyond his wildest dreams. Since he was young, strange and unusual things have often seemed to happen to him: strangers who appear to know him; dreams and fantasies that merge with reality; and strange coincidences in which the events of his life draw in and interweave with the lives of many around him.

Torn between Australia and England, it seems as though the map of his life has already been laid out for him. But life has so much more in store for him than he ever imagined. Even if it lies beyond his understanding, he has no choice but to go along for the ride.

A Stranger's Keep

Michael’s world crumbled the week after his honeymoon; his wife was murdered, his best friend betrayed him, and in his line of work, no trust meant death.

With no one to trust, Michael lived in peaceful solitude, till a stranger stumbled into his home and led him to the truth behind his wife’s murder.

Chased by those who murdered her parents for reasons she couldn’t explain, Abigail found shelter in the house of a stranger, unbeknownst to her, she had just stumbled into the lion’s den.

Could he love her and his late wife together? Could he forgive her connection with the death of his wife? Did they ever have a chance at all?

Life gives us chances, it’s our choice to make use of them, or hold on to the past…