Lady with Edelweiss

Human ashes in a tea caddy, a baby delivered in a snowstorm, worm pie, a priest with a passion for airbrushing. How much do we know about our friends, our families, or even ourselves? This debut collection exposes the strangeness of everyday lives, embracing the light and the dark sides of human nature.

Uncomfortably honest and direct, these stories reveal the fears and passions of the mind through their characters, places and situations, an exploration of the boundaries between fantasy and reality. These are people we all know. 

A rich potpourri of character and plot in this intriguing (and sometimes dark) collection of tales from a talented storyteller.

Angela Locke. Author of Dreams of the Blue Poppy (Robert Hale) etc

Steph Newham has empathy with all her characters so presents her stories as rounded pieces for her readers’ enjoyment. Where she takes on characters from history her research is careful and enriches her stories, which range across many subjects.

Vivien Jones. Poet, author. Co-editor Southlight Magazine

Short but not sweet, Steph Newham writes vignettes that blaze out, illuminated briefly by the photo-flash of her pen. And when the light blinks out, you are left wondering as the scene presents itself again like the complexity of good wine, each time leaving a different taste.

Tony Walker. Author of A Christmas Ghost, etc and The Classic Ghost Story podcast.

These stories are atmospheric, the characters well-drawn. In ‘Unwise Words’, I felt the young mother’s regret and shivered in fear as the bonfire was lit. The sights and smell in the four Spanish stories took me to that country and I laughed out loud at the manuring of the roses in The Sand Walk. Something here for everyone.

Gwen Kirkwood. Author of sixteen Scottish novels and novellas (Joffee Books)

Ladybirds - Tales on the Wing

As a youngster I loved getting, and subsequently owning, a brand new ‘Ladybird’ book. I especially liked the smell of the pristine pages as I turned them for the very first time. There was an aroma to their ‘inks’ that was distinctly ‘Ladybird’. What a joy! What a childhood memory!

These new tales came into being from the front covers of specific ‘Ladybird’ books, so to them I am clearly indebted. I just let my imagination do the rest once the seed was sown. They are both weird and wonderful, and abound with fact and fiction, truth and lies, deceit and lust. Very unlike the little books themselves, and if you take the trouble you will surely see what I mean. 

Lark the Shark

Everything you think you know about sharks is about to change! Meet Lark the friendly shark.

Lasseter's Truth

Jack Johnson is both lucky and unlucky. He survives the Vietnam war as a decorated helicopter pilot, marries the girl he left behind, and lands on his feet at Australia’s leading advertising agency, as a launch pad to spectacular success in the industry. Lucky, you might say.

But luck can change. Jack is hit with a bogus criminal charge that chases him into the Great Australian Desert, in a quest for Lasseter’s fabled gold reef.

But Jack is not the only one looking. A mysterious Chinese company called Triple Eight is buying up leases in the desert, and people are dying.

Back home, he leaves not only a heartbroken wife but a beautiful and very determined daughter who has had her own problems. Expelled from Australia’s most prestigious public school, Tess Johnson vows to clear her father’s name.

Lasseter’s Truth follows them both as they take on the odds. A story that ranges from the greed of the nineties, into a famous legend of Australia’s outback, with a compelling climax for our own time.

Last Ghost To Kill

Last Ghost to Kill is a powerful book that delves into the often-overlooked pain of parent abandonment. It offers a safe space for those who suffer in silence to share their experiences and begin the healing process from their own traumas. With a compassionate and understanding approach, this book seeks to start an important conversation and provide the tools needed for individuals to overcome their abandonment issues. Whether you are struggling to cope with the emotional aftermath of parental abandonment or seeking to support a loved one who is, Last Ghost to Kill is an essential read that will help you navigate the complex emotions and find a path towards healing and wholeness.

Last Hong Kong Summer

Set in suburban To Kwa Wan, Kowloon, Hong Kong, in the summer of the political riots, John, Paul, George, and Richard – the four Beatles, as they are known – find themselves caught up in the murder of a family member of a friend, plus a suicide and domestic violence. They begin to learn that schoolyard practical jokes have unforeseen and unpleasant consequences in the adult world outside of the classroom. They also encounter an unlikely middle-aged adversary, their old school’s psychologist, Mr Zhao. As the allegations and counter-allegations of violence threaten to spiral out of everyone’s control, how will the four get out of trouble?

Last Keeper's Lighthouse Stories

The very nature of lighthouses captures the imagination. Being marooned on different lighthouses throughout my career has produced many memorable incidents and humorous stories. Diverse locations like Lundy, Alderney, Wolf, Sark, all have something unique to offer. Rock tower lighthouses, land lights or island lighthouses, each one is different. Cooped up on a tower and being pounded by heavy seas is not only exhilarating, but frightening as well. Fog signals can play a huge part in a good duty period and the relief for going ashore is always welcomed. The characters are what makes this book such a good read. It gets your chuckle chops in overdrive, especially at some of the antics on the lights. A month’s duty is filled with incidents and the constant change in weather conditions has an effect on everything that you do. These stories will show how hardship goes hand in glove with humour whilst aboard.

Latitude 55°02’ North, Longitude 1°42’ West

A routine flight meets an unexplainable accident in the same way as an RAF jet did a few years ago. Can anyone provide answers? Are there any answers at all? Only a special squad, made of misfits and weirdos, might be able to deal with the problem.

This extraordinary, thought-provoking, multifaceted, earthly-plot, will grip you from beginning to end and beyond with its intriguing, intricate and vivid prose. Fasten your seat belt and prepare to be exhilarated.

Laura's Year

In January 1976, it is an excited, but nervous family of four who board a Jumbo jet, to leave England to begin a new life in a small town, on the Persian Gulf in Iran.

Adrian, an ex-Royal Naval Officer, thought this new job in Iran would be a chance to earn big money, and although neither parent had wanted to disrupt their children’s education, they thought it was worth the risk, giving them both valuable life experiences, and a chance to see ‘something of the world.’

Once settled in their new home, with the children happily enrolled in an excellent international school, they immediately made friends with like-minded ex-pats, and got involved in an active and well-established social scene, with parties and functions most weekends, and daily trips to their ‘club’ in town, which housed a bar, and swimming pool.

Caroline and Alex, having made friends at school, as well as with some local children, who lived in mud huts, in the desert at the end of their road, also seemed happy with their lot, but Laura becomes pregnant, which threatens to disrupt their idyllic lives, and events that followed, appear to have changed Laura’s, once devoted and loving husband’s feelings towards her.

But, had Laura changed? And that was why her previously, caring husband didn’t fancy her anymore.

How was she to get their relationship back on track, when there were so many exciting distractions and choices which held his attention, which didn’t include her?

Lawrence the Lawnmower

You might think a lawnmower’s life would be boring and uneventful. Think again! These are the adventures of a lawnmower called Lawrence. Lawrence has a special friend, another mower called Laura. They share a shed with many other garden tool friends. Join Lawrence and his friends as they have their adventures. Encounters with Australian wildlife, not all of them friendly! Travelling to other places, different gardens and meeting other garden tools, some of them are not too friendly at first either.

So open the book. Join Lawrence and his friends. See how exciting and adventurous a lawnmower’s life can be.

Lazy Bee Meets The Queen

Bees have declined significantly in numbers through the use of insecticides and vanishing wildflower meadows. As we all depend on insects such as bees to pollinate our fruit, vegetables and flowers we must help them to survive. Beekeeping has become more popular in recent years, and this book is intended to educate the younger generation on the importance of bees in our lives. No apples and pears or beautiful flowers to cheer us up, how sad would that be?

Le Grand Tarot de L’amour

Everybody has a different concept and opinion about love and feels differently while experiencing it. This love tarot was created to help you contact your spiritual leaders when you love, feel, seek, grow, and heal. It could be the mirror of your life and existence; or be the print of your thoughts, feelings and emotions that shows the most accurate picture of your whole being. It provides help in finding your destiny, waking your spiritual memories, in shedding some light on your personal life-plan and exploring your spiritual plans.

Today, a tarot reading is as common as going to yoga. They are both practices that quiet the mind and bring you into a state of higher listening, which helps you to become the active observer of your present experience. Doing so allows intuition to blossom as you become adept at finding answers to life's biggest, smallest, and most interesting questions.

This love tarot book containing historical figures will help you to understand the mysterious world of tarot better and gain a bit deeper self-recognition, it pushes you forward in unexpected ways, unleashing possibilities that you can scarcely imagine. You can consult the cards as part of a daily self-care ritual, use them for interactive self-reflection, or rely on them as a tool for thinking through particular challenges or questions.

Tarot is not barely a tool of fortune telling for you, but also a system of initiation which brings self-recognition; you can use the very depth of your creativity; you can understand the messages from your passed-away loved ones and you can receive signs in connection with your health and well-being.