A Midwife's Memoir

Following a long career as a midwife and then a community midwife, Carol retired in 2016, but she found she missed the excitement of bringing new life into the world, the joy and fulfillment of helping mothers to be, and the sheer pleasure of working in a small community.

She decided to record her experiences in this book as a tribute to all the wonderful mums and dads she gave help and advice to; some of the highs and lows, amusing and sometimes heart-breaking stories, and the unusual and unexpected events that occurred during that long career.

A Mind Behind

Embark on an extraordinary journey alongside Laura as she ventures from the shores of England to the vibrant landscapes of Italy.

Set against the backdrop of Italy’s struggle for independence, A Mind Behind unravels the compelling story of one woman’s courageous odyssey.

A Mindful Afflatus

Based on a true story of a very strange two-week eerie phenomenon that took place in an old flat in south London. Live my thoughts and feelings around the scary happenings as the uninvited guest gradually consumes my daily life.

A Monkey Called Smoochie

Smoochie had five sisters and a brother, and he’d lived in a huge forest tree with his mum and dad his whole life! The chatter they made could be heard right across the treetops; so much laughter, games and playtime. But sometimes he would hear his parents getting angry and yelling at each other too.

One day when Smoochie saw his father leaving their tree and his mother sitting high up in their tree with her head in her hands, Smoochie started to worry. When his father didn’t come home, he began to worry even more.

Find out what happens next. How does Smoochie and his family adjust to the new situation?

Join Smoochie to learn about separated parents.

A Mother's Tale

Sean Sheridan was born into a poor Irish family in the North of Ireland but was destined to travel. His adult life was spent in the world of investment management in the City of London and Luxembourg, a far cry from his native roots. This is a story about growing up in poverty in a strict Catholic environment during the Troubles where priests, poverty and the police were never too far away. It is also a salute to an indomitable mother who overcame so many challenges and setbacks in life and to those whose lives she touched and enhanced. This is the first of, hopefully, many novels and he is currently working on a play about the ritual of Wakes in rural Donegal in the ’70s that he hopes will make it to the London stage in the near future.

A Mozart Kind of Morning

Jo Stanton has lived all of her adult life in France, scraping together a living as a gardener and musician at one of the most famous chateaux in the Loire valley and caring for her elderly grandmother, but a chance encounter with former concert pianist Henri Arnaud, and his son Thomas, brings an unexpected change to her life. Henri offers her a job restoring his neglected garden in England, where he lives with Thomas, a writer, and their housekeeper Barbara.

Keen to escape the unwanted attentions from one of her colleagues, she agrees. However, the move has more consequences than she anticipated and brings to the fore her troubled past, rekindling supressed nightmares from her childhood. Will she ever be free from the guilt of what she has done?  As she falls in love with the garden and the family she has come to know, it becomes increasingly hard to hide her secret. But there is one man who is determined to uncover her past and help her, no matter what.

A story of loss, healing, and, ultimately, true love.

A Nasty Way To Die

Revenge and retribution have struck down four violent men. Investigations into their past had shown them to have been officers in Salazar's feared secret police. They had committed monstrous crimes against innocent people during that repressive regime.

Now was the time of reckoning and they are being systematically killed in England, Portugal, The Netherlands and Germany - but by whom?

Met detectives Sam Redwood and Julia Tremaine travel to Lisbon to join the Policia Judicaria in the search for the killers. 

A Natural Pause

Michael learns he is dreadfully unhappy but he is in the middle of his life. He has a wife, children, a job and responsibilities galore. People count on him! How can he just stop? How can he correct the situation? He is not prepared to be tied to this situation, so he decides to face his fear. His methodology is unusual to say the least. He must relive some of his past, navigate a new relationship and convince people he is not insane. Does Michael succeed? Does he achieve his goal?

A New Drive-Relational-Neuroscience Synthesis for Psychoanalysis

This book critically examines the shift from instinctual drive theory to relational theory in psychoanalysis, based on the premise that drive formulations are incompatible with relational configurations. It demonstrates that the original shift was misguided, based on misinterpretations and misconceptions of Freudian theory, informed by a problematic dualist social constructionist and relativist philosophical stance which sees mind as somehow disconnected from biological processes, therefore requiring a different epistemological approach. It illustrates how recent attempts at synthesis, and attempts to combine psychoanalysis and neuroscience, have inherited these earlier problems, leaving them equally unable to withstand critical scrutiny. As a result, this book aims to make a positive contribution by presenting a new drive-relational-neuroscience synthesis that is both philosophically coherent and empirically compatible with recent developments in psychology and the neurosciences. Specifically, the new synthesis: (1) is based on a conceptually sound realist philosophy which posits mind as extended and embodied; (2) emerges from a re-examination of Freud's writings by demonstrating how instinctual drives and relational strivings constitute interlinked aspects of an overall motivational structure; (3) includes a much-needed clarification of the role of the central concepts of evolutionary theory and motivational conflict; (4) is strengthened and supported by appropriately interpreted current neuroscientific research; and (5) addresses implications for psychotherapeutic theory. In this way, the book is clearly located within the broader context of integrating psychoanalytic theory into mainstream developments in contemporary psychology, including neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, embodied/hot cognition, personality, and psychotherapy.

A New Home and Other Stories

What could happen when you leave behind the life you have known and travel to a faraway country? Would you go to a place where everything feels different, and no one speaks like you do? Have you ever thought about what that must be like? Join Lina and her family on their adventures to a new home. This historical memoir will take you on a road of fulfilling dreams and the troubles along the way.

A New Life in the Sky

Thankfully the loss of a child from any cause is very rare. That said, brain tumours are one of the more common forms of childhood cancers with significant morbidity and mortality rates. Treatments can be lengthy, brutal, and with a huge amount of emotional fallout for the patient, their extended family, friends, and classmates. Siblings suffer immeasurably. Many children die due to either the tumour or complications of the treatments.

This book was born of the need to help those most affected by the sorrow of loss. It is structured to help children, particularly siblings but also friends, to remember the good times, rather than the bad, as a tool in order to assist a positive progression through the stages of grief.

Parents who have suffered loss, teachers, and parents of classmates will find this book helpful in dealing with children affected by the loss of a child dear to them from whatever cause. The book has a positive approach to the aftermath of loss and as such will appeal to anyone seeking to come to terms with such a loss, or to better understand and help your own loved ones.

A Nice Quiet Life

This is the story of my grandfather’s life in the Merchant Navy, originally written by him during his retirement. He was a Marine Engineer from 1908 to 1945. This book describes a lifetime of adventure, hardship, and joy on all the different ships that he sailed, from grand liners to rusty hulks. He survived the two world wars, the depression of the 1930s, and at one time he even took his family to sea with him.

He sailed on the Oceanic, the Olympic, the Britannic, and almost sailed on the Titanic. During the First World War he spent some time as a volunteer tugboat engineer at the Gallipoli Landings and later saved a ship from sinking from a torpedo strike. During the Second World War he survived two shipwrecks from torpedo strikes and avoided another sinking, thanks to the Enigma code breakers. He met a whole variety of people throughout the world during his career and often gave humorous talks in many ports that he visited around the world.

This book also gives some details on the ships he sailed and a small window into the events, and the world at those times.