Me

Ron Pearson was born in Bramley, Leeds on August 12, 1924. He began writing this book on August 12, 2021, his 97^th birthday. After a childhood beset by illness, he left school at 14, and took a job packing parcels in a multiple tailoring factory, not for him. He moved on to packing parcels general muggins at an advertising agency at 50 pence a week, which he loved. His career in advertising was interrupted by a four-and-a-half-year spell in the army on ‘Special Operations’. Returning to civvy street, his career culminated in being appointed Managing Director and then Chairman of one of Yorkshire’s most respected advertising agencies. He was a local actor for almost 50 years including the renowned Bradford Alhambra and Playhouse.

There are some sad moments outnumbered by many hilarious ones. Ron’s beloved wife, Pat, died in 2017 after 66 years of happy marriage.

The list of ‘celebrities’ he has met is impressive, including Princess Margaret, Prince Charles, Hollywood’s Marlene Dietrich, George Raft, Sir Ralph Richardson, George Best, Jackie Charlton, Harry Worth, Alan Bennett etc.

Love Beyond Love

This very personal and moving love story takes us from the anticipation of the very first date through to the moment of the very last breath. It encompasses sheer joy, romance, fortitude and sadness. But love and memories live on forever because this is a Love Beyond Love. – Jan Smith (a friend)

Lives of the Luberon

Stanislas Yassukovich is an investment banker who spent some 20 years visiting and living with his family in the Luberon, the region of France made famous by the late Peter Mayle's seminal work, A Year in Provence. In his new book, Yassukovich chronicles his experiences, impressions and adventures in this unique corner of La Belle France, together with reminiscences of the fascinating and cosmopolitan characters who reside there permanently or part time. His anecdotal evocation of the great variety of elements that make this region one of the most sought after, in a country rich in holiday destinations, will entertain both those who know the area and those who don't yet. Malika Moine is a Provençal artist who has published several books of her water colours in Marseille. Her illustrations of the villages of the Luberon make the book, and the region, even more irresistible.

Lines from New Zealand

On a dull Tuesday morning in early October 2008, I lost my battle to save our business and property—a French provincial styled restaurant and homestead on a vineyard estate—and with it my job, my reputation, my balance, my clout, my life’s savings, my mind—my life as I knew it. Afterwards, I began writing like a madwoman, and in time a book took shape describing a myriad of experiences and the long journey back to just being me.

After our epic loss, we lived for a year in one of the highest houses in Christchurch with an unparalleled view of the Pacific Ocean and the curved coastline. That house of Up Above Down Under and those mercurial skies saved my life. We now live in The House of Cluck-Cluck where I still spend endless hours in our rambling country garden as I dig in the soil tenaciously for answers about my life.

Life After Reconstruction

Life After Reconstruction is my story after genital reconstructive surgery. It follows the events of what happened in my life after I wrote my first book, Wings for the Butterfly, published in Germany and in Poland. After the book came out, I thought I would be famous on the spot. Instead, I ended up in a worse situation than I was in; from living in my own flat to being in a refugee home. In the refugee home, which was not supportive for the process of sexual healing after reconstruction, I met up with other forms of traumas, perhaps worse than my own. The result of the hostile environment in the refugee home was the tension that heightened the already frightened sexual restoration, leading to numbness once again and even more rage which eventually became uncontrollable. In order to understand myself better, I became involved with trying to understand the people I came to live with, trying to understand their problems, to the point of understanding that we are all looking for pure love that was denied to us in the formative years.

Just One Word, Just One Smile: Life and Love After an Aneurysm

Just One Word, Just One Smile – A Memoir

An empty-nester couple, Sue and Tony, are travelling independently through South America when Sue endures a brain aneurysm. No one chooses Bolivia – the poorest country in South America – for brain surgery, but Sue has no choice. Weeks pass in South American hospitals, waiting on surgeries that threaten the very life that they try to save. Eventually, Sue is well enough to be transported back to Australia and spend further weeks in hospitals. When Sue is able to return to her home, Tony’s new role as the carer of a person with a dementia-like condition is glimpsed.

 “A good mix of heartfelt emotion and facts about stroke and associated recovery. It’s also a beautiful tribute to Sue that left me reaching for the tissues.”

Jesus In My Corner

Jesus in My Corner, written by Andy Flute, chronicles his struggle to overcome a myriad of life-long challenges with violence and alcohol. For over 30 years, violence and alcohol were Andy's daily bread until, one day, by the power of prayer, he managed to achieve what no amount of alcohol or prison incarceration could ever achieve. When he was at the point of death, intoxicated with alcohol following a ten-day binging session, I went to see my old mate and prayed for him with Pastor Steve.

Andy was fighting the demon of alcohol and he was on the ropes, down for the count. Andy, a former captain of the English boxing team and British Middleweight title challenger alongside sparring partner Chris Eubank and other world class fighters, knew what brutal fighting was all about. This fight was different, one he couldn't win on his own strength. Andy felt the intense grip and destructive downward spiral alcohol had on his life. Battered and bleeding, with no more strength, he cried out to Jesus.

In a truly miraculous turnaround, Andy found Jesus in his corner and almost instantaneously gave up alcohol. During the bleakest of moments, he experienced a spiritual awakening. Slowly, he found his way through darkest era of his life. He came to believe a power greater than himself in Jesus.

Now with Jesus in his corner, Andy is an active member of Sedgley Community Church. The Bible employs the analogy of wrestling in reference to our warfare with Satan and his hosts. Andy had a fight that only Jesus could referee, this gigantic battle played out until he was baptised in water.

Andy Flute's willingness to share the most intimate aspects of his life was born out of a deep desire to help others addicted to alcohol and violence.
Despite these daunting events, Andy now works hard to live a normal life and raise a family of his own. He regularly attends prison workshops and shares his testimony in local schools. The Lord has made an amazing transformation in his life, He could do the same for you!

His good friend, John Cramphorn

It's Hard to Be Good

Times were hard in the 1940s and early '50s: kids went hungry and food was rationed; some families had to beg, steal or borrow to survive. But Charlie found his own way out. On a routine basis, together with his childhood gang, they became kid grafters (bang into crime). They did what they had to do, providing food to put on their family's table amongst other things. 

In 1953, aged 13, Charlie and his gang were always bunking off school. He went on to make further progress with his life. With his baby face and dressed as an office boy in a blazer, shirt, and tie, he was darting in and out of buildings in the city centre of Liverpool, buildings which provided rich pickings as he raided their cash drawers and safes.

Charlie meets his mentor: an older woman, who was a professional in the business. She teaches him how to rob high-class jewellers of their expensive diamond rings: a well planned-out scene which is typical of the classic, highly rewarding cases of jewellery robberies of the time.

Here's what Charlie has to say about his younger self: 'In 1954 and at the age of fourteen, I was earning more money than a professional adult. I was the richest poor teenager in Liverpool.'

In Search of the Queen of Sheba

The figure of the Queen of Sheba spans religion, history and geography. She came from the South as a queen of trade to embark on an affair which changed the course of humanity. She is an icon, a temptress, a political power. She is claimed by at least two countries, Yemen and Ethiopia, by art and by many societies. She stands for black empowerment. Is she real or did we need to invent her? Sarah Sands, a celebrated British journalist, goes on a quest to find her, ending up setting sail in a warship up the Red Sea on her trail.

Imperfect Recollections

Welcome to the fascinating world of general medical practice in Australia.

This book is a collection of stories from the author’s rich and varied career spanning over 40 years.

During that time, he has been a country GP, delivering babies and doing anaesthetics, a retrieval doctor with the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, worked in the emergency departments of various hospitals and followed his passion of motor sport medicine, especially internationally in the fields of Formula 1 and World Rallying.

The stories are both funny and poignantly sad. They are told in the style that invites the reader to sit down, share a glass of something with the author and tell a few tales, like old friends.

Many of us see ourselves or people we know in these pages… You may be right or you may be wrong, but then that would be telling!

If You Wake at Midnight

This is the story of the greatest scandal inflicted on British servicemen and women in modern times: drug-induced violence and suicide – and an officer determined to find the truth.

It was supposed to be a wonder drug that would save the world from malaria. But soon after Lariam was brought to international markets in the late 1980s, users of this handy, once-a-week pill began to experience shocking side-effects. Yet over the coming decades, as the drug became implicated in ever-increasing acts of unexplained violence, homicide and suicide, the Ministry of Defence continued to force Lariam on tens, or perhaps hundreds, of thousands of unsuspecting people deployed to some of the world’s most dangerous places.

Enduring years of Lariam-induced nightmares, former soldier Andrew Marriott realised something was horribly wrong; not just with the drug itself but with the institutions responsible for its use and safety. So began a journey towards the truth, a truth that vested interests in the United Kingdom and around the globe were determined to conceal.

In a unique exposé of an entirely preventable pharmaceutical disaster, Marriott turns a spotlight on the murky world of clandestine military and industrial research in the United States in which Lariam was developed. With other survivors, including some very courageous women, he undertakes a forensic examination of a scandal extending to the upper echelons of government and the armed forces. A culture of betrayal and dishonour had imperilled those defending our country to the most insidious and silent form of friendly fire.

I Will Protect Her

The cover of this autobiography shows I.R. Dujon at the time of publication mothering her younger, 6-year-old self.

I Will Protect Her details the adolescent years in which Ingrid was subject to tragic child abuse, while the people in charge of her welfare and safety neglected their most basic responsibilities at every point possible. This led to a prolonged period of suffering for her and for so many others. After years of fighting, a full criminal investigation into the crimes was relaunched. Victims were able finally to expose the police and local authorities for their systematic failure to recognise, report, and act upon avoidable and life-altering abuse.

The collation of notes, factual evidence, dates and times as recorded by herself and supported by many others affected, led to the prosecution of one of London’s most notorious paedophiles, who was convicted and sentenced to 24 years in prison.

Only now, after years of counselling, therapy, and personal development, Ingrid has managed to finally close this chapter of her life for good. Today Dujon is a proud mother of five children, all now adults. Dujon’s goal is to share her story and inspire any and everyone who has ever been subject to any form of abuse. Ingrid hopes to educate a wider audience who may not be familiar with the patterns and signs of child abuse, and to paint a detailed picture of how people who are external to an abusive situation can still do so much to prevent or change things for the better.