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Finding Myself
In the second book of this ongoing series, Royce continues his journey of self-discovery from age 14 to 18, as trauma lurks trying to hide him from himself.
Navigating life’s pains, strains and hardships while attempting to find oneself is a winding path travelled as best one can. Though often unaware, Royce moves slowly yet steadily forward despite the darkness. Dangers explode without warning - hidden perils that scar his soul and edge him further away from himself.
Not wanting to lose himself, Royce needs his inner warrior. He needs love - for himself and the world around him - though the concept of love remains unclear, given his parents’ hateful expressions of pain. Thankful for what little love comes his way, Royce intuits its importance. For it is love that helps one remember the self that dwells within. Being harsh or unkind to oneself betrays the heart of self-love.
Through his ongoing trials, Royce journeys toward the light of self-understanding. It is only by embracing one’s full humanity that true healing can begin.
£9.99 -
From Dhobie’s Bight to Duntroon
Dan Simpkins, although born in Narrandera on the Murrumbidgee River in the south west of New South Wales in 1942, spent his childhood and formative years on the far north coast of the state. Because of his father’s nomadic lifestyle, he attended five different one-teacher bush primary schools, so small that on two separate occasions when larger families relocated and the little schools had to close, his education proceeded by correspondence. Stability was achieved with the award of a state bursary allowing attendance over five years at the Lismore High School. Dan worked as a bank teller in Canberra for twelve months after high school before entering the Royal Military College, Duntroon.
This book commences by tracing Dan’s forbears as they settled into Australia, and then follows his own upbringing from the bush at Dobie’s Bight to the start of his life in the Army. It is another example of the value of hard work and education.
£7.99 -
Sixteen Chickens on a Trampoline
Faye Lippitt is a journalist who found her inspiration in the happy chaos that enveloped their home as she and her husband raised their six children. The six arrived in eight years, sometimes arriving two by two, which made for interesting times.
This book is a series of snapshots of the family at their home in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. It is also about choices. As Faye puts it, when chaos rains, your response is your choice. Laugh? Cringe? Cry? Laughter feels a whole lot better.
It’s the author’s hope that busy parents will steal five minutes of the day to read one of the stories, and another five to write their own in the back pages of the book. For time flies, and memories fade and the things our children do and say are crazy enough and precious enough to keep forever.
Faye, and her husband Greg, now live in the Caribbean and are blessed with enough grandchildren to keep the laughter coming.
£7.99 -
Kick Ass
Kick Ass: Changing the Odds through Faith, Will, and Hard Work is a powerful narrative of resilience and determination. The author recounts her journey following a catastrophic accident that left her paralyzed from the neck down, a condition akin to that of Christopher Reeve. In her darkest hour, she turned to Christ, whose response marked the beginning of a remarkable turnaround.
Her head therapist, upon her departure from acute rehab, confessed that he initially doubted her chances of recovery. Despite this, she defied expectations.
Evie, a Michigan State University graduate, furthered her education by obtaining an MBA on a grant from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She broke barriers as the only female director in the aerospace sector of Allied Signal.
Her steadfast faith in Christ provided the strength needed to navigate through her life’s crises. Now a mother of two and grandmother of three, she cherishes the life she has been able to resume, despite its limitations. These restrictions once hindered her from golfing for 11.5 years. However, after discovering Balance of Nature, she joyously returned to golf, a beloved activity she thought lost to her, completing the last piece of her recovery puzzle.
£6.99 -
My Life, and Its Ups and Downs
Who would have thought that growing up could be such fun? Especially in a village where you knew everyone, and we all looked out for each other. It appears with today’s hardships and crime that the fifties were the best years to be alive. It was safe to walk about the streets, even as a five-year-old at school. The pace of life was a lot slower and more genteel. Not so many cars were on the roads, and jobs were easy to change if you didn’t like the one you were in.
In this heartwarming memoir, Anna Goddard takes us through the ups and downs of her life journey, from her humble beginnings in a Kentish village to her varied career pursuits, whirlwind romances, and the joys and challenges of raising a young family. With refreshing candour and humour, Anna reflects on coming of age in post-war Britain, training as a nurse, her unplanned twin pregnancy, and navigating young motherhood. As times change, so do attitudes, fashions, and relationships. Through it all, Anna retains her wit, warmth, and lust for life.
Brimming with nostalgia and hard-won wisdom, this is the story of an ordinary yet extraordinary woman making her way through extraordinary times. Her account offers a window into a bygone era and reminds us of the resilience of the human spirit.
£6.99 -
Hanging on the Ledge of Life
Out of the ranks of the middle class, wise honest leaders will rise.
Truckers, labourers, bikers, night club bouncers, football players and soldiers.
Read this book to see how such people who once lived by a code can make North America great again by embracing new careers in religion and or politics.
£9.99 -
The Essence and Duke Ellington
I worked, toured, and recorded with Duke Ellington for the last two years of his life – a period that was the highlight of my career. In my memoirs, The Essence and Duke Ellington, I aim to convey the spirit within the heart of the jazz musician, particularly Duke Ellington. I want to show what drove him and other musicians, past and present, to play and compose this wonderful music. I also depict Duke Ellington’s greatness as a human being, not as some super-human being, which he may well have been. I recount stories and reflect on my own experiences, expounding on what working with and learning from him and so many other jazz greats has meant to me.
£12.99 -
Yarns and Laughter
Imagine seeing the beauty of an outback sunrise or sunset, native desert animals doing what they do: scaring the hell out of you! While you are reading the yarns I have lived. The desert and the traditional Aboriginal people who live there won my respect and heart. The native animals were delightful to observe in their natural habitat. My favourites are the wedge tail eagles, who fly majestically in the sky, and the emus. The emu has it down pat! The female lays the eggs, and the male takes over from there with the incubating and raising the chicks. Have fun reading my yarns.
£8.99 -
From Crash to Cash, Caravans and Cruises
In this concise yet profound memoir, I share a true and vivid snapshot of a transformative period in my life, spanning from 1993 to the present. This journey begins with a life-altering car crash, an event that reshaped my existence in unimaginable ways. The book candidly explores my arduous path to recovery, weaving together the pain and the unexpected humour that accompanied me along the way.Delving into four key areas of my experiences, I offer a rich tapestry of insights gained. The narrative doesn’t shy away from the raw and real, exploring various behavioural patterns and challenging situations I encountered, and my efforts to understand and confront them.Encouraged by friends and colleagues who found my stories both intriguing and inspiring, I was motivated to pen this book. My aim has been to encapsulate the essence of these experiences, maintaining a gripping narrative that leaves readers eagerly turning each page, hungry for more.
£6.99 -
Hijabs, Hitchhiking and Hangovers: Lessons from Iran
‘Are you foreign? Why would you come to Iran? Please tell your friends back home that we are nothing like the Western media.’
These were among the phrases that Rose would hear almost daily in Tehran.
Hijabs, Hitchhiking and Hangovers: Lessons from Iran is a coming-of-age travel adventure. At the age of 20, Rose was part of the first group of Cambridge students to study in Iran after Iran re-opened its borders to the West. Navigating Foreign Office warnings and nuclear sanctions, she was at first a rather reluctant traveller, overwhelmed by the culture clashes, language barriers and Islamic law.
Through a collection of short stories, Rose tells of how she makes a home in Iran, experiences unexpected kindness and gets to grips with the Farsi language. At times amusing and at others, tragically telling of the harsh realities of Iranian society, Hijabs, Hitchhiking and Hangovers is a gripping account of self-reliance and the often dangerous impact of politics on travel abroad.
£9.99 -
Memories of a Clackmannan Lad 1947 – 1958
A childhood experience, from the 1940s post-war infant years to the raging 1950s. My mother told me that I had actually come into the world with a bang. It happened during one very early morning in 1943 when German bombers were flying overhead, and the spent rounds of anti-aircraft bullets were clattering on the tiled roof above her. Dad also said that he could hear bombs dropping somewhere between Edinburgh and Glasgow. So, it seems that I had come into the world with a bang! A few years later, I was to enter another experience: the teenage years.
£9.99 -
Walking the Camera in the South Pennines
The South Pennines covers the hill country between Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire, easily accessible but less well known than other walking hot spots. This is an area of high moorland with deep, often wooded valleys and drained by fast-flowing rivers such as the Colne and Calder.
Early textile industry took place in isolated farms and small collections of houses dotted around the countryside, where income from farming often marginal land was supplemented by handloom weaving; the workshops often ran along the top storey of a terrace of cottages with the typical rows of mullioned windows.
There were so many of these isolated settlements with people needing to travel between them and to the cloth markets, such as Halifax’s magnificent PIece Hall, that there is a dense network of footpaths, so inviting for exploration on foot.
Later, textile production moved to water-driven mills, now abandoned but providing a unique landscape as they are being reclaimed by nature, such as at Crimsworth Dene or Healey Dell. Steam power using the plentiful water and coal resources meant that huge factories could be built for textile production; these are themselves now being adapted for other uses, including housing such as the Titanic Mill at Slaithwaite.
Stuart and his wife Jean spent many hours walking the paths and byways of this magical area, with Stuart’s camera recording the many beautiful and interesting sights they encountered. This book is a testament to a couple’s love of rambling for almost 40 years in the magical South Pennines.
£12.99