The Inscrutable Master

This book is a deep insight into the phenomenal exploits and beautiful bowling skills of Hugh Joseph Tayfield, the inscrutable master of spin. He played the noble game of cricket with a gallant heart. The Inscrutable Master brings to the reader the brilliance of Tayfield and his unique place in South Africa and cricket’s history.

‘I am sure Sanjit’s assiduously researched book on Hugh Tayfield, about whom the world knows so little, despite his off spinning style and skills being comparable to Jim Laker, will be a huge success.’

Abbas Ali Baig, former Indian cricketer 

The Growing Pains of a Colonial Boy

This book is the sequel to Peter Hunt’s memoir about his childhood entitled Child of a Bygone Era.Born in Brighton in 1940, it was at the end of the war that his father, a chartered accountant, was sent to develop his company’s office in Hong Kong. There Peter lived with his parents and flourished until, at the age of seven, he was sent back to two boarding schools (preparatory and public) in post-war England.This memoir continues the story of his life from his days at Trinity College, Dublin to a life in London in advertising and marketing through the 1960s and 1970s.To give the reader an idea of the pleasure in reading this memoir, this is a quote from the publisher’s acceptance letter. “We can confidently state that your work was found to be a compelling memoir, full of fantastic takeaways the reader can benefit from. You have expressed your experiences in an incredibly emotive way, conjuring a strong sense of engagement in the reader… The exquisite writing style and honesty with which you detail your experiences make this story one that will intrigue many.The author will be delighted if you receive the same pleasure from reading this book as the publisher would seem to have acquired.

The Gift of Biography

The Gift

Sixteen-year-old Anne faces radical change in her life after a supernatural encounter. When an unusual person makes an unexpected visit, Anne finds she is linked to a decision that was made three hundred years earlier, and her peaceful and predictable life is shaken. She must respond to a complicated request that challenges her own sense of morality and integrity. Anne seeks out help from a local seer and healer who reveals secrets about her birth and her destiny. But will this guidance be enough to help Anne see through the deceptions and traps that have been set for her by nefarious forces?

Behind the pastoral loveliness of the Vermont hills, Anne experiences an invisible world, populated by both good and evil presences who vie for her very soul. A special gift has been given to Anne, but her use of this gift can bring either joy to others or be a curse to all.

The Gift

This is a fascinating story full of hope and passion for a worthy cause. The author has managed to capture a sad story and give it hope, humor, and humility. It is an entertaining and interesting memoir which is strengthened by the author’s personable and engaging authorial voice. There is a striking honesty to the work that allows the reader to elate in the joys and challenges of the author. It is a true case of finding hope in a seemingly hopeless situation. It is written in an accessible and immersive manner with detailed context that transports the reader into the author’s personal journey as well as his career. The book evokes a sense of empathy in the reader. It is enjoyable, thought-provoking, educational and inspirational. This is a lesson for all of us that there is faith, hope and love in some of the darkest moments we go through in our lives. 

The Gatehouse Boy

In The Gatehouse Boy, readers are transported to a distant, misty town on the river, where the sound of industry fills the air. This town is home to a shipyard, where a young boy grows up and shares his experiences of life in a bustling, prosperous place. Through the magic of words, he invites readers on a journey through his past, from his childhood in the shipyard to his adventures in other forgotten places of work. Along the way, he shares tales of happiness, sorrow, excitement, routine, humour, and horror, offering a glimpse into the life of a young man growing up in a time long gone. So, stick on your ovys (overalls), put on your takkities (boots), pull up a seat round the brazier and join the boys doon the yard for a few wee tales.

The Gap Between Two Kingdoms

From a very religious country, Saudi Arabia, I moved to the United Kingdom. I had a cultural shock and I was moved by the details of British lives there. What was my perception? Where have I been? What are the changes that made me a new person after my journey to proceed with my postgraduate studies? Here is my book and there is definitely a gap between the two kingdoms.

The Fascinating History of My Direct Royal Ancestors and Their Descendants

The author traces his direct ancestors for 40 generations, commencing with Egbert Saxon, king of Wessex in generation 1. King Edward III is described in generation 18. He was the last monarch in the author’s Direct family tree. He and his wife, Philippa of Hanault, are the author’s 21 times great grandparents. The author narrates the history of his direct ancestors up to his grandparents in generation 39, from English royalty to Scottish nobility, ending with the Krio elite in the former British colony of Sierra Leone. This was as a result of the acting governor of Sierra Leone, the Scottish Kenneth Macaulay, the author’s 4 times great-grandfather, having a relationship with a liberated African, which led to the birth of the author’s 3 times great-grandmother Charlotte Macaulay, who was of mixed race. The book is an entertaining, fascinating and accessible piece of family history with a wide-ranging scope and engaging manner of dialogue, which will be of interest, not only to historians and genealogists, but also to non-fiction readers in general.

The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man

For most of my life, I have been infected by wanderlust. When I see an airplane flying overhead or a ship on the horizon, I can’t help but ask myself, “I wonder where they are going?” 

Life, as it has evolved, has led me on a journey that is beyond my imagination. I participated in one of the most polarizing events in U.S. history, the Vietnam war. I also was a participant in, quite possibly, the most important event in U.S. labor history, the 1981 air traffic controllers’ strike.

The second of those events led me to an amazing adventure. I lived outside of the United States for nine years. I have crossed the Pacific Ocean 11 times. I have crossed the Indian Ocean seven times. I have crossed the Atlantic Ocean more times than I can count. I have been on six of the seven continents and visited more than 90 countries. Along the way, a brilliant and beautiful young woman decided to become my partner and accompany me on that journey. 

This is the story of that adventure.

The Expert Within

The human mind and how it works, what it thinks and perhaps more importantly, why it thinks what it thinks, is a subject that has fascinated humans from time immemorial. The first scholar to tackle this subject was Aristotle, but he was certainly not the first to wonder and ponder the mysteries of human perception, comprehension and interpretation. Since then psychologists, psychiatrists, philosophers and even novelists, poets and artists have tried in their own inimitable way to penetrate and reveal that most fascinating of all mysteries – the workings of the human mind.

This book is the story of a human mind ... not the human mind ... as all authentic stories of the ‘human mind’ must be. This book tells the story of the author’s mind; the only mind of which she can truthfully speak in spite of the fact that she has qualifications in Psychology, Philosophy (Theology) and Journalism. For all that, the qualification upon which she relies most is that of human experience – life and living. In adolescence her mind declined into insanity, lingered there for some years, then painfully and insightfully regained its place in the world of sanity ... only to go on and penetrate the world of formal, academic, or professional (whatever you wish to call it) education/understanding.

This book was not written for the edification of those called mental health professionals. It was written to share wisdom and understanding with the ordinary, everyday lay minds of those who care too much to embrace or be embraced by the word ‘professional’.

The Deeper Water is Ashore

Although the author’s graduation from his pre-sea nautical HMS Conway was both expected and anticipated, to be honoured at the same time with the Queen’s Gold Medal was certainly not, coming as it did as a deeply humbling surprise. Acceptance into the P. & O. Steam Navigation Company as a Cadet was far less of a given, as a pre-requisite was to successfully conclude a month at the Outward Bound Mountaineering School at Ullswater. There, one would be taken into the ‘tender care’ of three Marine Commandos, charged with ensuring that character building would indeed follow from adventures in mountaineering, canoeing and fell walking, not to mention the Commando assault course, athletics, and copious amounts of Kendal Mint Cakes!His career path appeared to become even more defined as he gained Commission with the Royal Naval Reserve, his Master Mariner’s Certificate of Competence, and rose through the Officer ranks of the P. & O. Steam Navigation Company. However, the Seamans Strike in 1966 brought about a startling, but enervating, state of swiftly changing issues that demanded a fresh approach to, well, everything!The Deeper Water is Ashore focuses on, and develops with, both fact and humour, the substantial changes which followed from significant strike action, and the eventual personal outcomes. If one can but briefly plagiarise and use the words of the poet and cleric John Donne (1572-1631), it was a case of “Seek not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” (But never in the subjunctive tense!)

The Deconstruction of Humanity’s Voice, But We Are Still Standing

Playing his clarinet inside one of London’s most exclusive members’ clubs reminded him of the privilege the elites can enjoy, but also the illusive duality of his identity, as the echo of his clanging Ashanti beads around his wrist, the scent of shea butter and sandalwood oil immersed upon his mahogany brown skin, reminded him of his true African identity.

Jesse Yaw takes us through his journey as a young black man, exploring the racial constructs of relationships and modern society. With its destructive perceptions of class, race, truth, and equality, coloured by the trajectory of historical discrimination, and prejudiced western norms that have been embraced by the global community, Jesse seeks to explore the psychological impact that assimilation to westernised ideologies of beauty, governance, education, economy, law, class, and politics has on humanity. And what that consequently means for his self-determination.

He acknowledges that, for too long, negative perceptions have cast a dark shadow upon black lives and subdued black potential. For these destructive perceptions to be removed from the eyes, lips, minds, and hearts of the global village, the re-education of the human mind is central. Jesse deconstructs the subconscious voice of the human mind, and establishes the unaltered truth of who we really are.