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The Pandemic and Me
Ever wondered what it was really like for a nurse on the frontline during the Covid pandemic? How did they juggle work and home life during this unprecedented time? This book shares one nurse’s experience of being redeployed to set up and manage a ward during the first wave of the pandemic, all while running a household and caring for her parents after her mother’s two recent brain haemorrhages. This day-by-day account offers you, the reader, a chance to truly understand and live through this unique experience, warts and all. It’s an honest depiction of the feelings, challenges, and triumphs of balancing all aspects of life, celebrating the successes, and finding joy in the role. Relive it all as if you are walking in her shoes.
£6.99 -
Lost Souls
I grew up not knowing whether I was related to the ancestors my grandmother lived with or not. My mother repeatedly told me stories that her mother had handed down to her about an aristocratic lady who was related to us, and had eloped with a groomsman near where my mother bought a house. As I grew older the stories left me with no real sense of identity of who I was. I felt like a part of me was always missing and where did I belong? When my mother died the house was sold; a few years later my daughter moved to Galway for college, it felt right for me to move back to the area again. Ironically, I found a cottage to rent very quickly just a few fields away from where my mother’s house was. It felt like fate. I just knew that this was the right time to go on a self-discovery journey for me and my ancestors. Once the thought was in my head, it would not go away. A few days later transgenerational trauma popped into my head and disappeared again. My phone seemed to have a mind of its own and words cropped up; trapped in a timeline, karma not released, negativity building up, toxicity to the land, reason trapped there and ancestral healing. All I needed to do was to take that first step forward and then wait; the universe would let me know what to do next.
£6.99 -
Endeavour to be a Cornish Fisherman
In his first book, An Unlikely Cornish Fisherman: The Early Years, Michael related his memories of having his first rowing and sailing boat ‘Hilda’, on his 10th birthday and of the period of his youthful years up to the summer of 1963.
Endeavour to be a Cornish Fisherman is a sequel in which Michael relates his story from 1963 through the following years until 1972. His is a unique story, in which he shares his transition from a successful Guided Weapons Draughtsman employed by the Admiralty to become a member of his father’s crew on the 35ft Looe fishing vessel ‘Endeavour.’ (FY 369).
Michael describes his inner fears and his fight to prove to his family/ peers that being a 7th Generation fisherman was in his genes. His story takes the reader through the death throes and the final demise of the once vibrant Cornish Pilchard Industry in Looe. This story includes the personalities and elderly crew members with whom Michael came into contact. Interspersed with many comical moments are graphic descriptions of some dangerous encounters that befell the ‘Endeavour’, which all fishermen face in their everyday job.
£8.99 -
La Metisse
Elizabeth’s tale begins in the colonial embrace of British India, 1936, where she was cradled in privilege and steeped in Christian tradition. At nineteen, she veered from the path expected of her, embarking on a bohemian chapter that defied her upbringing. Yet, the winds of change ushered in a period of stability when she married her soulmate. Embracing the joys and challenges of motherhood, Elizabeth raised eight children, overturning the preconceived notion ingrained since childhood that she would never work. Her life’s journey defied expectations, from a teenager’s rebellion to a dedication to family and work that spanned from the tender age of 16 to the seasoned age of 70.
£12.99 -
The People -V- The Mercedes Benz Looter
The July 2021 South African civil unrest was a wave of chaos that plagued the provinces of KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng. Political contempt and social outrage sparked unprecedented violence, lawlessness, mistreatment, and a devastating communal divide. It cost South African citizens lives, safety, jobs, and pride.
During this time Mbuso Moloi’s once unheard-of name would be headlined alongside the infamous ‘Mercedes-Benz Looter’ after he was caught on camera allegedly looting a Woolworths store in Durban. The nine-second video featuring him emptying goods into his silver Mercedes-Benz would go viral overnight on all social media platforms, radio, news broadcasts and print media. The ‘Mercedes-Benz Looter’ would seemingly ignite a match to the prepared firewood that was set up all over South Africa and its people.
Public opinion, political games, honesty, and humanity are questioned in this biography following this personal yet excruciatingly public case of the ‘State v Mbuso Moloi’, but as it would become: The People v The Mercedes Benz Looter.
£7.99 -
Growing Up in Wartime London
A country at war is very different from one at peace, a range of social changes quickly emerge. Men are conscripted into the armed forces and are replaced by women. The economy is rebalanced towards defence, and towards the production of war materials. Food and all basic commodities are controlled, and their consumption is rationed. The national culture changes.
The second World War which engulfed the UK and indeed many other countries had all these features, and much is known about the political, social and economic changes of those years in the UK from the adult perspective. Less is known about their effect upon children, and children’s perception of the times.
So how did youngsters adapt to the outbreak of war in September 1939, and what did they make of all the changes? Which were the most significant for them and what attitudes and activities continued as before? The author of this brief account was seven years old in 1939, and with his younger brother lived through the war years in London. The book provides vivid descriptions of life in wartime London as experienced by these two young South London boys, with their fears and excitements, their mischief, and what they made of the changing social environment.
£6.99 -
No I'm Not A Pilot
The Royal Air Force is one of the most technologically advanced armed forces in the world, with a reputation for fighting well above its size and weight. To most people the first thought they have about the RAF is about pilots and aircrew – quite right too. But for every one of the pilots to take off and deliver a mission successfully there will be a team on the ground making that happen, actually around twenty people for each pilot (which makes the aircrew a vital, but relatively small percentage of the entire force). The daring exploits of our aviators are deservedly well documented, but what about the hundreds of people on the ground that never fly in combat missions and yet enable every single mission to actually happen?
This book is a very personal and sometimes emotional journey giving an insight into life in the RAF from the late 1970s to the end of the century, for just one of the support trades – Trade Group No 1: the aircraft armourer. After all, as the founder of the RAF – Lord Trenchard is reputed to have said “without armament, there is no Air Force”. What the armourers say (tongue firmly in cheek) is that without armament, the RAF would be a glorified flying club!
£18.99 -
Schizophrenic
Ally North's life is shattered by abuse at the age of eleven, but she refuses to fit the stereotype of a beautiful victim. By turns she is intelligent and funny, psychotic and violent. Cognizant of her symptoms of schizophrenia, she tries to control them with alcohol and drugs.
It's never wise to fight a passionate tomboy, and she finds support in her devoted father, Davey, and in her ex-teacher friend, Steve Hussy.
"Mangled characters living out their dead-end love affair; thwarted at every possible turn by alcohol, drugs and mental illness. The writing is lean and savage: they talk a lot about breaking free but their story is like that last drink of the night - spiked with barbiturates." U.V.RAY: "A CIGARETTE BURN IN THE SUN"
£9.99 -
Reflections on a Bathroom Mirror
The mirror has no preferences. Whoever peers into that pool of light sees a faithful image, albeit laterally inverted. The young boy had looked into the bathroom mirror perhaps a thousand times with casual confidence, but today, the reflection felt surprising and strangely alien. It had to mean something. Thus began a quest that spanned his entire life, filled with many kinds of adventures, both external and internal. His journey crossed continents and led him to explore the deepest places of the mind and heart. It required keen observation and demanded ultimate honesty. Sometimes he stumbled; other times, he rejoiced. Ultimately, his goal was to answer that age-old question: who am I and where do I fit into the scheme of things? This question is everyone’s question, and it suggests that by polishing our own mirrors, we might discover something wholly renewed.
£9.99 -
Legally Omitted
Navigating the journey from zero to success is no small feat, a challenge that even the author doesn’t claim to have mastered – but is willing to explore. After graduation, life becomes a high-stakes race against time, filled with head-spinning ‘WTF’ moments. From tackling parenthood and self-doubt to dodging curveballs like talk shows, bills, and Hollywood drama, the author invites you to experience it all unfiltered.
Just when a glimmer of hope starts to shine, a myriad of obstacles including baby mama drama, encounters with celebrities, and wrangling with the ever-daunting IRS emerge. Amidst this chaos, can one find love, spiritual peace, and the elusive American Dream in today’s breakneck society?
In a world that takes a toll on our mental health, leaving many of us feeling Legally Omitted, this compelling narrative serves as a candid reflection on the complexities of modern life. Explore the rollercoaster that is the pursuit of success, happiness, and self-fulfilment, in a society that never hits the pause button.
£9.99 -
Surviving the Asylum
In this raw and poignant memoir, Michael recounts his harrowing journey through the psychiatric system and his struggle to find purpose after losing custody of his beloved autistic grandson.
After a suicide attempt lands him in a geriatric psychiatric ward for the third time in recent years, Michael finds himself cut off from the outside world and the grandson he raised for three decades. Facing abuse and isolation, he contemplates ending it all.
But a lifeline appears in the form of his vocal coach and support worker, who encourage him to channel his pain into art. As Michael discovers new passions in singing, painting, and poetry, he forges an unexpected friendship with a fellow patient that reignites his will to live.
This powerful story of resilience and reinvention shows how creativity and human connection can offer hope even in the darkest of times. Michael’s journey reminds us that it’s never too late to find a new voice and a reason to keep singing.
£22.99 -
Guns Piranha Lions No Visa No Problem!
A jet fight over Syria. A Cold War listening post in Turkey. An overland trek from Denmark to Thailand. A thriving weapons marketplace in remote Pakistan. An exotic Maasai Star Wars-style saloon in Kenya. Ultra-luxury casinos in Macau. Only in Miami idiosyncrasies. University polemics. The 1980 Moscow Olympics. Memorable World Series, Super Bowls, NBA and college gridiron contests. Civil rights activism. Challenging the Klan. Confronting FBI activities in 1960s Memphis. Encounters with the Clintons. A hurricane at sea. Giant turtles in Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands. A Miami-bound plane commandeered by a heavily armed Haitian general.
Erroneously suspected of being a spy, Ken Lipner promises all this and more in his intriguing, serendipitous, eclectic life as a sports-loving, peace-promoting, justice-seeking, pet-rescuing public policy advisor and economics professor with a wanderlust that took him to 120 countries.
Vicariously accompany Ken as he makes his way on rust buckets, old buses, slow trains, and small planes, befriending people of widely diverse backgrounds, cultures, vocations, and interests.
Detained at the Bulgaria-Danube border crossing. Nearly arrested in Chile and Suriname. Just missing a terrorist attack in Tunisia and the Six-Day War in Israel.
For Kenny’s 6th birthday, his first Phillies game. A sports insider for a nanosecond, though as an aspiring athlete, he could never hit a high fastball.
Holy Moley!
£13.99