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Oluwa Street Evil Mobs 1967
Inspired by the author’s harrowing experiences, Oluwa Street Evil Mobs 1967 explores the brutal torture and ruthless killings targeting innocent Igbo people and other Nigerians wrongly profiled in 1967 Lagos amid the raging Nigerian/Biafran War.
This sobering work implores present-day Nigerian political and military leaders to reflect deeply on past bloody mistakes as they navigate complex dynamics risking further conflict. The catastrophic failures spanning tribal, religious, and political divides throughout the three-year war must not be forgotten.
Today’s tenuous peace requires re-examining volatile misunderstandings that engulf nationhood when weaponized instead of addressed through compassionate leadership seeking reconciliation. Are darker forces again exploiting divisions? Have lessons been learned? Does real and lasting peace exist for all in Nigeria?
By confronting painful history, Oluwa Street Evil Mobs 1967 sounds an urgent call for breaking destructive cycles that allow persecution of any ethnic group under the excuses of war. There must be accountability along with healing so the innocent victims documented here are honoured through non-repetition – and community replaces suspicion as guiding light.
£8.99 -
War Trauma Chronicles
War Trauma Chronicles is a story that mixes real events of the Lebanese civil war with mythologies, philosophies, and different genres of fictions to create an anti-war book.
The book starts with the earliest memories of a young kid who lived and survived the war. It highlights and studies the effects that war has on a human’s brains, especially children’s.
Even though the story is based on real events, it’s neither a history book nor an autobiography. The timelines are scrambled in an unusual dimension: present, future and past got mixed with reality, fiction, and theories. Nothing is as real as the fact that nothing is real.
£7.99 -
A Pilot's Ups and Downs
For every 1,000 people who applied to be airline pilots in BEA/BOAC back in the day, about four made it. The other 996, plus their wives, parents, and children, might wonder how their lives could have turned out, so here is the story of one of the four. Besides, the passengers who sit behind that locked door and trust us with their lives must wonder, “What goes on up there, and how does it affect their lives and families?”
My education included the University Air Squadron, then learning to fly at the College sponsored by British Airways. There is a chapter of general information on aviation, then most of the book is an account of my experiences, whether dramatic, disappointing, exciting, or amusing, during my varied career in British Airways. Some incidents occur within the cockpit, others in social interaction outside, and a few come from pilot folklore. I also describe visits to sights around the world, an aspect that draws people to aviation as a career, and interests everyone.
I have added one professional pilot’s opinion on aviation topics in the news, the mysterious Malaysian disappearance, and the Alpine tragedy, and finish with my lifelong interest in designing model aircraft.
£9.99 -
Goodbye Mr Krupps
A vivid and entertaining account of one man’s extraordinary life, guided by a love of steam trains and an unerring vision to be an engine driver in the days when steam ruled the rails. See through the eyes of a small boy the first stirrings of this enduring passion as, in rapt fascination, he watches trains on the Hull & Barnsley main line in the 1940s, and witness the bucolic beauty of rural life, allied with the poverty and shear hard graft of farm work during the war years, when it seems his dream will be crushed by the daily grind and drudgery.
Share the author’s exuberance as, having hazarded all, he succeeds in joining the London & North Eastern Railway as a lad porter, before being introduced to the hallowed world of the Locomotive Department, progressing through the ranks to finally fulfil his dream. On this journey share his exhilaration as he thunders down the main line on a locomotive pushed to its limits, spewing fire and brimstone; and witness a host of steam train escapades, adventures, and mishaps, from the farcical to tragic.
Finally, travel with him to exotic Tanganyika/Tanzania in the 1960s where, during 12 years with East African Railways, he experiences the challenges of epic journeys through the heart of the sun-baked bush, breakdowns, derailments, flooded tracks, and violent mutiny, as well as the joy of driving the mighty and exemplary 30 Class, ending with the pinnacle of his career: that of becoming Locomotive Inspector.
£35.99 -
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.
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Dangerous Ambitions
‘An exciting lifetime’ barely captures the extraordinary adventures of this boy-turned-86-year-old as he journeys from childhood to old age. His tales of diving throughout the wild, beautiful Pacific include terrifying encounters with large sharks, a feeding frenzy of orcas, and surviving a crush of whales. Touching stories humanize the fish and sea creatures he encountered while diving, building, and sailing his self-made ocean-going yachts along the Pacific Coast of NSW. The narrative vividly captures the region’s varied moods and beauty, from rough seas to dangerous rocks.
Sydney, with its stunning headlands, towering trees, unique wildflowers, and strings of white sand beaches, also plays a starring role. The extreme yachting opportunities of Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park and Sydney’s four natural harbours – Pittwater, Sydney Harbour, Botany Bay, and Port Hacking – are celebrated as some of the most beautiful, diverse, and unique places in the world. Growing up here during WWII, with the freedom to explore and choose his path, shaped an extraordinary life filled with unparalleled adventures.
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Stones on the Camino; or, What It Was Like
Lilly, a senior lady, would never have dreamt of doing the Camino de Santiago. Yet, one day, she just took off and started this arduous pilgrimage, walking 800 km all alone through the north of Spain. Lilly’s handicaps, as a result of previous brain surgery, made traveling on her own sometimes hazardous.
On these pages, she draws the reader into the beautiful, peaceful, and happy pilgrim world, relating some of the incredible stories she heard. She listens to Stuart when he talks about the agonizing search for his younger brother at Ground Zero, and to Alexander from Peru, who had twenty siblings, all by the same mother. We hear about the lady who was struggling to get away from an abusive, narcissistic partner.
At an almost hidden level, this story lifts a few veils off Lilly’s own marriage. We also get to know David, who saved Lilly’s life during a night of thunderstorms, which was, by the way, not the first time her life was in danger. David returns in quite an unexpected manner in the last few pages of these Camino tales, adding more magic to an exceptional journey.
£9.99 -
Finding Yourself Through Loss
I’ve come to understand that loss, while taking much, can also give. It can offer hope, strength, and most importantly, love. Such is the boundless love of God, who loved us so deeply that He gave His one and only Son to die for all of us—yes, all of us, including you—no matter what you have done (John 3:16). Sometimes, His love arrives shrouded in the darkness of loss, but even then, His promise remains unchanged: He came so that you and I may have life, and have it in abundance (John 10:10). So, beloved, as loss has taken from you, I ask: what has it given in return? Remember, perception is everything.
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Memory Stick
Crafty, cunning and certainly clever, Memory Stick is a firework display of different literary styles and genres. Crammed with detail and facts. Just like a memory stick.
Book club readers have described this first volume of Oliver Milner’s entertaining autobiography as “William Boyd and Bill Bryson meet James Herriot and Sue Townsend.”
Structurally Memory Stick is based around 134 footnotes, taken from opensource Wiki history references, between 1961 and 1987. The story starts in wet and windy North Yorkshire. Flies to Nigeria. Flies back again. Goes back to Nigeria. Flies back again. Neil Armstrong lands on the moon. Olly goes to Wales. Takes in Norwich, ends up in London. Tames a penguin, and then…?
Just download Memory Stick, it gets rather interesting.
£10.99 -
Painting the Mosque for Christmas?
This is the story of one person. An errand boy, junior artist, car washer, cub, scout, choirboy, glass runner, wine waiter, postman, tomato plant and faggot stripper, potato picker, life guard, scout leader, canoe instructor, teacher, cattle rancher, polo player, forest and sawmill manager, head of English, logger, general manager, managing director, importer, exporter, businessman, outdoor pursuits instructor, fund raiser, headmaster, principal, CEO, school founder, advisor and appraiser, mentor, model, poet, playwright, writer and actor in the UK and many countries of Central, Southern and Western Africa through good times and bad.
The author deals sympathetically with the nostalgia of a post-war childhood in Bristol, detailing with many of the joys and problems of childhood before leaping into adulthood with entertaining narrative and dialogue.
Africa takes hold with many incidents and observations backed by humour and acute observations of post-colonial developments. Life was never dull and he has sat on crocodiles and slept with lions as well as experiencing coups and unrest where some humour can still be found. He has met royalty and personalities from a wide mixture of society and has also been a friend of presidents and heads of state – herein lies a tantalising mix of European and African life in a kaleidoscopic presentation of humour, pathos, seriousness and shrewd observation.
£32.99 -
Pony Tales and Other Irish Stories
Read tales of an Irish rural childhood, travelling the world with horses and policing London on horseback.
Born into a loving family on an Irish farm. Started to ride aged six, got bucked off too often, gave up! Started again on a different pony; got the hang of it, leading to a lifetime love for and career with horses. Represented Ireland at Pony Club and intervarsity levels. Travelled as groom with an Irish international three-day-eventer. Rode racehorses in Chantilly and Brisbane. Stock ponies and barrel racers in the Outback. Police horses in London. And there’s still so much ahead.
Fortunate. That’s what I feel…
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Ripping the Veil
Anglers are not always perceived to be the most rational of people. For those who get involved in rod fishing, what might start as a curiosity, gradually becomes a passion that often develops into a full-blown, all-consuming addiction. Apparently, there is no cure. Repeated scenarios of utter failure, near-drowning, broken relationships and disarming exhaustion only whet the appetite for renewed effort. No wonder the non-angling majority considers the whole venture as incomprehensible and one of insanity.
However, the angling body is no small minority. It will happily embrace the label of ‘insane’ if that is what it takes to sustain what, for those who are smitten, is no less than a lifestyle. These are the people who are driven to explore what lies beneath the water’s surface. They thrive on the thrill of revealing the secrets of a hidden world. For them, ripping the veil between air and water is not a casual option but a glorious and compulsive expression of evolutionary history – a relic strategy of survival. At least, this is their excuse.
£8.99