Transition

This book traces the journey of a young man who has had the good fortune to achieve his two boyhood dreams – to be a soldier, and to build bridges.

Dan spent 20 years as a soldier, made up of 14 years in the Regular Army and then 6 years in the Reserve, completing service as a Lieutenant Colonel. Dan experienced 12 months active service in the Vietnam War as a troop commander, followed by two years in Papua New Guinea building a road to Kokoda.

He achieved his second aim of bridge building by being involved in the construction of two major bridges across the Brisbane River – the Merivale Rail Bridge and the Gateway Bridge. Between those two, Dan commenced his own business as a contractor building bridges, but the enterprise was not financially successful.

The book concludes with details of varying experiences as a professional engineer, culminating in the successful completion of a road in Samoa, by solving technical and managerial problems, and surviving the horrendous Cyclone Val in December 1971.

Hurricane Heaney

Hurricane Heaney is a fish-out-of-water memoir of a gay Indonesian man, Ben, who finds himself marrying into a salt-of-the-earth Irish family. Unlike many stories involving LGBTQ+ protagonists, this is not a tragic tale about a traumatic coming out, nor even about the novelty of living in a gay marriage in Ireland’s catholic bible belt.

It’s about how landing in the loving arms of a large yet close family acts as an emotional mirror to Ben’s early life in Indonesia, giving him, in fact, a safe space to process what drove him out of one family in Indonesia, and into the encircling airs of another in Ireland. Invoking the specific situation of a gay man crossing the world seeking – and finding – redemption through love, it presents a unique and uplifting ideal of what gay strength looks like.

Through tears, songs, rants and a lot of laughter, the book explores, in a humorous way, universal truths about family values, rituals, obligations, and their core foundation, love.

Engagement

Engagement is a biography/novel spanning two generations of a family bound by a shared commitment to improving the lives and livelihoods of poor families and communities in developing countries, though their paths differed greatly. The story opens with the meeting of Joan, an English artist and teacher, and Ion, an Irish magistrate and judge, at an official reception held in Kingston by the colonial Governor-General of Jamaica to celebrate the coronation of King George VI in 1937.

This introduction is followed by accounts of their lives and work in Jamaica, as well as the international commitments and complexities of their sons’ careers: one, a multicultural secular architect, scholar, and policy adviser; the other, a devoted evangelist and educational entrepreneur working with poor children in marginalized urban communities.

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.

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.

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.

Second-Best Luck

Fancy retirement right across the globe? Learning to speak a foreign language (Australian)? Too easy; don’t be a wuss, mite! Herein, you will find travel, exploration, how not to buy a house, how to build a harpsichord; how to cope with a second hysterectomy, coronary bypass, two different and simultaneous serious cancers. No worries; she’ll be right, mite! Consider Orshtraya on differing scales; the conurbation that is Canberra; the 90-mile straight which is just a blip in the landscape driving across the Great Australian Bite, Mite; the deeply soothing silence of the outback.

Seriously, sport: this sometimes humorous volume is travelogue, retirement manual, and medical aid, all in one. It has a sporting chance of really helping anyone terrified with recent news of cancer or other really serious illness. We all need help.

Secret Son of a Legend

I have only known since 2012, but I am the illegitimate child of Bobby Moore, the captain of the 1966 World Cup winning football team. I went from living an exceptionally happy and privileged childhood to one of detachment, hurt, and misery. My world was completely turned upside down and I deeply missed my former life and my family. I made the most of my life by focusing energy and attention on my education and the sports in which I participated, which helped me relieve the tension. I enjoyed my freedoms as I grew older and made a life for myself. I have never really wanted anything, but I now feel, after six decades, the need for recognition, acknowledgement, and closure in my life.

Speaking Volumes

How did a fishmonger’s son from Tyneside, growing up in the 1950s with a Geordie accent, become the person who recorded over 900 audiobooks and received an MBE from the Queen in the Birthday Honours of 2017?
This ‘charming’, ‘entertaining’ and ‘heart-warming’ memoir answers that question.

Reviews:

AudioFile magazine
“…not simply a reader but an artist of the spoken word…”
“…Gordon Griffin, an entire acting company in one person…”

“Witty and moving memoir of how a working-class boy becomes THE voice of the spoken word.
Honest and vivid account plus excellent advice for those of us who work with words.” Miriam Margolyes

Tangled Thoughts of Reason

Aged 21, Owen has lost all his self-worth and self-control. Addicted to crack and trying to get clean, he falls back into the same cycle again and again. Losing his mind and falling deeper into depression, he needs to make a change before he loses himself completely.

The Law and I

Delve into the riveting memoir of an attorney who navigated the transformative world of litigation law in private practice. Journey back to an era when senior partners donned wing collars and were addressed as clerks by their surnames, and when solicitors weren’t confined to specialisations.

Experience the spectrum of clients he represented, from navigating harrowing cases at police stations – covering everything from murders to activists challenging government departments – all the way to the House of Lords, now known as the Supreme Court.

Beyond the courtroom, he shares insights into his dealings with prisoners, including those under maximum security, managing matters from adjudications to parole requests. Simultaneously, he paints a picture of his life outside the law, tending to an 18-acre smallholding.

As he reflects on his career, the author offers a poignant commentary on the evolving landscape of legal practice, weighing in on the advancements and setbacks since his retirement. This is not just a tale of law but of resilience, adaptability, and profound change.

The Life and Times of the Knights

Alfred Fredrick John Knight was born in Yeovil to his mother Amelia and father George. When Alfred was three years old, George his father left Amelia telling her that he was taking their son Alfred with him. George took Alfred and in secret eloped with his lover to Wales. Alfred was later adopted and lived with his adopted family talking to the family about emigrating to Canada. He told his family that he wanted to stay in England and try and find his birth mother.

He left home and went back to Yeovil, but there was no trace of his mother, he did manage to find his grandmother Mary, who was still alive. While looking for a job, he saw a sign which read, ‘YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU!’ Alfred then decided that he wanted to become a soldier and join the British Army. After joining up with Prince Albert’s light infantry, the Somerset Light Infantry was sent out to India to fight the rebellion.

Will Alfred ever find his birth mother?