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Lost in the Woods of School
“The unexamined life is not worth living,” said Socrates (400 BC).
Zak Towlson tells a personal story through a collection of anecdotes in a vibrant language. The book is funny and poignant at times as the subject of adolescence warrants. It shows first-hand, how difficult the coming of age can be in the 21st century and how important it is for any young person to understand and address their mental health in a constructive way.
£8.99 -
Love Is Blind: A Life with Horses
This is the journey of one woman’s life with horses. Catherine is a Romani woman, a Gypsy, and recognised her first horses around the age of two and now at seventy, she still has horses in her life. One of those horses is Samio, her big blind 18-hand Clydesdale. Catherine has, she thinks, just stopped rescuing horses; seven still share her life. Although she no longer rides, she still drives horses and her passion and love has never wavered. Having broken her neck and back in a horse accident at 16, she was told she would never ride again. It took her two years to walk and five years before she went back in the saddle but never again to ride wild or jump. Catherine lived on the road for the first 11 years of her life. There are some 25,000 Romani in Australia but to her knowledge, she is the only Gypsy who still travels in the bow top caravan, the vardo. No longer on the road full-time, she tries to travel when she can; always speaking for the animals of Earth. This is a book of love and passion for the horse, told by a storyteller who lives the story and walks her talk with laughter as she says, “Shit happens, just empty out your suitcases and plant flowers in the compost.” After a brain tumour and radiation, nothing seems to stop her and her love and activism for the animals of Earth – especially the horse and dog – shines bright and her enthusiasm for life and rescuing animals keeps her fit and healthy. Hers is a remarkable story.
£9.99 -
Lucky Dip
After an improbable beginning, Richard Thomas’s diplomatic career took him to some unlikely places, like Bhutan where his motor-scooter spawned an aid programme, or twenty thousand feet up in Robert Maxwell’s private jet buying up post-communist Bulgaria, or a NATO base in the North Atlantic to await the arrival of Satan, or to tea round the fire in Downing Street with a government minister and a mounted policeman, or to a wooden hut in West Africa where he, now persona non grata, and his Australian girlfriend, Catherine, managed to get married on the fringes of a dictator’s last-gasp political rally.
But it was not all beer and skittles. There were run-ins with secret policemen in communist Eastern Europe, encounters with horrific conditions in post-communist so-called orphanages where Catherine kick-started a new, humane approach to physical and cognitive disability in children and adults, deliberate cultivation of the dissidents who would supplant a communist dictatorship and a close-up view of Europe’s biggest displacement of people since the Second World War, the result of Bulgaria’s ethnic cleansing of a tenth of its own population in 1989 barely noticed by western governments or media.
All this, and much more, is recounted by someone who reckons that he struck lucky in the diplomatic dip.
£11.99 -
Margaret: Daughter of Destiny
“The damage done tonight will resound down the generations!”
These words, spoken in anger by an outraged mother in the year 1904, will prove prophetic. Fourteen years later, a child enters the world, innocent, yet blighted by the repercussions of a distant crime, committed on a summer night, in remote Western Australia. From the beginning, the odds are stacked against Margaret as she is robbed of her childhood.
In due course, Margaret reaches adulthood and to her horror, finds herself powerless to prevent the outcome she most dreads. The malevolent forces of destiny reach down to a further generation and into the lives of her children.
This story is a tribute to the courage and tenacity of a mother’s love. It plays out against the backdrop of a period spanning two world wars, a great depression and the dawn of a new millenium. Through all of this, Margaret faces the additional challenges of being a single mother in an unforgiving era.
The story follows the relentless power of generational forces, pitted against the strength of the human spirit. It relives one woman’s heroic struggle to change the future. Margaret forges a path – ultimately – to release and redemption.
Margaret’s story is told by the person who shared so closely in this journey of struggle and redemption: her daughter.
£10.99 -
More in Hope Than Glory
Football is a game that is loved throughout the world at every level. It’s a game that is all-encompassing whether it be the enjoyment of a kick about in the local park or the magnificent spectacle of a World Cup final. Well, this is a football story that lies somewhere between those two extremes, and to be honest more towards the bottom end of the spectrum.
This is a light-hearted true story of a young lad who used to walk four miles to the ground of the team he loved for every home game, and then grew up to become its chairman. It tells of the many highs and even more lows of running a lower league football club. It recounts the hopes and aspirations of every football supporter, followed by the inevitable kick-in-the-stomach feeling when it all falls down. It’s about love and passion for football in a proud northern town.
More in Hope Than Glory is the story of how what was once regarded as one of the most unsuccessful league football teams suddenly and dramatically became a little less unsuccessful.
£8.99 -
My Career and Times in the London Boroughs, the Soviet Union and Ceausescu's Romania
It is strange how events happen in one’s life, almost as ordained. From perfectly respectable and responsible positions in local government; then, by fate, facing a 3-month trial at the Old Bailey; afterwards, a short time back in local government; then, almost out of the blue, living and working in the then Soviet Union and, afterwards, in communist Romania. Unique and fascinating experiences only possible to happen for a short time, as countries change and develop as time goes by.
This book tells how Brian Edwards survived all of the above, having experienced events outside the imagination of most people, which, at the same time, were both extremely pleasurable and also very difficult.
£9.99 -
Strange But True
Written clearly, the aim of the book “Strange but True” is to highlight some points.
There are many incidences that occurred in the hospitals which are of general interest to the general readers. The author is conscious that some points may be sensitive so he made it clear that the book is not meant to insult, degrade, defame or anything like this to anyone. The author believes that this world and this country (U.K.) have given him so much, which he wants to give back to the world/country for the benefit of other people.
As a Muslim, the author has questioned many beliefs common among Asian Muslims, which are frequently addressed in the mosques, written in so-called Islamic literature and believed by many Muslims.
In addition to his professional knowledge as a medical doctor, the author’s overall general knowledge and knowledge in sciences is of high standard. He was selected to be trained as a magistrate, went through two stages of interviews, but because of his heavy workload as a consultant in the NHS, could not complete his training.
His consultant colleagues from his last hospital, the manager of that hospital and the consultants from his previous jobs in NHS, where he worked as a junior doctor, speak very highly about him.
£9.99 -
Tony's Choice
Tony’s Choice offers a powerful and inspiring journey of self-discovery. Written with the intention of helping others overcome life’s struggles, this book delves into the struggles of low confidence and teaches readers how to find the answers they need to lead a happier and more fulfilling life. Tony shares his own personal experiences and insights, providing a roadmap for readers to overcome unhappiness and unexplained pain, and ultimately find freedom and enjoyment in life. Don’t suffer in silence, let Tony’s Choice guide you to a better life.
£6.99 -
Yvonne, Child of the Somme
Yvonne Millet was born into poverty in Paris during La Belle Époque, in the shadow of Notre-Dame cathedral. Taken to a childminder in the countryside a few days after birth, she became a ward of state at the age of three when her mother disappeared. A stable childhood in the beautiful Somme region of northern France was shattered when, aged fifteen, she was sent to work as a maid in a military town, during the First World War. Her devastating experiences would change her life and haunt her forever.
As a troubled young woman facing a precarious future, chance led Yvonne to marry a former British soldier. Hopes of fulfilment with a husband and family were marred by profound insecurities and the Second World War.
A moving, true account of one girl’s formative years in early 20th century France, Yvonne, Child of the Somme is also the story of thousands of children like her, who shared a similar fate. Most were too ashamed of their background ever to reveal their heart-rending stories. The echoes of their pain reverberated down the generations, unexplained.
‘Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.’
― Søren Kierkegaard, Danish Philosopher, 1813-55
£8.99 -
The Day I Chose to Live
You know that shy, quiet boy? The one with the knobbly knees, bobbly elbows and a silly haircut? Well, that was me. I was an intelligent child and a decent enough sportsman. I had plenty of friends but I didn’t smile a lot. I’m not a boy who had a tough upbringing. To all intents and purposes, my childhood was idyllic. I was afforded every opportunity and never wanted for anything. I was born into a loving family and grew up in leafy suburbia, a far cry from anything that could be seen as deprivation or hardship. I lacked a little confidence but really the world should have been mine to make of it what I wanted. I should have been full of excitement and enthusiasm for my life ahead, but unfortunately happiness continued to elude me and I became preoccupied with one obsession. My desire to be dead.
£10.99 -
The Hop About
A man, an amputee, a dual amputee, wanders the West alone on half of a foot to discover what life has to offer. He takes off, running the only way he still knows how, in a car. A car procured from selling his prosthetic leg (the expensive one) on eBay.This true tale follows him on an adventure to angelic views in Zion National Park, to the top of the world in Death Valley, to mingling with the rainbow people, to pushing himself around in a wheelchair on the streets of Las Vegas, Nevada. The story turns back to how he found himself ‘hopping’ about and the drug addiction which caused it.While purposely estranged from his family, he learns mingling with others to accept differences and to resist judgement. Also, the deep importance of family. And most importantly that ‘we are not defined by our mistakes’.
£9.99 -
Twelve Great Scots and Their Roots
Twelve Great Scots and their Roots brings together People - the Great Scots, Place - where they were shaped and flourished, and Fame - their legacy.
None of the Great Scots was born great. There is no Robert the Bruce here, no Mary, Queen of Scots. (Although Robert III and James I get a mention). There are four knights in the list, but they all came from modest beginnings and made their way up the greasy pole by native genius and hard work. Two of the Great Scots are still alive, and it is particularly satisfying that Dr Jim Swire and Lockerbie are given close attention.
The Great Scots selected may be celebrated in their own fields and internationally, but some may be new to some. All are interesting in their own way, but one or two pose a puzzle. Who turned geology upside-down? What has number 38 in the Periodic Table of Elements to do with a little Highland village? What is a thrum? What do a great Canadian city and an obscure hamlet in Mull have in common?
Familiar or not we have twelve interesting places with twelve interesting – and sometimes unlikely – stories behind them.
A feature of the book is its emphasis on first-hand observation and thinking for oneself – based on evidence. Consequently, each chapter has a trail, so that the reader can check the veracity of the author’s stories and even be inspired to cover the ground.
£16.99