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Fire - Floats and Fireboats
After his autobiography Beyond the Flames and his eclectic anthology London's Firefighters, David C. Pike's latest book about the London Fire Brigade, Fire-Floats and Fireboats, takes as its focus the history of firefighting on the river Thames. Starting in Roman times and bringing the story right up to the present day, Pike's comprehensive survey charts the astonishing evolution of the vessels used to combat fire from the river, pays homage to the intrepid crews of these often unwieldy craft, and vividly recreates some of the most devastating conflagrations the capital has ever seen.With more than 250 fascinating illustrations, Fire-Floats and Fireboats is certain to appeal to lovers of London and aficionados of history and technology, but will also be enjoyed by a wide range of general readers.
£19.99 -
Ottavia's Story
This book is not a documentary, it is partially based on a true story of a few women who spent time in the concentration camp. Ottavia is a young mother of one, with another on the way. She and Jacob, her husband, are a typical Jewish family. One night, they are taken to a concentration camp. On the way, she gives birth to her daughter in a dirty cattle train. When the train stops for unknown reasons, Ottavia takes drastic action not to kill her own daughter, but to save her life. Does she succeed? The moment she arrives at her allocated barrack, she rallies to the challenge of helping save the life of an inmate's newborn. Through their musical talents, Ottavia and a few fellow prisoners have a chance to help themselves and others to survive. Will they take the chance? In the hellish darkness, a flicker of light shines through. Their own prison guard amazingly becomes their guardian angel. She risks her own life many times in order to protect theirs. One of the unsung heroes. Through the long winter evenings huddling together to keep warm, they started to tell their own life story, sometimes sad and sometimes happy. To learn about their lives after the hell which they endured, you have to read this book. It will keep you captivated till the last page.
£8.99 -
Passant: A Journey to Elsewhere
Passant offers an account of a doubly divided family, involving its New Zealand and wealthy, distant British branches during the 1930s and 1940s. It covers the early years of its chief protagonist who relates the experience of growing up against the background of the Great Depression and the Second World War, in a family torn apart by tragedy"”particularly the death of a lawyer grandfather at the age of forty in a New Zealand mental institution and its subsequent and calculated concealment. Worse though, on top of the family's secrets, misdiagnosed by a local doctor and just before his ninth birthday, the boy falls seriously ill. Drifting in and out of a coma, he undergoes major surgery, followed by almost two years in a hospital bed. This is a book of personal survival and the psychological consequences of lies and concealment, of a divided family and the disrupted lives of those belonging to it.
£11.99 -
Peter Philips at the Archdukes' Court: Church Music in the Spanish Netherlands
This is the first published study of the church music of Peter Philips, who in his day was regarded as one of the greatest masters of music in Europe. Philips wrote against a background of the strife between Catholics and Protestants, and – being of the Roman persuasion – he chose to leave his native England and eventually settled at the court of the Archdukes Albert and Isabella in Brussels, where he acted as organist. This study explores the manner in which music changed from Renaissance style to that of the early Baroque.
£10.99 -
Tales from the Crypt: A Life In and Out of the Church
Has a revolution taken place in Christianity, or are gay priests still objects of suspicion and disapproval? Is modern society too dominated by businesses too big to be human? Have communities lost control of town planning, or is there hope if only we connect?As both an insider and an outsider, the former reverend Robin Green volunteered to help the first drug addicts in the late sixties, throwing open the Crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields and his best efforts into helping the needy at home and abroad.Yet he decided that society needed its mavericks as much as its ministers. Resigning from the Church, he declared his homosexuality and went into business with his partner, finding success as both an entrepreneur and in local politics.Now Robin offers a warning about the threats that face our world and an uplifting vision of what ministry means in the modern age.‘Hope is not about indulging the past. It is about embracing the future with all the lessons learnt from that past.'
£5.99 -
That's Livin' Alright: A Biography on David Mackay
As in most industries and businesses that are successful, there are the individuals that are out front and take most of the credit for being resourceful, creative and innovative. These can be people that welcome or seek the spotlight of fame and notoriety or simply those that have it thrust upon them by circumstances beyond their control but in most cases, there is usually a driving force behind their success, a clever machine that dominates the whole concept of achievement, ultimately instigated by one person of foresight and of a gifted talent. This is the case of Australian Record Producer DAVID MACKAY, as he is the man responsible for so many hit records and TV themes around the world. This is his story with many contributions from the stars he has worked with such as, Barry Gibb, Bonnie Tyler, Sir Cliff Richard, Francis Rossi and Eve Graham (New Seekers).
£9.99 -
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 Ghost Within
This enlightening book, The Ghost Within, explains some of the questions man has been looking for. There are clear and precise examples – some of which are hypothetical and others based on personal experiences. Also, there are simple and more complex explanations to which you will find how the flesh and the double-sided sword of the spirit are connected. Dermoth Alexander Henry, known as the ‘Scribe’, takes us on a journey of how the Creator also has a plan for our inner man and woman.
£6.99 -
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 -
Understanding Illness
This book is part memoir and part case studies drawn from the author’s working life as a medical student, general practitioner, counsellor and psychoanalytical psychotherapist—a career made even more difficult than usual by ill health. Kidney disease started in her 20s, sight loss in her 30s, so that she was unable to carry on with clinical medicine and had to retrain as a psychotherapist, and heart disease in her 40s. In spite of all that, she battled on with great determination and humour, and became a loved and respected member of staff in a great teaching hospital. She worked extremely hard on ‘my book’, as she always called it, and finished it just two months before her final illness started.
£8.99 -
Use By Date
Sheridan has no time for anger or regret. She often says that life is moving forward, not looking back, that is why our eyes are in the front of our head, not buried in hair on the back of our skull. She often felt, when dealing with her mother’s anxieties and her father’s absences, that she was the grownup in the relationship.After you have read the way her father and mother treated each other, you might rethink your own relationships.Sheridan has captured the essence of being a child with humour and pathos.Enjoy the ride. It’s a rollercoaster!
£10.99 -
Wild Imaginings: A Brontë Childhood
This book will take you into the lives of the six Brontë children who were raised in Haworth Parsonage on the edge of the West Yorkshire Moors. Discover the world of a Victorian childhood and how the children dealt with isolation, the harsh education system and death. Read about how the children used the graveyard surrounding their garden as a playground and how they found solace in making up stories of imaginary islands, kingdoms and people. Reality and imagination mingled and spread so that they lived in a fantasy world of ghosts, horror, religion, disease, war, scientific discovery, love and humor; here anything could happen. Learn about the background to the childhood of those who were to become such remarkable authors. This book is as accurate in its factual content as it is fascinating in its fantasy.
£10.99
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