Hidden Treasure

Here is a spell-binding and profound memoir for our times, sparked by the sudden death of a beloved partner. An intensely intimate yet fresh and light approach draws us into the delights of love, the consuming nature of grief, and a potent journey which unveils the mysterious treasures inherent in heartfelt engagement with the significant ups and downs of life.

Not only are we privy to the depth of the author’s thoughts and feelings but her partner comes across as a person with a real and secret unknown life all his own beyond the page, giving an appreciation for the profundity of a person we will never directly know. And a spectacular forest in New South Wales comes alive as an integral vital companion in this journey of discovery.

Hidden Treasure is not so hidden, it is a light of mature love that two attuned adults brought to life which emerges as a spiritual journey of deep relationship with the mystery of life.

This book acknowledges the vagaries of life with all its pitfalls and yet – ultimately – it is uplifting, ending on a hopeful joyous note. It holds the potential of nourishment for those who are grieving in a world currently dominated by loss and contains inspiration of the most dignified kind, beautifully portrayed.

Hippie Kushi Waking up to Life

Most people as they get older tend to forget about themselves. It seems to be a normal part of the process of life and it happens to the best of us. We forget to reach our own potential because we are far too focused on bringing up a family, working long hours to pay off the mortgage and bills, locked into the cycle of the never-ending treadmill of work and career. It is easy to lose our way and disregard our own existential well-being.

Suddenly one day thirty years later, we say to ourselves, ‘What happened to the person I used to be, what happened to my life? We used to be fun, go to parties, dance the night away at night clubs and have loads of crazy friends.’ Your social life now consists of a bottle of wine at home watching TV. Your friends are getting fewer and fewer because over the years you have focused on everybody else except yourselves.

My name is Stephen Cox, I am 55 years old and I describe myself as a modern hippie. I am spiritual, forward-thinking, a traveller of the world and a lover of life. I paint my brow with the colours of the rainbow, I wear bright multi-coloured clothes and beads and I dance with my whirly friends all through the night. I am happy! I have found hippie happiness, I have found Hippie Kushi and I would love it if you find it too.

Hot Soapy Water

So, I see you’ve picked up Hot Soapy Water, a bubble bath that’s not for kids. It’s okay, no need to look over your shoulder, I’m not there, I’ve never been there. Well, you’ve taken the first step. I suppose the question is, are you really going to do that old cliché and judge? “Hot Soapy Water, someone’s fetish with bath time?” Nope.

I haven’t diluted the contents of this book with fragrant bath bombs, candles and Barry White playing in the background. It’s mustard gas in the eyeballs, salt on an open wound. It’s utter modern-day carnage. Stories within stories, short poems. War, death, destruction, a chef’s journey, addiction, hedonism, mental health, trauma, the cold dark blanket of suicide, bravery, courage, bewilderment and some funny shit.

It’s a book you will not put down if you are brave enough to start. Why? Because I’m the voice in your head telling you this. My name is Auguste Knuckles, and you will ask yourself a question when the last page is turned: ‘how am I alive? Am I alive or has an alien written this nuclear bomb narrative fired into a volcano?’

How Hard Can It Be?

So how exactly would you cook a bat?

And what did Jesus get up to between being born in a stable in a hail of publicity, up until he appeared again at about 33 complete with a beard and an NVQ in carpentry?

Questions like this are what happens when a middle-aged, overweight bloke has a mid-life crisis, buys a bike and decides to cycle, unsupported and with minimal training from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

Whilst the actual journey itself is covered in the book in a self-deprecating humorous style of the author, as his physically inadequate body and lack of training battle against the lack of comfort provided by a 2-inch wide saddle along with gravity and nature seemingly working against him for every mile, it is more about the thoughts he has while away from home with nothing else to think about other than pushing the left pedal followed by the right, followed by the left. And the responses to his thoughts from work colleagues, friends and family.

How It All Began

A most entertaining, amusing and gripping memoir, rich in action and packed with interesting characters, often in diverse places.

This thrill-seeking brave adventurer leaves the reader in awe of life on the move in the years before modern technology, devoid of the internet, mobile phones, travel guides and credit cards.

She paints a vivid picture of various countries throughout the globe. The many forms of transport undertaken to various destinations and the colourful characters she met along the way.

During times which will never be experienced again. Through war-torn countries, many under civil unrest, behind the Iron Curtain, and across deserts and mountains.

This true story is bound to enthral and also inspire. Her descriptions are told with candid honesty, dotted with humour and history, and is bound to please readers of all ages.

A completely captivating memoir that will keep the reader engrossed to the very last page.

Humble Beginnings

This is a simple tale of a family of eight children (six girls and eventually two boys) who lived in a village in South Devon.

There are some aspects of this story that will make you laugh and plenty that will make you think, but I hope that you will persevere and read on until you get to the “gems” at the end of the main story - they will certainly give you something to consider. They are not fantasy, nor wishful thinking - they are all true!

Here are just a few highlights, there are many, many more:

• A child’s unswerving belief in her best “friend”
• The end of a cherished swimsuit
• The German doctor who became Sheila’s saviour
• Moments of fame in a talent competition
• Adventures with Georgina the goat
• How Sheila and Ivor dealt with the “Agricultural Lease” attached to their property
• The merits and unbelievable talents of Sheila’s Husband Ivor
• The wonderful Soul Rescues (because of COVID) that even now are taking place
• Successful spiritual healings and Sheila’s Mother’s “out-of-body” experience (not to be missed!)

This story is a mixture of magic in a way - not the Harry Potter kind but real magic - certainly, a lot of sadness but tons and tons of happiness also but read it and realise that life is for living and that passing (there is no death) is something to look forward to, not to dread.  

Please read my story – you will be glad you did!

I Promise I’ll Make You Happy

The hardest part about being in an abusive relationship is both realising and recognising that you are. 

A narcissist is extremely clever at preventing their victim from discovering exactly what lies behind (or beneath?) their mask. This can lead to years of being trapped in a toxic relationship. 

You know that something isn’t right, that something is not normal but the narcissist’s use of clever manipulation stops you from knowing what this is.

By telling my story I will help you to reach an understanding of what you have been, or are, going through and why. By reading my journey of discovery that my relationship was nothing but an illusion and why, will help you to recover from the trauma of being entangled with a narcissist.

You will finally learn that it was not your fault and that you were not to blame for everything that was wrong in your relationship. 

Discover how to be finally free in mind, body and spirit.

*Learn *Understand *Accept *Heal *Recover

But most of all, start to love yourself again and move on with your life narcissist free.

I Was a London Firefighter

What is a firefighter?
They are the person next door…
They are like you and me with warts and worries and unfulfilled dreams.
Yet they stand taller than most of us.

The latest book from author and retired fireman David Pike, I Was a London Firefighter is an anthology of factual narratives and fictional tales loosely based around the personal experiences of individual members of the London Fire Brigade. Ranging from the mid-19th century to the present day, the book includes direct reminiscences by former firefighters alongside descriptions of key historical figures like Massey Shaw, Sidney Gamble and Joe Milner. It takes in such subjects as the IRA’s 20'year bombing campaign in London and the changing status of female firefighters.
Running through the book is a series of gripping historical narratives subtitled ‘Yesteryear’s Fires’, depicting the heroic professionalism of firefighters confronted by truly harrowing disasters. Some of these remain all-too-familiar, such as the King’s Cross fire of 1987 which claimed the lives of 31 people; others, no less terrible, have faded into distant memory. The book ends with a fresh and compelling description of a horrifying tragedy that no one can have forgotten: 2017’s Grenfell Tower fire.
I Was a London Firefighter shares with David’s previous works – Beyond the Flames, London Firefighters and Fire-Floats and Fireboats – a careful and comprehensive approach to historical research, an eye for striking and unusual narrative details and an understated humour. Above all, it shows an unwavering appreciation of and empathy for the concerns and drives of the ordinary firefighter, born of David’s own experiences as a fireman.

I Will Protect Her

The cover of this autobiography shows I.R. Dujon at the time of publication mothering her younger, 6-year-old self.

I Will Protect Her details the adolescent years in which Ingrid was subject to tragic child abuse, while the people in charge of her welfare and safety neglected their most basic responsibilities at every point possible. This led to a prolonged period of suffering for her and for so many others. After years of fighting, a full criminal investigation into the crimes was relaunched. Victims were able finally to expose the police and local authorities for their systematic failure to recognise, report, and act upon avoidable and life-altering abuse.

The collation of notes, factual evidence, dates and times as recorded by herself and supported by many others affected, led to the prosecution of one of London’s most notorious paedophiles, who was convicted and sentenced to 24 years in prison.

Only now, after years of counselling, therapy, and personal development, Ingrid has managed to finally close this chapter of her life for good. Today Dujon is a proud mother of five children, all now adults. Dujon’s goal is to share her story and inspire any and everyone who has ever been subject to any form of abuse. Ingrid hopes to educate a wider audience who may not be familiar with the patterns and signs of child abuse, and to paint a detailed picture of how people who are external to an abusive situation can still do so much to prevent or change things for the better.

If You Wake at Midnight

This is the story of the greatest scandal inflicted on British servicemen and women in modern times: drug-induced violence and suicide – and an officer determined to find the truth.

It was supposed to be a wonder drug that would save the world from malaria. But soon after Lariam was brought to international markets in the late 1980s, users of this handy, once-a-week pill began to experience shocking side-effects. Yet over the coming decades, as the drug became implicated in ever-increasing acts of unexplained violence, homicide and suicide, the Ministry of Defence continued to force Lariam on tens, or perhaps hundreds, of thousands of unsuspecting people deployed to some of the world’s most dangerous places.

Enduring years of Lariam-induced nightmares, former soldier Andrew Marriott realised something was horribly wrong; not just with the drug itself but with the institutions responsible for its use and safety. So began a journey towards the truth, a truth that vested interests in the United Kingdom and around the globe were determined to conceal.

In a unique exposé of an entirely preventable pharmaceutical disaster, Marriott turns a spotlight on the murky world of clandestine military and industrial research in the United States in which Lariam was developed. With other survivors, including some very courageous women, he undertakes a forensic examination of a scandal extending to the upper echelons of government and the armed forces. A culture of betrayal and dishonour had imperilled those defending our country to the most insidious and silent form of friendly fire.

In Search of the Queen of Sheba

The figure of the Queen of Sheba spans religion, history and geography. She came from the South as a queen of trade to embark on an affair which changed the course of humanity. She is an icon, a temptress, a political power. She is claimed by at least two countries, Yemen and Ethiopia, by art and by many societies. She stands for black empowerment. Is she real or did we need to invent her? Sarah Sands, a celebrated British journalist, goes on a quest to find her, ending up setting sail in a warship up the Red Sea on her trail.

Indelible: A Social Worker in the Wake of Civil War

Driven by a long-standing desire, her education and her faith, mental health professional, Wendy Nordick, and her husband Bill Blair, a retired judge, plunged into a two-year assignment with Canadian University Services Overseas. She believed her 25 years of clinical social work were appropriate credentials to help a country with the highest rates of suicide in the world. Bill hoped to work for peace and justice. They felt they became laughingstocks when work visa delays left them homeless. Days before leaving, Wendy’s father died. Once in Sri Lanka, she shivered in a rickety beer factory cum hospital where she taught mental health skills. A year later, she was transported into steamy, bombed out Jaffna, the epicenter of a civil war to teach a trauma team who worked with the war affected and tortured during the war. She was humbled by what she did not know and sought help from a previous refugee.