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 Stand Amazed...

On June 1^st, 2013, my mum, Dee, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. This book documents our family’s battle against the disease, our hopes, our dreams and our love.

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. 

Independence to Freedom

This is a story of migration from rural Gujarat to Nairobi, Kenya and the impact of the struggles for independence from British rule on a traditional Hindu Gujarati family, and finally to London in 1949.

Here, the family navigated a life in between two cultures maintaining and imbibing the best of both. Hemkunver lived a life of bhakti – devotion. Manilal, her husband, followed a life of engaging with the world but spiritually grounded in his love for Indian classical music and philosophy. These characteristics were passed on to the main protagonist Viram, who from a very early age fell in love with Indian classical music. His abilities and interests were varied though – so he did not mind playing his sitar with jazz, or playing with Jimmy Page on Led Zeppelin or composing for films, TV and radio, whilst also developing a successful career in business. His desire to create awareness for one of the most sophisticated music systems of the world, led him to become an authority as a performer, advocate and producer of Indian music throughout the UK and Europe, creating around one hundred iconic events per year. He overcame the prejudice he faced from the British arts elite and jealous Indians by embarking on a journey into Vedantic philosophy to find his freedom.

It Will Happen

How many times have you heard the words, “It will happen?”

For Laura and her husband, Scoop, the phrase that once brought comfort, hope and reassurance began to lose all positive meaning.

When they first started trying for a baby, they had no idea what they would be in for. After the heartbreak of each loss, when the world around her frustratingly seemed to carry on like normal, Laura struggled to cope with her inability to do something others seemed to find so easy. In this candid memoir, she shares her isolating experiences and talks openly and honestly about how she and her husband navigated the harsh realities of their rollercoaster journey to parenthood.

It Will Happen covers:

- trying to conceive and the strain on relationships

- miscarriage, ectopic and molar pregnancies

- jealousy and resentment

- treatments and testing

- the anxiety of pregnancy and motherhood after loss

- communicating with people in these situations

Written from the heart of someone with first-hand experiences, It Will Happen gives you tools and information to feel empowered and supported through the difficult times when trying to conceive. Who ever really knows what WILL happen? What’s important is that it CAN happen.

Joe Bloggs Becomes A Christian

“This is a fascinating little book which I am glad to commend. The author is an intelligent and able man. It is an autobiographical account of Michael’s life and tells of his time as a police officer in London facing a number of traumatic experiences, including attacks on his life. These, in turn, lead to a period of illness which brought him back to Devon where he became a devoted Christian.

But the story does not end there; it continues with a description of how Michael returned to London in order to ‘bury the ghosts from his past’; of how he was helped to overcome all his past difficulties … and much more.

I imagine that some of those who read this book will identify with one or other of Michael’s experiences and find help in seeing how he came through them. I particularly enjoyed reading about the ‘93 pence Bible’. This is just one of the adventures recounted here which formed part of Michael’s unusual and exciting spiritual pilgrimage. This is a book which you will find enjoyable and encouraging. It is a book to buy and a book to give.”

                                                              Revd. Cyril Tennant

                                                              St. Philip and St. James Church, Ilfracombe, Devon

Just Around the Next Corner

Route finding along the bottom of a deep gorge, or facing a huge breaking wave, the challenge is to succeed. The adventure, whether it be on a steep 2m wide stream in the Scottish Highlands or the mighty Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, brings with it great rewards, but occasionally close calls. Mike shares an impressive travelogue of paddling adventures, brought to life with reflections and photographs. He introduces us to a light-hearted consideration of scrimblies and deeper notions relating to the motivation and reasoning that has inspired him to seek out new challenges, through paddling white water.  We discover how teamwork, planning and expertise can merge into those few rare euphoric moments of pure content. You will be inspired to go and look around the next corner for your next adventure.

Just Go to the Airport

              This is the story of the stuff of dreams and how they can actually happen in the best way possible. A story of two people living three completely different lifestyles over a four-year Odyssey.

              After a fork in the road presented itself, John and Helen left Sydney Australia for a hemisphere change to live on the Greek Island of Samos. At the time of leaving, they were both at the top of their professions in the IT Industry.

              Life, love, and all manner of emotions came forth to capture the start of their destiny on Samos, where they lived for nine months. From this Greek Island they moved to London and John worked in the IT Industry with Helen working as a PA, a job for which she was overqualified.

             Great success in the UK then led to a second fork in the road and they decided to buy a large sailing yacht and leave England to sail and live in Europe, having the Mediterranean Sea in mind and to return to the Greek Island of Samos, which they considered their spiritual home in Europe.

             To do this they needed to complete a three-month course in sailing and navigation with the Royal Yachting Association (RYA). After this they left England to sail and live in Europe and the last of the three lifestyles.

             It is a story of people, countries and their peoples, adventure, the romance of the sea and life and above all… emotions! To adopt these lifestyles, they needed an abundance of confidence, intelligence, and courage. These qualities they had.

            A similar tale to the TV Series “The Durrells” on a Greek Island. Then onto the TV Series “Emily in Paris” for their city success. The last of course being the return of Odysseus, the Greek hero, who sailed home and returned to the Greek Island of Ithaca after an absence of some years where similarly John and Helen returned, under sail, to the Greek Island of Samos.