Das Einzige Kind / The Only Child

Christian is the epitome of the modern working youth who goes out with the love of his life, Yolanda. He finds meaning in the realm of family relationships, where he reconnects with his half-sister Amelia on a holiday to Sweden. Through his working relationship, he meets his boss, who is his uncle when he works as a scientist. As he gains in popularity with his acting career, he is able to forge his career as a scientist too at the same time. The book emphasizes the importance of real day romance and family relationships in a modern working world.

Greenwich Meridian

A terminally ill woman dying in a hospital in Redondo Beach, California. A Colombian teenage girl who has to face an extreme test alone. A young Welsh physicist and rugby player who has to take up service at CERN, in Geneva. A Sicilian boy on a very risky mission in the North. A disillusioned postal worker and dull family man in the Soviet Union. A Chinese thief waiting to serve her sentence. A young Australian Aboriginal becoming a man.

The lives of these seven people, who have never met or known each other and live thousands of miles apart, are united by a common destiny with an eighth man: their story in fact culminates on the day of John F. Kennedy’s murder in Dallas.

Precisely then, each of them faces the ultimate meaning of their existence in a personal yet shared moment, while life does not stop, and the world goes on as it does every day…

Homeless Companions

Harmony Harringdon is a teenager with her whole life ahead of her. She is beautiful, sweet, and talented. Harmony and her best friend Jake Butler are inseparable. As the pair grow from children to teenagers, their friendship becomes love. They weren’t to know what fate has planned for them. It would all become too much for Harmony, despite having Jake there to support her.

Fleeing the shame and devastation she believes she has caused, Harmony leaves all she knows behind her. Bearing witness to the cruel realities of life, this time fate is kind and brings Harmony a Carnival.

With newfound purpose, Harmony’s talent and tenacity propels her on an unexpected journey. However, all Harmony longs for more than anything is for something or someone to save her.

The Top Valley Enigma

In The Top Valley Enigma, a tale unfolds of a wealthy American conservationist whose solitary and zealous nature leads him to Australia. Motivated by the discovery of ancient human remains and the threat of a new coal mine, his journey takes a turn when he meets a businesswoman from the United States in Melbourne. Their shared interests spark an unexpected partnership, and together they embark on a captivating adventure.

Their journey is marked by serene yachting days and a mesmerizing visit to the Great Barrier Reef, experiences that deepen their bond and become pivotal in their lives. The duo aligns with local conservationists and discovers a cattle farm that is crucial to their quest, revealing significant archaeological finds of early human life.

Meanwhile, the shadows of a complex past, including a major share trading deal, lurk behind the American conservationist. As their mission to thwart the coal mine gains momentum, they become entwined in a web of past endeavors in conservation. This ignites a wave of revenge from individuals with long memories, profoundly impacted by his previous actions. The Top Valley Enigma masterfully weaves a story of archaeological discovery, environmental activism, and the intricate play of human connections and past deeds.

Transcending Me

This breathlessly compulsive novel, by turns savage and tender, funny and wise, horrifying and uplifting, tells the story of Aloisio, born male in Latin America, who is convinced from an early age that she is a woman in a man’s body. Moving to the United States to work in the theatre, the butterfly emerges; she finds love and her place in the world, but also depravity and danger, as the book’s narrator, Aloisio—Holly to her friends—navigates the ups and downs of her life with style, wit, perceptive intelligence and blazing honesty.Taking inspiration from the impact of transgenderism on the women’s movement, Elba Barnes has created a wonderfully rich, fully alive protagonist and surrounded her with a supporting cast of vividly realised characters.

Threeways

Tim has lived in Threeways Mental Hospital for thirty odd years. And, as he will tell you, these are odd years.Threeways Mental Hospital, 1975. Tim Cavendish has spent most of his life within the nicotine-stained walls of the institution. With friends Mike and Sid, he endures the never-ending boredom and grinds out his days. It has been a long time since he thought about the possibility of leaving, until well-meaning nurse Ron comes along.Now, faced with the prospect of leaving his girlfriend, Millie, and abandoning his friends to the sadistic man in the hospital workshop, Tim has a decision to make, and something has to give...

The Smallest Show on Earth

From the 60s through to the present day Patrick Church has worked in the cinema from Peterborough through to Bury St Edmunds. In The Smallest Show on Earth he takes us through that experience in an autobiography that draws the reader into the trials and joys of a being a projectionist screening blockbusters like ‘Jaws' and a curious period of Indian films where half the time is spent splicing the films back together.The role of projectionist was always a low paid, but with the advent of TV and bingo and other demands on people's time it also became a precarious one as the decades rolled by. Sometimes Patrick had to plead his case as cinemas changed hands from ABC, to Odeon and bingo conglomerates, just to keep his job going and the buildings in operation. The fact that he succeeded is testament to his love for cinema and this passion shines through in this engaging book.

The Pleasure Cats of Nova Playa

The Pleasure Cats of Nova Playa is a story of sex, drugs, alcohol, violence and techno music. Set in the fictional sun soaked Mediterranean resort of Playa Nova where underground, under town, cats mirror the excesses of the sunseekers above. Into this bustling, vibrant underground city arrives the beautiful Napoleona, a charming and cunning cat with a past, but with her eyes fixed squarely on the future, and in particular the coming winter. In the summer the cats feast and party, but the cold desolate winter threatens to thin them out. She encounters new dangers, especially Count Luciano, the second in command to King Louie, gangsters with pretensions of nobility. The pursuit of power and pleasure seems to have no bounds in this subterranean city. How far will Napoleona go to ensure the party never ends?

The Painting

Using a shoreline for the book’s landscape, The Painting is about re-emergence from a crisis of confidence. It uses the metaphor of a young water-skiing artist painting his life with his beliefs, inspired by a muse. All ages will enjoy identifying with the insight into peer connections and society, reflecting on the wrecked confidence that is pieced back together in reinventing ourselves. Younger readers will appreciate the colourful symbols littered throughout the story for the simple pleasure of reading unpredictable sentences assembled to meet needs not satisfied by daily conversation. This is entertainment sympathetic to the journey of self-healing. Every word has been carefully chosen for its sound, shape (and colour!) which can be interpreted in ways that are as individual as those reading it. 

The Foreseen

Jodie has finally managed to move on from her violent husband, Jack, and is forming new relationships and establishing her own business. With CJ, her son, she has a new home"”the whereabouts of which are unknown to Jack"”and the prospect of a normal life.Jack, however, feels differently. He is the victim and he wants Jodie back to play the part of the dutiful wife with her life centred around his needs and desires. He is prepared to go to any length to find her and get her back under his control.But not only is he frustrated by Barry, who was involved in getting Jodie away, he is also up against forces beyond his understanding. CJ's best friends, Thomas and Kelly"”killed in a hit and run incident"”are still not at peace. They establish contact with CJ and a medium, Mable, and are instrumental in trying to thwart Jack.

The Final Fence: Sophomores In The Saddle

Fair Questions for a Feature Story Is a disability something that is subjective or is it objective? Is a diagnosis opinion or fact? The Final Fence: Sophomores in the Saddle authored by Marc O'Brien takes a creative and honest look into a life filled with support due to well meaning individuals that think before they speak. When Eddie Patrick meets up with Danielle Lynne on a college campus, a love of horses triggers a classroom discussion. When their professor - a large chestnut pony named The Great Satan - starts the lecture, the relationship skills make the grade, with the ribbon only being a decorative award. Using a backdrop of the elegant and classy world of the hunter jumper horse shows during the second Ronald Reagan presidential administration, the setting for this novel is a perfect way for the future generations to learn about respect. 

Starting To Shrink

Douglas Barker is a young doctor who starts work as a psychiatrist in Scotland in the 1980s. The job is fascinating, but he soon falls out with his grandiose consultant, Dr Burlington. A patient accuses Douglas of having sex with her, and backed by Dr Burlington, this complaint goes to the General Medical Council. He is called to a hearing in London, where his career hangs in the balance.