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The Willows
An early life of neglect and pain doesn’t deter Jack from being determined to be accepted and then later to realise his endeavours. The journey is fraught with failures, dangers and disappointments. His friendship with the children of an eccentric family who have rented ‘The Willows’, a large but run-down house in the beach resort where Tom is living, proves to be not only a turning point but also the scene of great tragedy. His experience is widened when he goes to university and becomes involved with many different groups of students. Although popular, Tom is unable to form any permanent relationship for some time. He comes to realise what this impediment is but cannot bring himself to tell anyone. Thirty-five years later, when he has retired from work, the tragedy that had happened at The Willows comes to haunt him and he realises he could be a suspect in a murder.
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The Widowers
Paul has been a widower for three years and he would be the first to admit that he feels lost in the seaside town that was to be the retirement home for him and his late wife. Only Paul’s faithful dog, Zeno, gives him comfort. Through a chance encounter, Paul meets Geoff, another widower and dog-owner, in the same boat as Paul. As he reflects on his marriage and his experiences, exchanging thoughts with Geoff, Paul begins to form a new perspective on his life, exploring his sense of loss but beginning to glimpse the possibility of a life after the death of a partner. He is not so old. He’s not too old to change. Each sunrise in the bay brings a new day. There are still journeys to be made before the sun sets at last.
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The Watsons Revisited
Four girls each with their own ‘take’ on 18th century social restrictions conditioning life in a village with an ailing, widowed father: Emma, arrived back into the family after being brought up by an aunt in a rather more social, sophisticated atmosphere; Elizabeth, facing the burden of running a household and caring for an ailing father after a failed romance; dotty Margaret the youngest; selfish Penelope ‘escaped’ to friends in London. Their two brothers, one married into money, one struggling to make a living as a doctor, know they have a responsibility for the girls’ futures.
And then there’s the young unmarried Vicar, and the Castle family - widowed dowager, young Lord, his sister and wayward brother, and hangers on - whose lives intertwine with the Watsons. And the village gossips who play their part in the dramas that unfold after a dramatic event has long reaching results.
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The Watcher, the Mechanic and the Doctor's Wife
In a perilous era, only the most skilled are summoned to safeguard our way of life.
Amidst the allure of sex and drugs, the deceit of crooks, and the intricate dance between the police and doctors, this tale offers a deep dive into the world of clinical medicine. It spotlights a unique cadre of practitioners determined to make a difference, even as they navigate the challenges of an underfunded NHS, a government stretched thin, and a public often left in the dark.
Medicine is not just a profession; it’s a calling. It demands relentless dedication, continuous learning, and the rare euphoria that comes from saving a life. This story captures the essence of this dedication, juxtaposing the highs of medical triumphs against the relentless onslaught of disease.
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The Waiting Room
Mark and Sarah meet and fall in love at university and while he thinks it will last forever, she isn’t quite so sure. Inevitably they drift apart bit by bit.
Over half a decade later the successful city lawyer meets her old postgraduate boyfriend and despite obvious differences in career success they start to fall in love all over again. Moving in is only the first step in their grown-up west London lives and despite all the fun, they start to feel their lives, while full, are not quite complete.
The Waiting Room tells the story of Sarah and Mark’s disappointment and pain in facing recurring loss and the frustrating journey navigating the complex world of IVF clinics and treatments. It follows them as they experience excitement, grief and ultimately resolution as they discover as much about themselves as they do about each other.
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The Vicar of Abchurch
At the end of his working life, a vicar in the City of London thinks of himself as a failure: no one now seems to treasure the beliefs and religious practices of his youth; the church hierarchy is seemingly obsessed only with modern marketing and business methods which he doesn’t appreciate; and any love between him and his wife has long since vanished. Lacking any personal ambition, he takes on a rundown church and conducts his ministry there in the only way he knows: with understanding, compassion and Christian forgiveness. But in a few short months, the very building and its circumstances change him and his wife forever.
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The Vagrant
Where do you go for answers in the age of information? How do you love in grey areas of echoed ideas? When does understanding become manipulation? Forced into self-reflection, Eilidh explores the idea that no single answer is an entirely palatable truth – not when it comes to friends, philosophies or men.
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The Unsteady Wheel
Most of us dream of that life-changing moment: news of a lottery win, a surprise inheritance, becoming famous. Pasquale yearns to reach the city, to leave behind his village and humble origins. A young man, whose thoughts and desires lie beyond his time and place in the world. Someone set apart from the start. A hopeless case, as far as his people are concerned.
And then, suddenly, he acts upon a stroke of good fortune: the opportunity for a new name, a new identity. The life he has always craved. No longer trapped in his own skin and narrow horizons, his journey will take him through diverse landscapes, mental, physical, and emotional, as he clings onto the childhood image of owning a grand villa overlooking the sea.
Life is never simple though and escaping one’s roots is next to impossible, even for the narcissistic and single-minded Pasquale. How will he face life’s big questions: love, death, the significance of parenthood, friendship? Just how secure his place, in the hazy underworld of Fascist Italy?
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The Unofficial Good Turn Society
Six swallows dance for a girl who felt luck was against her. Buoyed, a spontaneous good turn passes from her through a cast of characters, amongst them a woman in a beret on the New York subway, a retired maestro in Lisbon and a shy diver in the Coral Sea.
Each story is a link in a chain of apparently random acts of generosity, which reaches around the globe, and eventually makes its way to London where disaster is averted.
This poignant story is the perfect book for our times and captures the goodness of the human spirit. Buhagiar’s original style creates an engaging immediacy and by exploring the domino effect of small gestures of goodwill, he reminds us that everyone has a story, and that there is beauty to be found in everyday acts of kindness.
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The Unexpected Matters of the Heart
A time-in-moment stops for each of us that lingers in our memories for the rest of our lives. To some, it’s something big like passing their driving test, and to others is as simple as the day they mastered how to ride their bike. Whatever you encounter, it leaves you to ponder deeper on the possibility as the feelings we feel can engrave onto our hearts.
Sarah could not believe it. Despite the journey it took to arrive at a place she could now consider to be home, she was ready to take charge of what was in front of her. Not long after arriving at her new destination, she was invited to a gathering. After being trapped for 14 days in one room, freedom is what she desires and needs, even with people who may seem like strangers.
A simple yes and a step into the unknown led Sarah to the unexpected.
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The Time Thief
“You have Parkinson’s Disease, Mr Preshevski”
The Time Thief is the remarkable story of Marco Preshevski who one day in March 2001 just after his 30th birthday was diagnosed with Adult Early Onset Idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease. In the minutes, hours and days following his diagnosis many questions raced through his mind, but they all came back to one central challenge: would it be possible to finance his way through life, in the face of a relentless, stealth-like adversary such as Parkinson’s Disease?
Marco’s principal aim was to gain and retain enough income from employment to achieve his life goals. Most caring parents would agree that these goals amount to providing for your children, ensuring they have the full life that Marco always wanted his children to experience. Was it possible to retain enough time for him to fulfil these goals, while The Time Thief mercilessly chipped away at the block of precious time that Marco valiantly tried to preserve?
In this moving and inspiring memoir, Marco takes us deep into his innermost thoughts as he battled with Parkinson’s Disease in its unabating covert campaign to steal our most precious of resources.
The Time Thief is the second book from Marco Preshevski, following his successful debut novel, the best-selling Drivin’ Daughters and Parkinson’s which charted Marco’s relationship of twenty years with Parkinson’s Disease. Written with the same degree of wit and hilarious accounts of his real-life employment experiences, The Time Thief is a moving, inspirational novel that is a worthy sequel to Marco’s debut novel.
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The Ties That Bind
How the hell do you persuade your elderly, sick mother that she can’t stay in her own home? She’s confused and belligerent, talking about Hitler and ironing boards! All she really wants is to be left alone to die in her own bed, in peace and without any fuss. But her daughters have other ideas.
Sisters Diana and Vanessa face a rollercoaster of emotions as they battle the practicalities of looking after their mother Edwina as her life draws to a close. As she becomes increasingly frail, Edwina becomes more determined to wear them down by her refusal to accept their help. And now their eldest sibling, a convicted criminal, is back on the scene and that can only spell trouble.
Through laughter, tears and lots of wine, Vanessa and Diana navigate the challenges of dealing with all the emotional and practical paraphernalia of a dying parent. Two middle aged women who appreciate that dark humour is sometimes what you need to get you through the day and that family ties run deep in good times and bad.
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