The Luggage Lifter

Meet Harold, a young man who occupies a room in a bleak tenement in the edgy Blitz-damaged East End. Harold’s good humour and air of optimism belie the unfortunate circumstances which blighted his childhood, left him orphaned and shaped his view of the world. An intelligent, resourceful and amiable character, operating around the London hotels and railway stations, he turns luggage lifting into an art form. When he discovers a stash of letters in a leather steamer, an act of kindness sets off a chain of events which gathers its own momentum and leads to romance. But the escalation in his criminal activities, together with the finding of a large haul of used banknotes can only spell trouble. The attention of the police and the menace of the Moretti brothers, who claim the money, coincide, and arrest seems a safer outcome for Harold. He survives a prison term but soon learns that shaking off his unresolved past is more difficult, especially when trying to do the right thing leads to complications in his love life. Just when a sense of well-being beckons, matters spiral out of control and push Harold to the brink…

The Lift Book Club

How can Gabe make amends for a life lived badly? How can his being in charge of a freight lift, left over from a warehouse conversion, allow him to help the disparate residents of Harrington Hall? There’s Robbie who lies about reading at home to his teacher because he knows his mum is too busy. Miss Ilene James, who seems to have little connection to the real world, or Mrs Davies whose world comes crashing down. Then there is Sam, newly moved to the area and locked into shift work at the hospital; or Mrs Cole, a widow and retired teacher unsure of developing a new relationship; and the Captain, a life at sea leaving no-one on land at his retirement. All of them living their separate and, at times, lonely lives. Gabe has to look back at his own life to forge a path into the future for the people he comes to know and love.

The Last Man

The author is trying to answer many questions that arise every day in the ordinary life of a human being. The main theme is world pandemics, which was a pretext for the depopulation of the planet. But the real story is far beyond that. The creation of the world we know and its inevitable end, which was sped up with the eternal temptation of the human, Being God (borrowed from Salvador Dali’s opera Être Dieu). Those who could not resist the temptation of being God took the fate of the world into their own hands and shaped it in their own image.

… We were born for them, we were educated for them, we lived for them, and we died for them. When they talked about freedom, they were actually talking about slavery. We were slaves, willing slaves, until we became useless eaters. They kept us alive as long as we were useful to them. When we became old jades, they let us out to graze on the poisonous grass. Those who resisted them were destroyed, declared insane, unfit, the worst enemies …

The Last Garden

Michael is now an old man, and he decides to grow a garden where none had grown before. As he does so, he looks back on his life and forward to his hopes and fears. Michael reminisces about his past, and he truly wonders if his life has answered the existential questions of why he is here and what the purpose of his life is. Michael is a survivor of life, and so he enjoys nourishing his garden and watching the survival of his plants. He wonders if there is somehow a connection between him creating this garden and his life: what, if anything, can this be? Read on and see what Michael learns as the year unfolds while he tends to his garden.

The Kiss

Set in 1999 on the cusp of a new millennium, Emma Fogle is back living in London. Her interview at the Hadley Gallery Covent Garden goes well and she is soon ensconced in the art world. However, betrayed by the people she had trusted, she becomes out of her depth when ruthless art dealing and the theft of ‘The Kiss’ sketch, which had been on loan for authentication from an elderly Jewish gentleman, takes her friend Alice and ultimately herself to Vienna, Austria. There is hostility and danger in a background of fine art, beautiful architecture and wonderful hospitality. Emma’s belief in her friend’s safety and a strong sense of déjà vu leads the reader on a perilous journey across the Austrian border and into Hungary. Ridden with guilt over Alice’s disappearance, Emma blames herself for agreeing initially for her to have gone. But she knew in her heart that all that had ever mattered was the obsessive love she has for ‘The Kiss’ and its safe return.

When the church bells over Vienna strike midnight to herald the year 2000, will Emma get her desired wish?

The Journal

Lying unread for almost a century, Christophe Allary’s journal, with its account of the loves and tragedies of this enigmatic man, are suddenly exposed to the sympathetic eye of Harry Evans, adrift and alone in Paris. Unexpectedly, each entry will alter the course of Harry’s life and send him searching for the untold events surrounding this forgotten man. From the north to the south of France and to a time when Paris, emerging from a brutal conflict, rediscovers its soul in the Belle Epoque. It exposes the worst in human character and ultimately the best in those in whom Christophe places his trust. As each page reveals its story, so Harry takes faltering steps in parallel with the long-dead author, revealing how the past can still extend its influence, even today.

The Hiding Place

It was his safe place. No wonder that he would do anything to protect it.

Of the friends who visit Mark Atkinson on his island retreat, one of them, a girl called Lori, has been there before. What happened on that earlier visit and where is the friend her parents brought with them? Also, where is the jewellery Mary Arnold entrusted to Mark’s safekeeping before her death?

The Hiding Place deals not only with things concealed and the answers we seek, but with friendship and the demands that can be made by pursuing a quest.

“Whatever I tell you, I can’t get anywhere close to the impact this saga has made on Lori; and don’t lose sight of the fact that Mark has been working on it pretty well all of his life.”

The Glorious Face of Sorrow

Jack Spalding is a man at his lowest ebb. His wife has imposed a trial separation. His legal career is faltering. Though once he was a prince, his future is bleak. But then, in service of a client he did not want, Jack finds a book of love poems he did not expect. Through Hugh McCauley’s poetry, Jack perceives the love the poet has for his soulmate, Jing Zhao. But what has happened to the young couple? Narrated, in turn, by the three central characters, The Glorious Face of Sorrow, tells the tale of Hugh and Jing’s mixed-race romance in 1990s Sydney, where racial tensions are on the rise in an era of dog-whistle politics. But it also tells the story of Jack’s search for unlikely redemption.

The Forgotten People

The late-night train had just pulled up at the small station, and Rahul Bagchi, a newly qualified doctor, cautiously stepped down from the four-bogie train. He was excited and confused at the prospect of beginning his career in a remote part of India. However, the unknown factors of village life had not deterred his spirit nor his enthusiasm to invest his time and service in Panchkuri; the chapters unfold interesting and intriguing aspects of rural India - memories of which the doctor would treasure for a long time.

The Fat Club

Simon Rodgers runs his own chauffeur business and after flying back from a well-earned break to St Lucia with his wife, Summer, their lives are turned upside down when he signs up to a sports supplement company called The Fat Club.

All is not what it seems.

The Egyptian Series: Green Treasure

Are there emeralds still to be found at Sikait in the Mountains of the Eastern, Red Desert of Egypt bordering the Red Sea?

Donald Phipps, archaeologist, is fairly confident there must be some good stones left there although, since the time of Cleopatra two thousand years ago, nobody has really bothered to search for them. His ‘patron’, Solomon Hunter III, is arriving from New York, to see the stones. Where is Donald? He has vanished.

Donald’s rogue brother, Alistair, comes to Egypt hoping to cash in on Don’s fortune. He steals the stones that have already been found, bolts and is found dead. His brother tries to report him dead, but gets locked up himself. For 6 weeks nobody knows where he is; is he dead or what?

Don’s daughter and nephew travel to Egypt searching for him. Nobody knows anything.

This story ranges from the Red Sea, East of the Nile, to the West Bank and the Valley of the Kings.

The Dambe Fighter

Jabbo Okeleke becomes a successful Dambe fighter in his own right while making himself a cut above other boxers. This is also a riveting story that provides a contemporary portrait of a Nigerian fighter, who knows what he wants in life: to become an undisputed boxing champion.

As Jabbo Okeleke endeavours to achieve his goals in boxing, in all his glory, he has nothing to lose or hide, as he is confronted with ugly African myths, half-truths, and a slew of talented Dambe boxers.

This off-beat novel is all about boxing grit, resilience, and determination — that is, when it comes to Dambe boxing, while deepening our understanding of Jabbo Okeleke’s tireless boxing journey.

Finally, Jabbo Okeleke, with his personal challenges and experiences, takes on humankind, in general, as a fledgling Dambe fighter, as his opponents feel the great, tangible power of his dextrous hands and fists.