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The PepperAsh Clinch
A line of revellers, wending their drunken conga from the opening night party at The Fighting Cock, is brought to a sudden halt when their barbecue explodes. Nora Stickleback struggles to manage the pub, control her alcoholic husband, and keep her son away from temptation. Following a promise to look after her friends’ teenage children while they go off on a holiday that ends in tragedy, she suddenly finds herself with two extra youngsters to care for. Henry Stickleback nurses two passions, one for young Rosalie and the other for browsing car boot sales for any item cockerel-related. George dedicates the time he should be grieving to looking after his elder sister and carving out a future career for himself, steadfastly thinking of nothing except the matter in front of him at that time. Meanwhile, Rev’d Quinny is haunted by a childhood memory and a habit he started in order to break an obsession.
£9.99 -
The Orcadian File
Stephen “Monty” Montgomery is a lonely city-based defence lawyer; who, despite being skilled in legal debate, is nowhere near to being offered a partnership by his firm when he is faced with compelling evidence of an age-old supernatural struggle between celestial entities and their arcane human disciples, forcing him to rapidly adjust his theological beliefs.
Monty soon finds himself called upon to represent ex-police officer Christopher Forsyth. Forsyth had been involved in investigating an alleged paedophile ring among the Edinburgh establishment which resulted in his commanding officer being gunned down in the street. Monty’s new client has since been railroaded out of the police and finds himself in their custody on a trumped-up murder charge.
Finding themselves opposed by a faceless conspiracy that is politically ambitious and prepared to destroy anything that gets in its way, the defence team will need every gram of their ability to get Forsyth off the hook. What Monty hasn’t reckoned upon, however, is being brought face to face with an immortal enemy – one more diabolical, cunning, and dangerous than any human conspirator.
Martone revives his haunting Kertamen tale with this vividly compelling and politically astute thriller, which is littered with moral complexity and legal intrigue. Told with ceaseless imagination through a rapid and intense narrative, The Orcadian File effortlessly meanders between ancient and contemporary judicial mischief.£14.99 -
The Narrow Gate
“War messes with us; makes us do things we wouldn’t normally contemplate.”
As war encroaches on the idyllic young life of Ali Conroy in the lush and undulating countryside of Northern England, she and her childhood love are swept to opposite ends of the earth – to the unrelenting and bloody battlefields of World War Two and the barren and windblown plains of North East Montana.
Based on a true story from the years surrounding one of our most defining and cataclysmic conflicts, The Narrow Gate tugs at the threads that tie us to our home and our first love.
£10.99 -
The Mouse Wife
In 1939, when Elizabeth, the daughter of a wealthy cotton mill owner, meets the dashing honourable James, she is overwhelmed by a handsome young man who is the opposite of her retiring, shy nature. Elizabeth has been schooled in etiquette at a Swiss finishing school but suffered slights from other girls from the ‘best’ families in Europe, titled and arrogant. Her father has no love of the aristocracy, wasters and scoundrels, he calls them, but for his daughter to be a future countess of Cumberland, that is something to contemplate. They marry but Elizabeth soon tires of the London scene. On the estate, Castle Hemgarth in the county of Cumberland, Elizabeth feels safe. World War 2 intercedes and takes James away, leaving Elizabeth to nurse her dying father-in-law and the estate. What Elizabeth and James want so badly is an heir but when James, an officer rising rank by rank, is away, what chance is there of that? Elizabeth finds courage and finds her feet as Countess of Cumberland and James has a wandering eye and a life away from Hemgarth.
£11.99 -
The Mother of My Children
In the early 1990s, within the fictional town of Mahogany, India, a tale of love, family, and personal transformation unfolds. Adam’s adoration for his wife, Mary, knows no bounds, leading him to embark on a remarkable endeavor—a book dedicated to her. But this is no ordinary love story; it delves into Mary’s evolution from cherished wife to the irreplaceable mother of their children. What could have influenced this humble woman from a small town to elicit such profound devotion?
The Mother of My Children weaves a captivating narrative set against the backdrop of tragedy, survival, and the unyielding spirit of an ordinary woman who refused to abandon those she held dear. Adam’s heartfelt words paint a vivid portrait of a woman who, faced with unimaginable challenges, became a beacon of hope for her family. This evocative tale celebrates the power of love and resilience, inviting readers to contemplate the transformative influence of an unassuming woman who defied societal norms and discovered strength through unwavering devotion.
£9.99 -
The Moth Man
The Moth Man is the story exploring a family surviving in an ever-emerging Ireland, it is the story of ‘the lost boy’ who ran to London to escape the oppression of growing up in a culture, which he found oppressive filled with cloying lies and an oblique lack of love and understanding. Like a ghost the shadow of the lost boy lives on in his family, both admired and reviled, what happens to him, how do the family fair with so much hidden hurt. A gentle father, admired and loved, his scientific nature denied to him. A mother hated and misunderstood, and the inability for generational healing to exist without true leadership.
£8.99 -
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…
£8.99 -
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.
£8.99 -
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 …
£8.99 -
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.
£8.99 -
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?
£9.99 -
The Journey of the Trollop
In The Journey of the Trollop, Isabella is the embodiment of resilience and transformation. Mastering the art of reinvention, she fiercely guards her narratives, bending truths to preserve her crafted reality. With an unwavering spirit, she demonstrates that adversity is merely a challenge to overcome. Fearlessly diving into the depths of hardship, Isabella emerges time and again, proving that from nothing, one can create everything.
£7.99