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The Beautiful Anatomy of Despair
It’s 2014 in San Francisco and Tristan thinks he’s found love. Meanwhile in London, Toby is at work in the City. On the Amalfi Coast, Cordelia and Freddie are fighting about a secret.
The Beautiful Anatomy of Despair is a novel about hope and hopelessness.
It is a portrait of four friends figuring out how to live a meaningful life, and what it takes to survive one that isn’t.
£8.99 -
The Anemone Bowl
“If the inability to see other than that which you wish to see can be considered a kind of heaven, then presumably the inability to escape self-knowledge must be one version of hell.”
The ill-fated consequences of happenstance: Born into an English country village community in the 1950s, a young boy is led, through a series of events over which he in effect has little or no control, to take the life of a neighbour’s child, and subsequently his own. And this is the tale, if there can be any, of the subsequent accounting.
The book itself is set in an ever-mutating afterlife that also provides an interim existence before rebirth – an illusory world where, of necessity, it is in large part conveniently repressed memories that hold sway, and where for Eric (if we can suppose that to be his name), each step forward is also leading (with some level of perversity) to the truths of his own personal past transgressions.
£11.99 -
Tales of Tynant
An 11-acre plot of land on a remote hillside in mid-Wales and its current guardians come together to witness the everyday, sometimes magical, sometimes bizarre goings on; from mating frogs and marauding otters in the pond to the daredevil swallows and RAF pilots above; from Roland the debonair pheasant to Dixie the drag queen who lost their way. Tina Hughes’ stories and illustrations bring to life an uplifting escape to the much-loved land of Tynant.
£8.99 -
Sunset Collector
Illusion and disillusion
Friendship and betrayal
Ecstasy and madness
Two young Englishmen arrive in LA in 1980, hungry for experience. They dive headlong into technicolour Hollywood days, sunkissed and free beneath exotic palms. At night they slide on charm through a Sunset Strip parade of hookers, pimps, dealers, gigolos, hitmen, punks and struggling actors. They set up camp in a glamorously sleazy joint and befriend the eccentric barflies. They are a million miles away from Thatcher’s grey, dreary London town, where everything closes by 11.
Innocence collides with experience and there gradually emerges a darker vision of LA: a Manson-haunted, coke-addled, hedonistic playground. A beautiful girl appears at their door at 3am and breaks up the bachelor party. Triangular mind games herald cracks in the unbreakable friendship, then reality itself starts to unravel, on a tragicomic journey of self-discovery, reaching a climax with a mind-bending trip out into the desert.
At the dawn of the 80’s, a rite of passage journey through an impressionistic whirlwind of sex, drugs and mental illness.
£11.99 -
Straining Your Psyche Through the Veil
In this compendium, you will find poems that are not too long, that will encourage you to read and enjoy poetry.
Delightfully entertaining, humorous short stories.
Quirky, innovative and thought-provoking observational prose.
And a set of five pieces of written work that the author – so far – has not been able to, or does not want to classify, for want of a superlative title.
Nigel says, “All of my works mentioned above are helping you to escape from the hell of the modern media world, which you are now, unfortunately, standing in up to and over your head.”
This, Mr. Wilson’s second book, Straining Your Psyche Through the Veil, like his first book, Stories for All the Children of All the Worlds, is yet another perfectly fitting key to the unlocking of the door of escapism.
“With my books, I’m pulling you up and away from out of the modern-day brainwashing swamp of the media.”
“Enter and close the door of escapism behind you by opening my book, and now that you have escaped, lock it, by reading and turning the pages!”
To paraphrase and quote Nigel again:
“The book that is now in your hands is your ticket fully out of here.
And so, it is worth more than every penny.
I hope that this for you is naturally and unnaturally clear,
And doubt that that goes for the many.”
£9.99 -
Stolen Love
Unworldly teenager Gemma was beginning her working life in a busy London office, with high hopes of following family tradition by establishing a career in the Civil Service. She had no idea a chance meeting a few days later would mean her chosen path heading way off course, sending her whole future in an entirely unplanned direction. No idea of the roller coaster she was embarking on, held for life by a soul-deep bond which could not be broken. She should have heeded the first warning, thus avoiding the emotional turmoil that lay in wait. Dave. Could she – should she – trust him?
Faced with life changing situations and decisions, Gemma had the love and support of others to help her. Yet time after time, when she should have taken the opportunities to extricate herself from the all-consuming relationship, she would ultimately press the ‘self-destruct’ button, sending her spiralling back towards the man who possessed her.
Dave.
There was no escape… was there?
£7.99 -
Steelsbridge Angels
Steelsbridge Angels is a gritty, compassionate and community-led story of Gary Minton and his burning ambition to play football as a goalkeeper for his hometown club. This leads him to the ultimate glory in the summer of 1966!
Gary strives hard to become a success! Out of poverty, he influences family and friends and all who he encounters in his life.
This is a comical, tragic, uplifting and inspirational novel all about Gary Minton and his Steelsbridge Angels.
£7.99 -
Starting Over
Embark on a transformative journey through the hallowed halls of an English boarding school in the enchanting year of 1966. In Starting Over, a captivating tale unfolds as we are introduced to a diverse cast of characters who, against the backdrop of their extraordinary work with children who possess unique abilities, navigate their own intricacies and conflicts.
Amidst the corridors that echo with the dreams and challenges of the young minds they nurture, these remarkable individuals find solace and strength in their shared vulnerability. Their distinctive needs intertwine, creating a tapestry of complex relationships, unexpected alliances, and profound personal growth.
As the story unfurls, the characters are confronted with the inevitable winds of change, sweeping away the familiar to make room for new beginnings. Through trials and triumphs, they discover the resilience of the human spirit and the extraordinary power of embracing the unknown.
£9.99 -
Starnberg Series: Book 2 – You Don’t Own Me
Juliette Simon is married, more or less unhappily, and is the most popular folk/pop singer in the German speaking world. She is Marie and Arabella Cooper-Nyman’s new neighbour, and lives in her purpose-built villa on Lake Starnberg in Bavaria.
She meets and falls in love with one of her backing singers, Jodie Sanchez. Their story is one full of trials and tribulations. Juliette must confront the homophobia rampant in the folk music world. Jodie must decide: her solo career in the USA, or Juliette?
£9.99 -
Star in the Shadows
The world thinks that pop superstar Kiara Anderson has it all, but she spends her nights drinking away memories of her childhood and life as a teen runaway. The Jacobs family are desperate to see the girl next door again and discover why she ran away, especially their son, Shane, who blames himself for her disappearance. When Kiara's manager forces her into a reveal-all TV interview, she knows the family she loved more than her own will finally discover the truth. Can she overcome her demons or will the shadows of the past rob her of fame, fortune, and a chance to finally fall in love?
£9.99 -
Snow Is Falling
Christmas. A time for families to celebrate together. To be merry and bright.
Emma Snow is reluctant to return to her husband Colin’s family home for Christmas this year, with a seemingly good reason.
Maisie Snow is a perfectionist with high standards and expectations from all of her children; however, she is starting to feel like she is no longer needed.
Ming Pun is nervous about visiting her boyfriend Harris’ family for the first time and brings with her a big secret.
This Christmas turns out to be more unpredictable and unexpected than any of these three women could possibly have imagined.
£10.99 -
Silence of Snow
Tommy Lee was born in the mid-’30s on the wrong side of the blanket in a small village in the west of Ireland. He was reared in a convent run by the nuns of the Poor Clare’s till he was eight years of age. He was then fostered to a couple, who, he found, were of intense hatred and deep devotion to all under one roof. Caught up in tragedy, misunderstanding and emigration, he finds himself on the run from the law, all alone in this world. Accused of double murders of his foster parents with no alibi, he jumps the first fishing boat to Cobh. Lying under a night’s fishing catch for eight hours, he then escapes. For the next 20 years, he lives in the shadows…
£7.99