Monsieur Law

LM Shakespeare is the writer of the acclaimed 17th-century historical novel Malice and of three modern financial thrillers. Monsieur Law thrillingly combines these two worlds.  

France, following the death of Louis XIV, was bankrupt, but into the court of the Regent there arrived a Scot called John Law, whose courage combined with a brilliant financial intellect briefly fired the whole country with a wild excitement which very nearly succeeded. This is history in the genre of Munich and Wolf Hall. 

Marelle

The nature of war is that there is no normal; emotions are always running on the surface; fear, hope, sadness and love can all manifest themselves in an instant.

In this setting, four central characters embark upon a daring and extremely dangerous journey through war torn France in 1944. Two French orphaned children have no idea how they will reach what they believe to be their only surviving family. Meanwhile, two Allied prisoners of war escape their captivity, but behind enemy lines they are uncertain about their survival and their ability to get back behind Allied lines.

They each carry a burden of their own personal heart-breaking tragedy as fate brings them together. The sadness and despair from the loss felt by each of them must be overcome if they are to survive. Survival, however, is not guaranteed as each step they take on the journey is fraught with danger.

They soon realise that love and friendship are the most important ingredients to help them reach their personal objectives. Despite the perils they face they demonstrate courage and determination and never lose hope, because as each day passes and with each crisis they face, the bond between the two vulnerable children and the soldiers grows stronger.

Malory's Grail

The final book in The Malory Trilogy relates how Sir Thomas Malory’s dying wish to see his great work Le Morte D’Arthur safely placed in Winchester Priory is finally fulfilled by his fictional friends. Interwoven with the unfolding story of the manuscript is the historical struggle for the English throne. The dynastic upheavals of the time are inseparable from the journey of Malory’s precious manuscript from prison to print. The action moves between London and Brittany where Henry Richmond is planning his triumphant attack on the usurper, Richard III. Far away in ‘The Other Place’ Sir Tom hears the good news.

La Palabra De Dios

La Palabra De Dios is the story of a Spanish priest sent on an errand in 1665, from Spain to Mexico to retrieve the religious artifact, La Cruz de Chiapas, to have it interred with its beneficiary, Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas, in Madrid, Spain. Along his journey he uncovers a plot to overthrow Charles II, the King of Spain, as well as being visited by Blessed Mother Mary, and given a special task by Jesus Christ to build a church in present-day Florida. Working with newfound friends, the priest helps temporarily thwart some of the actors in the plot to overthrow the king in the Caribbean while completing his assigned task and growing deeper in faith.

Kingscourt

Kingscourt had been their home since the 16^th century, a rambling country estate with immaculate gardens and rolling Devonshire hills. But one weekend leads to a misunderstanding which changes everyone’s lives.

Julian was a golden boy used to having his own way and whatever he wanted. He was in the throes of a passionate love affair, and that the lady was married did not trouble him at all, until his father’s discovery forced him to make a choice.

Billy was his carefree younger brother used to taking the blame for all his bad behaviour. Joining the Army had been his one ambition and leaving home matured him, but an untimely death and a decade of drifting ended with the Great War.

Simon was a career soldier who suddenly found the Army did not want a man with a broken knee. An unlikely friendship led him to a life he could never have imagined.

Grace loved her home and wanted everything to stay the same, but she knew marriage would mean leaving it forever. An unexpected death and a new arrival turned her life upside down, and the home she loved so much tested her in ways she could never have imagined.

War tested them all as casualty lists lengthened and staff shortages changed their leisured way of life. And one member of the family threatened to bring shame on them all with one wild escapade after another.

Jack Wolf

You will be brothers, you will see death and destruction, you will be expected to run into fire when every other living thing runs away, you will work long shifts, days, nights, Saturdays, Sundays, high days and holidays, Christmas days and your birthdays. You will be injured and burned, and don’t kid yourself it won’t happen to you, it will. And consider this: On average two firemen are killed each year in service. You are expected to do this job for thirty years. Nobody wants to pay you decent wages, they will tell you that you sit around all day, play snooker and squirt water for a living. You will be like Cinderella… you will live, eat and sleep behind the red engine house doors and when called to serve, when the fire bell rings you will answer their call, their fear and their alarm. You will risk your life for a stranger, someone you never knew or will ever know and when the alarm has passed, when you are exhausted and done, you will return to the fire station, close those red engine house doors behind you and lick your wounds.

We are their insurance; they never want us, until they want us, then briefly, briefly, we are heroes.

Ivanhoe Mill

Ivanhoe Mill is from a long ago period, it has characters of mixed interest, each section of the book has love, tragedy, plots of cruelty and devious problems that affect many of the community.

The Manor House, Cawston Hall, is the hub that controls the everyday life of the surrounding villages. The lord of the Manor is devious and cruel in his manipulation which is his quest to satisfy his selfishness.

There is a wide range of domestic and social activity that I hope gives you a great deal of interest to compliment the characters in the book. The writing and some of the flavour of the slang, I hope fits my interpretation that brings to life my portrayal of the people in the book.

Isabella

Isabella is a novel of its time when life was hard and intimidating, often short and frequently brutal in the cause of making many rich men even richer on both sides of the Atlantic. Even so, there were more people willing to stand up to legislate for the cause in America just as happened in Great Britain 50 years earlier to help the oppressed escape to live a better life.

It is a story of love during the Civil War when unlikely people made individual efforts to play a part in overcoming slavery. The story alternates between gunrunning on the Eastern Seaboard, a rescued slave’s efforts to repay society in Boston and Canada and a wealthy young lady’s adventure up the Mississippi taking a young girl to Canada for safety and her involvement with the underground railway.

In Search of a True World View

Will utopian teachings and totalitarian regimes shape the future of humanity? Ronald Fagerfjäll, nestor among Sweden’s financial journalists, does not believe that at all. Religions only reflect a bygone era when men guarded herds of cattle and young women became barter for creating bonds between clans. And totalitarian regimes were formerly the general norm because something better had yet to be invented. An infallible leader quickly stifles the ability of his subjects to solve problems.

The obsolete is cleared out as economic, technological, and cultural evolution continues relentlessly, driven by millions of change projects and billions of free citizens. In knowledge economies, neither feverish fantasies nor feudal structures fit in. We cannot know our future with any certainty, but still, we create it ourselves by solving one concrete problem after another.

What does an evidence-based history of humanity look like? Our biological development was first and foremost a result of a fierce struggle for survival higher up in the food chain, first as scavengers and then as hunters. It required ever better ability to cooperate as well as constant development of weapons and tools. The fact that some 40 ice ages and countless volcanic winters passed during millions of years pushed the early people close to extinction and accelerated cultural development.

From this eye of the needle came Homo Sapiens, a species which could meet the threat from nature with innovations, stories, and cultures. Fagerfjäll has been working on his history book for four decades, but it is only now, when researchers have been able to take a closer look at both the life itself and the history of the planet, that the tale has been completed.

For anyone who doubts humanity’s ability to deal with today’s problems, this is a vaccination against pessimism.

In Green Pastures

In 1917, war rages on in Belgium and France, and German bombs fall on East London. Two sisters, Florence and Nell, living in Stratford, arrange to leave the city for the tranquillity of the North Essex countryside.

For Florence Mundy, fleeing personal demons and the imminent return of Harry, departure from London cannot come soon enough.

Nell Ashford has the safety of her five children on her mind while George is away at the Front.

In Halstead, lying peacefully in the Colne Valley, they find new challenges, friendship and pain as well as personal fulfilment. Florence discovers salvation and hard work in the newly formed Women’s Land Army while Nell takes on the role of breadwinner to her family.

But they cannot escape the consequences of the Great War and the arrival of German Prisoners of War changes the dynamics of Halstead life and Florence’s future prospects as the armistice approaches.

I, Jandamarra

Jandamarra is an aboriginal warrior of the spiritual Kimberley area of Australia, home to the tribe known as the Bunuba people. Jandamarra is a legendary hero of the 1890s known to his people as a Jalgangurru, a magic man, due to his extraordinary skills and abilities.

He is a cheeky, likeable boy, and a quick learner. At around 12 years of age, Jandamarra, named Pigeon by the whitefellas, begins working on a sheep station, where he learns to shoot, ride horses, and live among the whitefellas. These are skills which will serve him well in his manhood. He is popular among whitefellas and enjoys the excitement and movement of their way of living, but the time comes when he must return to his tribe for initiation into manhood.

Jandamarra is torn between black and white cultures. But how can he belong to two different worlds with each pulling at his loyalties? How can he be accepted by one without rejecting the other?

This powerfully spiritual story of the legendary Jandamarra is based on extensive research of people and events.

I, A Dumb Boy

“‘Oh, Thomas, do you recall the miracle you performed?’

Yes, I did recall the miracle, if that’s what it was. I recalled other things too. Fergus and the secret chamber. Caty and her still-born child. My sister’s treacherous kiss.”

Norfolk, Virginia, 1775. Thomas Starling is fourteen years old but has never found the courage to speak to anyone except his older sister, Bethany. A visit from a stranger one night triggers a series of events that leads them to embark on a journey to the city of New York. There they encounter a community of outcasts and a demoralised army preparing for a British attack. Thomas yearns to be free of his boyhood and his dependence on his sister, but he is haunted by bitter memories of that terrifying night on the Georgian frontier … the girl in blue, the burning barn, the hanging corpse. His past is finally catching up with him.