A River by the Window: China Remembered

A River by the Window: China Remembered is a family saga of life during China’s tumultuous history from the late 1950s. Set amidst the purges and denunciations and exiles, and the terror of the Great Cultural Revolution through to the so-called ‘Great 1980s’, are the human stories of how families and individuals coped with the crises that overtook them. Human life went on; there were births and deaths and marriages, loves bloomed and friendships formed, careers were pursued and happiness sought. It traverses China from north to south, from east to west, to the ‘Open Door’ policies of Deng Xiaoping. This allowed China access to much western culture, with its liberal values and social trends, such as an appreciation of individualism, sexual liberation, western music and fashions, all fertile soil for germinating the seeds of democratic values and ideas, with this, in turn, leading to further gradual social change.

50 Plus Recent Events which Helped Shape or Shocked the Nation

What Would Make Your List?Writer Roger Knowles has assembled a comprehensive list of the most critical events which have created modern British society. From the tumultuous political events which saw war hero Churchill being replaced by ‘peacetime politician' Attlee to the ramifications of the Poll Tax, this book seeks to tell the story of contemporary England in small, enjoyable vignettes. Written in clear prose, the 50 Plus Recent Events Which Helped Shape or Shocked the Nation is a book which educates, explains and elucidates some of the biggest tragedies and victories to befall Britain.

The Journey

On Christmas night 1879 my 19-year-old Great Uncle, John Diver left his thatched home, Whinpark Inishowen. He walked the eighteen miles to Derry Quay. He boarded the SS Devonian. The Statute of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation confirms its arrival on 1st January 1880. Why did someone so young embark, alone, on such a hazardous journey?By chance John, a skilled facilitator, met other young people who were forced into that miserable, morose migration of the largely unreported ‘an Gorta Beag’ (small Famine).These included the enthralling James Feely, who found unlikely inspiration from the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. This led to the discovery of his psychic powers. He meets the recently deceased Paul Cullen, Ireland’s first Cardinal, hears divinations from Thomas FitzGerald the 10th Earl of Kildare about a meeting with the most beautiful Empress in Europe and the Three Magi who predicted the miraculous Apparitions at Knock. Who, if anyone, does he dare tell? We meet the troubled Matthew and his resolute sister Mary. After Maggie, their teenage unmarried sister, gave birth they resolved to travel to America to find her displaced infant. What caused one of the siblings to have a change of heart?Church Martin, a gifted musician and mystic, follows that ancient Celtic tradition of using music to enchant and distract an enemy rather than entertain. He demonstrates this by stopping the movement of the ship mid Atlantic to becalm the vessel. Will Church and Mary discover the angst of an unrequited love? Jack Turner is a young man with a hidden past. Will he too find unexpected friendship? The story, a unique blend of fiction and non-fiction, culminates in the friction of a frantic, frenzied pursuit for survival to avoid an enforced asylum admission and deportation.The unfolding personal revelations become a fascinating intrigue - a compelling timeless Irish Tale that is more than a match for The Canterbury Tales.Atlantic Anecdotes and Dark Disclosures en route from the Inishowen Peninsula to the Port of New York.

Trevelyan

It is the end of the 18^th century and the end of schooling for four Cornish youngsters. They share their aspirations for the future, not realising there is a price to be paid.

Cornwall is the land of mystery, legends, folktale and myths. Tiny villages with narrow winding streets nestle around rocky cover ideal for landing and distributing contraband. The fishermen are dependent upon the sea in all its moods and are forced to subsidise their catch with smuggled French brandy, tobacco, tea, and silk. The only other possible occupations, the tin mines and the farmed estates, are in the hands of the wealthy few, like Lord Trevelyan. For most Cornishmen life is harsh.

To fulfil her own hopes of a better life, one young girl Karenza, discovers there are secrets to be concealed and seemingly impossible promises to be honoured, played out against an austere and merciless Cornish landscape and the ongoing hostility of the French.

Treasures of War

Leningrad, 1941.

Germany’s Operation Barbarossa is tightening its noose around the city. The Neva River and Lake Ladoga freeze. Few supplies reach the city. Thousands suffer from cold and starvation.

Katuska and Nina Koslov, young daughters of a dedicated museum employee, shelter in the basement of the great Hermitage Museum—once the palace of Tsars. As insulation to meagre coats, their mother sews ‘found’ canvases into the linings.

Upon the death of their parents, the girls begin a new chapter in their lives with the hidden paintings cherished as mementos of parental love.

We accompany Katuska and Nina on an obstacle-filled journey through war and its challenging aftermath. We accompany the ‘found’ paintings, also known to some as ‘stolen art’, on journeys through Europe, England, the US and the Soviet Union.

Transcendence

Captured at Gallipoli on 25 April, 1915, Sergeant Berenger, an uncompromising professional soldier, escapes Turkish imprisonment. He enlists the assistance of three unlikely co-conspirators: Ali, a simple Arab boy forcibly drafted into the Ottoman army with his brother, Mohammad; and Avraham, a Jewish merchant, who determines his future is no longer with the Ottoman Empire. Pursued by the sadistic Tolga from the Turkish prison at Fort Kilitbahir, Berenger discovers the date of the Turkish counter-attack on ANZAC positions. Berenger must return to the ANZAC lines to deliver the intelligence that a massive Turkish counter-attack will commence on 19 May 1915; and he must slip through Mustafa Kemal's 57th Turkish Regiment in order to do so.

Trampled Grass

This novel is based on a historical account, going back to early 19th century when Great Britain defeated Napoleon Bonaparte, expanding the empire. That led to the need for considerable manpower. The captain of a ship is not only responsible for navigating the vessel skilfully, but should be a leader to all the naval trainees and junior officers. He should make right decisions which can be harsh, without emotions, for all. This novel tells a story of the kind-hearted Captain Fraser who led his ship to near-disaster on the Thames. After abolition of slavery, the need for farm labourers was filled by a 'new system of slavery' called 'indentured labourers from India'. This novel describes their suffering and what happened to them, which the world hardly knows about.

Thirty Pieces of Silver

The Roman Empire and the world is about to change and over the next several hundred years, millions will die as a result.

In the Middle East a child has been born – a child who will grow into a man who will eventually change the way the world is run. He is a man destined to fulfil a prophecy. A man who will start a global revolution. A man who will shake the very foundations of society. A man whose philosophy will be misinterpreted and twisted to give power to what will become one of the richest organisations on Earth. A man whose name will be used to justify the most horrific deeds this world has ever known.

Caught between the rule of mighty Rome and the power of the High Priests, this man wants to free his people and bring them closer to God. This man will become a legend.

This man is called Jesus.

The Wolves of the Radfan

War is not a pleasant business. People die, cut to ribbons by bullets, limbs blown off by mines and roadside bombs. Not just the soldiers, but the non-combatants: young women, the elderly and children. 1963 to 1967 saw Britain fighting in a hostile and arid country, trying to stem the expansion of communism in the Middle East. On the ground, the ordinary soldiers, infantry, gunners, engineers and armoured regiments did what the British soldier always does – getting on with the job come hell or high water! Bomber’s story is written from real-life experience. Although Bomber, the main character, is fictitious, he is based on a combination of many soldiers. Many of the events took place as described but with the storyteller’s licence when melting them together. The Wolves of the Radfan, the largest tribe that straddled the then-border between North and South Yemen, started the war and the British soldiers put paid to the Wolves in 1964, but then came the push by the communists from North Yemen and it was then the contest started in all the brutality that war produces. Many acts of great courage have not been mentioned in the book, especially in the period from 1963 to the end of 1964, perhaps someone else will write about that. Fact and fiction, fiction or fact? This is a story of a normal British infantryman who faced combat and it was nothing like he had ever imagined.

The Sand's Final Serenade

The ways of the old world are dying. Cowboys, pirates and many other ways of making a living are slowly being phased out in favour of progress as the last edges of the varied, violent and often bizarre world of Terralong are being explored as the world grapples with itself in deciding how to progress.

On the tail end of the 19th century, the world is changing with technology seeping through every crevice of this world. However, the majority of its inhabitants remain stubborn in clinging to nostalgia and tradition.

Meanwhile, others try to change around them. Among them is a marshal on a final push to conquer all of Terralong, a soldier seeking revenge and an optimistic tribesman determined to unite his people before facing annihilation in the ways of his ancestors.

Everyone within this brave new world now faces their own personal quests as they try to embrace the world of change about to be presented to them. But will they succeed before the world leaves them behind?

For nothing stops The Sand’s Final Serenade.

The Revelation of Atlantis

For the first time in the well-known human history, the mythical and legendary Atlantis reveals her secrets. The heavy veil of oblivion rises for us to take a look at that incredible age 20,000 years ago through the story of Filton, one of the greatest scientists of that era; and Niria, the priestess of the Temple of Truth. An exciting history of the past in order to know the present and the future.

The Playground Hunter

The Playground Hunter is a work of historical fiction set in 1967-68. It tells the story of four pre-teen children, their friends, family and surrounding township.

It is a tale of shattered lives which graphically describes the effect that lies and deceit have on three families, and how they and the community discover, and then must confront, what has happened in front of their very eyes.

Relationships entwine to a dramatic conclusion.

When something is hidden, it is hidden so as not to be found.

When something is stolen, it is stolen so as not to be returned.

But when something is wrong, it is wrong, and all bets are off.

Thunder began to rumble in the distance as lightning danced across the streets of our town; the last storm of autumn was carrying us to winter.