-
The Enemy at Home
After the funeral, as Jack Brown stood by the grave of his father, Bill, his eyes displayed different feelings, true feelings, of anger and disgust towards his father as he muttered, “Rot in hell you old bastard.”
Jack couldn’t forgive his father for the misery he had caused him and his friend, Harold, for their arrest as deserters during World War One, when he would have known full well the penalty for desertion was the firing squad. The same went for the death of their mothers, and his sister’s escape to Canada.
Will his feelings ever get resolved?
£8.99 -
The Emperor's Marble Pavement
The Emperor’s Marble Pavement, the second of four novels about the fall of Constantinople, finds Niccolo Gritti and Demetrius Alexandrou plunged in the turmoil of a city on war’s brink, their friendship complicated by the presence of Theodora, Demetrius’ pious sister and the prostitute Cinnamon. Now in the Emperor’s service, Niccolo must make accommodation with an embattled Venetian merchant colony. The struggle between Constantine’s supporters and those who would appease the Ottomans climaxes in the infamous Service of Union in Hagia Sophia. Then Demetrius disappears, a victim of his peace-party enemies. Niccolo goes in pursuit and the friends are reunited in the Turkish court, under the cynical eye of Mehmet II. Here, courtesy of Nestor-Iskander, a Christian fanatic in the Sultan’s service, they witness the Ottoman siege train’s ominous preparations before fleeing back to Constantinople. In The Emperor’s Marble Pavement, the cross-currents of personal and historical destiny take on new turbulence.
£9.99 -
The Emergence of Malaterre
In 2006, following successive years of low rainfall, the dark and mysterious Malaterre Estate begins to resurface from the depths of a bleak northern reservoir. Within weeks a human bone is found; a bone that defies all logic...
Historic researcher Naomi Wilkes is looking forward to a well overdue rest. Her marriage is good, she has a child on the way, and things have never looked brighter, but when she is called in to investigate the unusual occurrences at Malaterre, she has no idea that within weeks her life will be devastated by the tragic events that will unfold...£8.99 -
The Eagle and The Dove
Titus Flavius Vespasianus was a Roman emperor who reigned from 69 to 79 AD. The fourth and last in the ‘Year of the 4 Emperors’, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empire for 27 years.
The empire was starting to enjoy 10 years of peace since Nero and, during this period, Rome had ambition. One of those ambitions was to return to the land of druids and blue painted warriors after years of complete oblivion. Britain was a ripe fruit ready to be easily harvested. Or was it?
Octavius Andreasius Salvinius, Praefectus Castrorum and third in command of Legion XX Valeria Victrix, embarked on an epic journey all around the Roman Empire, hoping to obtain his last victory laurels before leaving the army after more than 20 years of service fighting the enemies of Rome.
He recalls past disasters, overcoming appalling weather conditions, defeating feared tribes coming from the hills of Caledonia, avoiding falling into the trap of imperial politics, had been led by the most prestigious Roman generals whose names became legendary, who belong to history, and finally found unexpectedly love at the tender age of 50 years old.
£7.99 -
The Despair of Life
Abdul was born into a privileged family with the opportunity to live a prosperous and successful life. After the untimely death of his mother, he is forced to live with his uncle in the capital city to pursue his studies. He joins politics to fight a dictatorial military regime, motivated by his father's assassination. He is wrongly arrested, tortured and jailed. With the help of his family, Abdul manages to escape from jail and seizes the first opportunity to get out of the country. With the hope of finding a better life in Europe, he embarks on a perilous journey past eagle-eyed border control police officers, through desert, jungle, and sea. When he finally enters Europe, he discovers that it is not quite the idyll he had envisaged. The Despair of Life is a story rich in culture, steeped in political turmoil and obsessed with survival. Amadou Sidibe provides intriguing insights into the lives and journeys of those who risk their lives every day in search of the European dream.
£9.99 -
The Darkness
Northern Ireland in 1971-72 is a time of extreme violence that tests the people and the security forces to their limits. A soldier turned terrorist sworn to kill his former comrades. Slaughter on the streets as bombs shatter the lives of the innocents.
Bomber Brown finds himself in the thick of the action. Sometimes with his elite recce platoon but often on his own, relying on his training and initiative to survive when faced with the man determined to kill him! Face to face, gun to gun! The survivor will be the one with the steady hand, deadliest aim, and the will to win!
“The dream was back and no matter how many times Bomber shot the man he couldn’t kill him. He just had to watch the man's mouth uttering words that he couldn’t hear!”
There was no escape from the dream, so Bomber screamed at God to help him!
£10.99 -
The Dark Trilogy
A book that follows one man’s life might be an autobiography, but what is a book that traces the lives of two men?
The autobiography which makes up the longest book of the trilogy holds the two histories of one man displaced by several hundred years, histories which interweave and come together in the Welsh mountains in the present day. And a part of one of those lives is traced further in the play for voices which makes up the second volume. Book three brings our characters to a resolution of kinds.
Chris Armstrong has blended fact and fiction to create a complex story with many strands... a story of the sea, a story of passionate love, a story about a writer and poet, a story about his friend and editor, and a story about the past: a past that the writer only understands completely at the very end of his anabasis – his journey away from the sea.
£10.99 -
The Dance of Darkness
Time had not died.
It was still flowing like her blood.
Her mind had become what it had endured and more; for now, with the dust, she saw butterflies floating in her room – here, there, everywhere.
Infused with lyricism and the romantic aura of pre-colonial India, The Dance of Darkness is a story about a bewildered town with only women, girls and hijras. Raised as dancers and lovers, the girls Surma, Parveen, and Dilchasp traverse through their usual routines until the presence of one man triggers all that the town has ever wished for – love and freedom.
£10.99 -
The Dagger and the Rosary
Sicily in 1693 is recovering from a devastating earthquake and struggling under the oppression of the Spanish Inquisition. Raids from Barbary pirates menace the coastline, while European Princes plot against each other. Meanwhile, the sixteen-year-old Bernardo has been brought up in an isolated Benedictine Abbey since being orphaned seven-years before. Now an unexpected journey will introduce him to this chaotic and often cruel world, where his faith will be tested.
Rescuing a young girl, Agata, from Barbary pirates will reveal his presence to an old family enemy, as well as introducing him to a secret brotherhood, and to the confusion of adolescent love. However, as love deepens, the petite Agata does not remain a victim for long, growing into a beautiful woman and determined avenger. Family secrets and desperate journeys threaten to tear them apart but will ultimately lead them both to find out what is most important in life.
£14.99 -
The Curse Is Lifted
This third book in the series ties up all the loose ends. The Curse is Lifted is about George William, the son of George Southerly – the late Earl of Wetherley – and a laundry maid named Freda Prout. The young woman and her infant son were discovered by Dorothia Mountjoy in the workhouse, and she rescued them and sent them to Hampshire before her husband-to-be could discover they were still alive. She told Adam that the woman and child (his half-brother) were dead; it was a lie that cost Dorothia her life.
When George William reached the age of 21, he discovered that he had in trust a large amount of money. The bringers of the news would not disclose to George who his benefactor was, so he set about discovering the facts for himself. His mother, Freda, was worried that George would discover the evil blood that flowed in his veins and also feared that money might turn his head. She did not want her son to know her full history but could see that it was not going to be possible to hide his birth details from him forever. The hunt takes George William to Weston-Under-Wetherley and strangers who know his secret. Will he emulate his evil father or will he follow the lead of his gentle stepfather?
£11.99 -
The Cedars of Beckenham
The Mystery of an Antique German Doll reunites members of a family torn apart during The Third Reich of Nazi Germany.
This family saga, starting in the leafy suburb of Beckenham on the borders of Kent and London, begins in 1930 in the comfortable world of four British upper-middle class families blind to the impending changes that are about to threaten not only their world, but everyone else’s world, too.
A doll belonging to the Abuthnott family becomes the catalyst that brings about two sides of the Rubenstein family, who were able to escape from Germany in the late 1930s finding refuge in the United States of America and in the British Mandate of Palestine.
Along the way, the horrors of the Blitz and the British struggle for survival are enacted out against the parallel Germanic horror of holocaust separation. The survivors in the United States, Great Britain and Israel adapt to a new world as it unfolds through the second half of the 20th century, until by the chance sale of a German Biedermeier doll at Sotheby’s in New York, their separate paths are brought together in 2017.
The four Beckenham families adapt to their changing lifestyles witnessing a rich tapestry of 20th century history taking the reader all over the world with its beauty, passion and prejudices.
£16.99 -
The Caledonians
Scottish history master Mr Petrie has the gift of eternal life. Working for a group of mystical superior beings, his time-travelling missions land him in all sorts of death-defying scrapes and encounters, sometimes with famous and ruthless people. To help him in his dangerous work, he's told to find a young apprentice. Duncan Dewar could be a candidate but has his own secrets too, and without realising it, their lives are indelibly linked.
£9.99