Out of Hours

A series of events takes us away from our quiet Welsh seaside town, Barry Island, to several countries across Europe. Aided by London’s notorious East End gangster, Bootsie Burns, and Isobelle Omerta, who runs her West End escort agency to help us recover our stolen diamonds back from Romanian criminals on the Isle of Dogs with brutal consequences.

A chance meeting in Milan with Jacques Couture’s friend, Oralik Kalashnikov, both ex French Foreign Legionnaires, Oralik proposes a daring heist on the Musée du Louvre. But there are obstacles to overcome first. Testing times call for drastic measures and our gang is going to be tested to their limits as situations start to spiral out of control crossing paths with a Russian mafia boss.

Myself, Bernie, Mick nor Melody with her narcissistic behaviours which are becoming progressively more pronounced couldn’t  have prepared ourselves or foretold how these events would unfold over the coming year to the extent that we would have to go too to gain what most of us love the most, money. In these series of enduring events that will emotionally detach each of us from our civilised society with each of our lives becoming more infested, more barbaric, more bizarre with each unexpected turn of events and the extreme lengths that we will have to go to hold onto our freedom, our sanity, our morals, ethics and principles that will strain, drain, frighten, sicken and at times demoralise our very souls as they will yours.

Out Of The Dark

Imagine you could no longer use the internet or your mobile phone!

This is the scenario in 2050 when the oil runs out and Britain can’t produce enough electricity.

Drastic power cuts then become the norm, and many people lose their jobs and their homes.

The story is seen through the eyes of two women. Jess, in her thirties, is tied to a job she hates and has to live apart from her husband and young son, while Gertrude, in her seventies, has not left her flat for twenty years and cannot contact her son in Australia.

Their lives are linked, but neither woman has a real concept of the struggles that the other faces each day. Both of them are seeking a solution to get out of the dark.

Out of the Frame

In a society ruled by strict social norms, Magdolin finds herself struggling to navigate the choppy waters of societal expectations. Despite facing criticism and rejection, even from those closest to her, she refuses to be swept away by the tides of conformity.

As a girl born into a world where she never quite feels like she fits in, Magdolin inadvertently challenges the status quo with her unconventional ways. When she enters the most prestigious school in society, she is exposed to new knowledge and a world vastly different from the one she grew up in. Through her experiences, Magdolin discovers that the society she thought she knew is full of hidden complexities and contradictions.

Over the years, Magdolin embarks on thrilling adventures, uncovering secrets and learning invaluable lessons that sharpen her skills and help her to navigate the treacherous waters of societal expectations. Despite facing numerous obstacles, she refuses to compromise her true self and becomes a beacon of hope for others who feel similarly out of place. With its relatable themes and gripping narrative, Magdolin’s story is a powerful reminder of the importance of staying true to oneself in a world that often demands conformity.

Out With Time

When Charles Dickens rescued Oliver Twist from the clutches of Victorian depravity, he created villains and victims to serve his purpose. Out With Time gives some of those maligned characters a chance to redeem themselves and tell their own story. To Dickens, Mr. Bumble was the pompous beadle of the workhouse and Oliver’s tormentor. Nancy, on the other hand, was Oliver’s protector, but Dickens sacrifices her to the evil machinations of Bill Sikes. In Out With Time we learn that Nancy is not simply a hapless victim but a fighter for what is right. Mr. Bumble, it must be conceded, does only what he can.

Together, Nancy and Bumble are an odd couple but also a formidable team. They strive to return a sense of civilization to the small Kentish town where Dickens started his tale. Even before Oliver makes his appearance, we see the couple wrestling with racism, sexism and even leading the way in a refugee crisis. In a curious resonance with the modern era, this story shows that the story of Mr. Bumble and Nancy is one that is not bound to a bygone age. Their destinies may be, in part, predetermined but Out With Time gives them the space to assert their own identities in defiance of any author.

Outnumbered by Daughters

The book is an adult fictional novel, based on a young man’s struggle with sadness, tragedy, complicated romances and family life. He attempts to bring up twin girls and an older stepdaughter as a single parent through their middle school years.

He encounters all sorts of problems that readers could relate to in their own personal life, involving mixed emotions and hardship, including his own complicated and failed romances on his journey through this stage of parenthood.

He has to deal with embarrassment and overcome all sorts of new experiences as he tries to understand the problems and needs that young girls have to face as they grow up. 

The girls’ teenage years present him with a completely different set of problems, but he does at least have better success with romance, resulting in a wife, new daughter and stepdaughter finally completing his family.

Outside Looking In

“A characteristic of autism can be a difficulty using speech to express thoughts, feelings, and experiences. However, there is often an eloquence in self-expression using the arts, including poetry. Clare’s sensitive and engaging poems provide an insight into her mind and her autism.”
Professor Tony Attwood, author of The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome.
What if you were given a life-altering diagnosis at 57? One that meant you aren’t who you thought you were? But one that explained everything?
These poems vibrate with intensity and curiosity about life, and because she came to this knowledge so late in life, many of Clare Smith’s poems focus not so much on what it means to be autistic, but on what it means to be human.
Throughout her life, as she struggled to fit into a world that to her was utterly strange, she poured her hopes, her joys and at times her despair into words.
She trained as a journalist, taught to cut out all emotion from her reporting, but her private writing is different – she created poetry that spoke to her deepest needs. There, exposed in her writing, is her yearning to belong, her astonishment at the physical world, her knowledge – decades before the doctors confirmed it – that she is different.
She’s spent a lifetime trying to make sense of her life – a journey that many of us, whether autistic or neurotypical, are on, and one in which we all face the same questions.

Outwitting the Enemy

Andrew was recruited into the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) in 1939 for his linguistic talents and other qualities suitable for working in the Service.

By early July 1940, he had already been sent on four missions including the sabotaging of a train carrying tank engines inside Germany, assisting in the evacuation of BEF soldiers from Dunkirk on one of the ‘small ships’ and surviving a number of life-threatening incidents when bringing King Haakon and the Norwegian cabinet from northern Norway to exile in London.

In November 1940, he is persuaded to help at Camp 020 with the interrogation of German spies captured in England; a few weeks later, he completed his naval officer training in Scotland and southern England.

With the Atlantic convoys being attacked by U-boats operating out of the German-occupied ports of Lorient and St Nazaire with heavy losses, he is sent at the end of March 1941 to spy on the building of the submarine pens for a possible raid by the RAF later in the year. He narrowly avoids being captured by the Wehrmacht and returns to London with vital information.

He undergoes parachute training in May 1941 before being dropped in NE France where he is escorted by a French Resistance group to Koblenz. His mission is to deal with a member of the SIS that had become a senior officer in the German intelligence service (the Abwehr). By some good fortune, he manages to escape by Lysander back to England.

The story is a most compelling, absorbing and attractive read with strong classical elements. It has a clean plot for the time period covered which develops and unfolds through a captivating storyline; the relatable cast of characters will keep the reader enraptured up to the very last page.

Overview

An estate agent’s true stories of battles between buyers and sellers, plus a guide on where the world’s greatest treasure troves exist, and how to get them. This is also the story of a revolutionary sailing rig and, most importantly, the proofs of worlds beyond. To help his clients’ anonymity, Ian has placed this as a post-war romance, recalling what people paid for estates in those days.

Pablo's Boat

The stories take us through a summer of love, writing and self-discovery. Set in France, they paint a picture of a world both familiar and yet so different, both in time and outlook. They also recount an attempt to rediscover that lost world; an attempt filled with regret, nostalgia and, ultimately, resolution.

Pajama Stories: Volume 2

New York’s Secret Society of 31 Platinum Grills takes a turn for the worse after Providence, the top lady DJ, is kidnapped by the jealous twins in the Secret Society. The once superb and exclusive secret society for amateur DJs has now been tainted with death, jealousy and kidnapping. Providence, better known as Lady Lucina, becomes the newest member to the Secret Society of 31 Platinum Grills for amateur DJs. She is excited after receiving a phone call from the founder, DJ Calm, who has just notified her that she is the first female to ever get voted into the secret society. Little does she know that some of the society members are jealous and unenthused by DJ Calm’s decision to vote a female into the organisation, especially since Providence has just received a ten-thousand cheque during her first performance. 

Palace Green

The beautiful, ancient city of Durham, its breath-taking views, medieval Cathedral, bridges, cobblestone lanes and quiet, lilting river as well as its university and unpredictable students create the romance, humour and drama of this story. Wander back to the sixties and allow yourself to be swept up in this gentle, sometimes raucous, yet totally irresistible comedy.

Parallax

Fatal accidents are rarely caused by a single mistake but are often the result of a series of errors. A chain of poor decisions leaves Ian White – golf professional and happily married father of two teenage daughters – with a hellish choice. Should he report the death of Katerina Wysklow, a hitchhiker whom he accidentally kills while having sex with her? If his shame becomes public, it will destroy his family. If he conceals the truth, he must find a way to deal with the horror and his guilt.

In parallel to White’s unravelling, the police investigation of Katerina’s disappearance uncovers sex videos of Katerina with different men and unexplained cash deposits into her bank account. The mounting evidence points to her boyfriend’s father – a close friend of White’s – and Katerina’s last known contact on the day she vanished. Will the wrong man be charged? Will White be exposed? Will his conscience intervene? Or will the reckoning come from another direction entirely?