A View from the West Upper

This book will take Arsenal and football fans through a magical journey from spring 1995 right through to spring 2017. It describes the level of change in society whilst supporting a 21^st-century football club and business.

It highlights how people interact and how we look at change, but also demonstrates how important security can be too. We explore the club’s adventure on and off the field through ambition, hope, risk and success, all cross-referenced to our daily real-life journey.

This account will make you think back to those early days of change whilst making you laugh and appreciate how fortunate we are to support this great club and business.

Regardless of how long you have been supporting Arsenal, this book will be a hugely entertaining read.

A War Time Childhood And This is the Way I Saw It

I am in my eighties and have enjoyed reading books all of my life. I believe that those of us who enjoy reading books should write one and this is mine.

As a child growing up during the Second World War, family members over the generations have often asked me about my memories of that time.

This is how I remember it.

A Wild Life: The Edwin Wiek Story

Edwin Wiek is a true wildlife warrior. A rebel from childhood, this Dutchman is the founder of Asia's largest multispecies wildlife rescue centre, a fearless interrupter of illicit wildlife trafficking and an advisor to the Thai government on animal law reform. This was not always his life. A serious car accident led him to turn his back on a 'perfect', easy living in the fashion business in the search for meaning. He has been raided, arrested several times, injured and threatened, but his focus is unwavering. Edwin has been featured liberally on Bondi Vet, Animal Planet and National Geographic and ABC's Foreign Correspondent. He is rude, rebellious and recalcitrant, but no one has done more in Asia to give so many rescued animals as close to a wild life as possible. No holds are barred in this thorough biography of a remarkable game-changer.

A Young Girl’s War

Imagine growing up in London during World War II and being evacuated multiple times. Your simple way of life as an eight-year-old being utterly torn apart. Missing your family and being absolutely petrified that you would never see them again. Then, returning to London, to a life of sleepless nights in the air raid shelter – would it be enough protection from the relentless bombings? Would you see the sunrise in the morning, to see the sights of blown out houses down the street? A life of strict rationing and wondering if German invasion was imminent – would England ever be the same again?  For Sheila Nelson, this was the harsh reality of life from 1939-1945.

Abductions From My Beautiful Life

‘There is a shapeshifter asleep in my head. And when it wakes you won’t recognise me as my children’s mother, my husband’s wife, or the writer, veterinarian and advocate that I am. You won’t recognise me as someone who is alive to adventure and beauty.’

Anita Link was thirty-two years old, and six days into motherhood, when she experienced a psychotic episode and was trapped on the wrong side of sanity for the first time. It took months in hospital, medications, electroconvulsive therapy and psychological therapies to fully recover. And then, a few years later, it happened again.

This memoir is a look into what can happen to a person’s thoughts, emotions and behaviour when they are ravaged by a severe mental illness. Anita writes compellingly about what psychosis, mania and catatonic depression can feel like. Her authentic narrative of recovery reveals the hard work it takes to return to normal life after being stolen away from it by highly stigmatised symptoms.

Anita has survived these abductions and returned to her beautiful life many times. This is her story.

Above the Circle

What would you do if you knew that you had been given a second chance to sail away from life’s safe harbour? Each of us has dreams of doing something that takes us out of our comfort zone but few of us take the plunge and actually do it.

In this book Mervyn Smith describes a point in his life when he was facing the question of his own mortality as he recovered from a serious life-saving surgery. This is the story of how he responded to that challenge and followed a life-long dream to ride a motorcycle from his Shropshire home to a destination way above the Arctic Circle and who he did it for.

Read what brought him to that decision, what difficulties he overcame to pursue his dream and the adventures he had on the journey riding through the hottest European summer on record. This book will inspire you, challenge you and hopefully motivate you to realise that everyone has a skill set unique to them which, with faith, imagination, and creativity, can be released. And that age is never a barrier to doing something extra ordinary.

Accepting ME

What do you do when your life is turned upside down by an illness?

Learning to adapt and cope with illness is extremely difficult and can lead even the most confident person to becoming vulnerable.

Follow Lou through her fascinating true journey of how she learned to live with her illness and how she discovered a way to live again.

Adult Colouring Book - Spring Secrets

This beautiful set of elegant, delicate drawings create imaginative landscapes for readers to fill with their minds.

This collection is particularly concerned with the bloom and growth of spring, nature and humanity intertwined and contorted into amorphous beauty.

Karen Harper’s Spring Secrets will appeal strongly to anyone with an artistic disposition looking to express themselves and truly engage with the art contained within.

Africa in the 20th Century

The author of this book was privileged to live in West and East African countries for over 25 years, followed by a close relationship for a further ten years. There was mutual respect, while a shared sense of humour made the majority of time such a worthwhile environment to both work and play. During the author’s time in Africa there were major changes of colonies to independence, and he witnessed the respect between the nations.

Today, the relationships between peoples of different colours are so important to all our lives; sadly, we still have far too many who cannot accept this. Fundamental cultural changes of this kind take time, and it would be true to say that not enough progress has been made over the past few years.

In many areas of life, it will be the younger generations who will lead. For this reason the author hopes that this publication will be of interest to them as they continue to grapple with the problems of climate change. The book stresses discipline as a vital aspect of life; perhaps we need more of this to counter our apparent concentration on materialism.

Africans Have Sold Their Souls: Uhumwe the One Big Idea for Africa

For how long should Africa continue to be associated with hunger, poverty, desperation, corruption, and mediocrity? For how long will Africa’s natural endowments continue to be viewed as a curse instead of a blessing? When are our children going to put on new clothes instead of relying on second-hand clothes? When are we going to stop seeking handouts from other nations as if they owe us a living? Have we voluntarily agreed to be a laughing stock for the whole world? Have we and our unborn accepted to be labelled ‘third world’ forever?

It is time for African leaders to deliver their populace to the Promised Land through diligence and hard work. Africa needs to rise above the borders and boundaries, which were constructed by the Berlin Conference of 1884, and create a new society which is grounded in its rich cultural soils.

It is time we start showcasing to the world our rich cultural heritage. We need to innovate our products and services along with our cultural dexterity. The author proposes a set of solutions to these deep-seated and systemic problems. These solutions are rooted in the concept of Uhumwe, or ‘togetherness’, which he believes will provide both a strength of belief, and a concept which can help African business leaders, innovators, politicians, and others in realising the dream of prosperity for Africa.

Against the Grain

Frank Newman Turner, the son of Yorkshire tenant farmers, seldom ploughed a conventional furrow. Faced with a run-down West Country farm and escalating veterinary bills for an ailing herd of cattle, he abandoned the conventions of his orthodox agricultural training and set about restoring the health of his farm’s soil and livestock by working with nature, rather than against it.

His story reveals the ups and downs of going against the grain of orthodox beliefs and practices in farming, animal and human health, and militarism. What drives one to stand against a social torrent that’s rushing in the opposite direction? What can those of us carrying forward the message of environmental conservation and wholesome, sustainable food production learn from the efforts of Frank Newman Turner?

Against the Odds

Living in communist Romania of the 1970s and ’80s, Diana’s life takes a sudden dramatic turn when her diplomat father unexpectedly defects to the West.

In her biography, Diana Baleanu tells a tale of persecution, abuse and suffering endured at the hands of the dreaded dictator Ceausescu’s tyrannical government and secret service. But just as all hope of ever seeing an end to her ordeal or of being reunited with her father is all but lost, history miraculously changes its course.