All posts by Sarah

fiction

The Silver Bird
Suzanne Jones

Published: Nov 2024
Paperback: 160 pages
Price: £9.99
ISBN: 978-1-915972-55-2
Available on Amazon
and
The Great British Bookshop
The Silver Bird
by Suzanne Jones

Sarah, a young Jewish woman, is on holiday in the Austrian Alps, trying to come to terms with the death of her parents.

She has an accident and her two handsome rescuers become rivals for her love. Eventually she must choose between them, but will she make the right choice?

Hans, a successful silversmith and Max, a talented violinist, both live in Vienna. Sarah has a home in London and the story moves between the two cities.

The characters are caught up in a passionate love triangle beset with overwhelming challenges: religious differences, conflicting morals, illness, betrayal, tragedy and heartbreak.

Will Sarah eventually find the love she needs?

Childrens

Callum’s Quest to Fly
Malcolm Vine

Published: Sept 2024
Paperback: 144 pages
Price: £8.00
ISBN: 978-1-915972-42-2
Available from
The Great British Bookshop

and
Amazon
Callum's Quest to Fly
From The Books of Yahxes
by Malcolm Vine

Callum has never had an opportunity to fly in an aeroplane or anything else for that matter, but he has an insatiable interest in anything to do with aeronautics.

He spends a rainy day in the loft and his interest gets peeked by being able to see into the next-door loft where an old man has left a interesting-looking box. This is the start of his adventure and soon he finds a friend to join him in his quest for the power of flight.

There are many hair-raising challenges along the way and being chased for the knowledge they gain is all part of the world they find themselves in.

Set in the Wiltshire countryside of the 1950s, this tale of two young innocent boys gives lots of fun and some sadness, all coped with as only young boys can do.



Sport

RISK – Peril can become an addiction
Nick Gosman

Published: August 2024
Paperback: 287 pages
Price: £12.00
ISBN: 978-1-915972-52-1
Available from
The Great British Bookshop

and
Amazon
RISK
Peril can become an addiction
by Nick Gosman

For the lucky few, mountaineering provides an alternate realm of experience and consciousness that frees them from the conventions and routine of everyday life.

Growing up in nineteen-sixties Edinburgh, I found solace in the mountains and in climbing that became a restorative balm for the frustrations of a stifling home life.

With the beauty and grandeur of my beloved Scotland forming an eternal backdrop, I found a soulmate in my climbing partner and we fell in love.

Our love of mountains and the intoxicating thrill of climbing became inextricably interwoven with our love for each other so that we risked both our lives and our hearts in a journey that was to take us to the very limits of our physical and emotional endurance.

In a collection of thirteen true short stories about mountaineering, RISK attempts to explain some of the motivations that drive a climber’s compulsion to test themselves in the mountains.

Filled with cultural and locational references to a forgotten Edinburgh of the nineteen sixties and seventies, RISK is as much the story of a love affair with Scotland as it is with a Scottish woman.

When the English language fails, as it often does, to convey the searing intensity of feelings I have for Scotland’s people and places, I reflect on the Celtic idiom, “cuisle mo chroi” a uniquely Irish Gaelic endearment that literally translates as ‘pulse of my heart’, a sentiment which still carries an electrifying emotional power to move me.

“In any argument, the mountain will always have the last word.” Stig the lorry driver



Born in Glasgow and brought up in Edinburgh by parents from Tyneside, Nick fell in love with mountains and rock climbing at the age of sixteen on Scout and Army cadet training camps in the Scottish Highlands. Now living in the flatlands of East Anglia, Nick still finds time to roam in the wilds of Scotland enjoying the sense of freedom in this last vestige of wilderness in our crowded British Isles.

livesinprint

The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton
David Leece

Published: August 2024
Paperback: 326 pages
Price: £15.00
ISBN: 978-1-915972-51-4
Available from
The Great British Bookshop


Contact David at proftry2@gmail.com
The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton
Whispers of the Industrial Revolution
by David Leece

Revolution, war, machine breaking, assassination and abduction; how one wronged inventor and his family navigated the tumultuous change and challenges of the industrial revolution. The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton looks at this period of history in terms of the people that played their part in it.

Samuel Crompton invented the spinning mule which heralded the factory system, allowing Britain to grow as an industrial power. His life became a fight for recognition. How could a principled man deal with a duplicitous and calculating world and gain a just reward for his invention?

The reader is taken on a journey from the early days of mercantile trade to beginnings of industrial change, then through Georgian England and beyond with insights into the nature of business partnerships and the struggles of working people, Myths, legends and events are interwoven to create the feel and spirit of the times. Cotton and Samuel Crompton’s invention are brought back into the foreground of our understanding of industrial and social change.

All of this is based on detailed research using a unique archive, the Crompton Papers.

This biography is different because it has the exploration of human behaviour at its heart.



David Leece was born in Bolton in 1950. He has held professorships at both Keele University and Manchester Metropolitan University. He has worked for the Open University, involving the writing of teaching materials and making and presenting radio and TV programmes.

He has published widely in Economics, Finance, and Social Policy with an international reputation for research. This book reflects his passion for history and determination to re-establish the reputation of Samuel Crompton.

David is currently Professor Emeritus, Keele University and lives with his wife, family and their dog Molly in Staffordshire.

Reviews of The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton



We Love Reading - Ambassador 1
a fascinating read into an interesting and ever changing part of our history.

We Love Reading - Ambassador 2
Samuel Crompton’s story flows and even those like myself that were previously unfamiliar with the inventor could gain a decent understanding of his life, a credit to the author’s writing and in depth knowledge of the subject matter.
I can see this being an essential foundational reading for anyone interested in the start of the industrial age and the people behind the machines that lead to the industrial revolution.

livesinprint

For The Record
Godfrey Wilkinson

Published: June 2024
Paperback: 223 pages
Price: £10.00
ISBN: 978-1-915972-38-5
Available from
The Great British Bookshop

For the Record
Four Phases of Boyhood
by Godfrey Wilkinson

A personal history.

From the dawn of the Golden Age...

... to the sunset of the Swinging Sixties.

With occasional reflections on teaching – as perceived from both sides of the classroom.

history

Letters in a Suitcase
Arthur Harris

Published: June 2024
Paperback: 507 pages
Price: £19.99
ISBN: 978-1-915972-27-9
Available from
The Great British Bookshop
and
Amazon
Letters in a Suitcase
by Douglas, Dorothy & Murial Heelas
Edited by Arthur Harris

Letters in a Suitcase offers a captivating window into the daily lives of three siblings – Muriel, Dorothy, and Douglas Heelas – during the tumultuous 1930s to 1950s, with a focus on the years from 1939 to 1948.

Follow Douglas as he embarks on a remarkable journey, leaving school to join the army amidst the backdrop of World War II. From the British Expeditionary Forces in France to a chance encounter with Noel Coward and Leslie Howard in Paris, and the fateful Dunkirk evacuation, his experiences are nothing short of gripping. A harrowing shipwreck, capture by Japanese forces, and years as a prisoner of war in Thailand and Burma make for a truly extraordinary narrative.

Meanwhile, Dorothy’s wartime service in the Auxiliary Territorial Service takes her from England to the far reaches of Southeast Asia. Her vivid letters recount her adventures, from dining at Government House in Singapore with Lord Louis Mountbatten to her subsequent assignment in the Central Mediterranean Forces in Italy.

And not to be overlooked, Muriel, the music teacher, plays her own role in this compelling family saga, teaching in various locations including Broadstairs, St. Albans, and Switzerland.

In Letters in a Suitcase, their correspondence unveils a poignant tapestry of 20th-century British social history, offering a unique perspective on the trials and triumphs of a remarkable era.

Reviews of Letters in a Suitcase

Waterstones review by Pat Pearson:
“Fascinating chronicles of the lives of three siblings during World War 2”
Brilliant compilation of correspondence between three close siblings that offers great insights into the different dynamics of family life, travels and anguish during the war years. I was educated about aspects of being a prisoner of war in Burma and the excruciating wait post war to be repatriated. It felt a privilege to be allowed into the life of this close family through their correspondence.

Bookish Review:
“Hidden treasures revealed”
An unexpected page-turner! This humble treasure trove of letters from the 2nd World War reveals the wide variety of British experiences of wartime for members of one family, at home and on active service abroad. Generally understated, with a laconic often humorous commentary on topical issues, the letters turn out to be fascinating and a real piece of social history. 'Letters in a Suitcase' is a rattling good read, delicately revealing and concealing struggles, and now affording us a fascinating window on the phenomenon of war as lived by ordinary people. In this age of social media and ephemeral communications it is a reminder that if we scorn pen and paper, seduced by the speed of texts and emails, future generations may have no lasting tangible records of the pleasures and pains of life - no love-letters, no exchanges of views, no excruciating 'Dear John' missives, not to mention no stamp collections. What a lost world! It made me dig out my fountain pen and determine to write real letters again - now where's that bottle of ink?

Diponegoro - Top reviews from Amazon United Kingdom:
“UnPutDownable!”
Once one's read through the interesting introduction and are a dozen or so pages into the correspondence between Douglas and his mother, this book becomes difficult to put down, one being so drawn into the individual characters and their relationship as well as to the long-gone society in which they live. Well, it would be 'unputdownable' were it not so heavy! At almost 500 pages in length, this is a heavyweight tome, though that adjective certainly does not apply to the letters themselves. The editor of them, who is to be commended for his diligence in not only copy-typing the original material, but also providing helpful footnotes and a glossary of the oft-used, mostly military abbreviations, says that he personally prefers the chatty style of Dug's sister Muriel, whose writings fill much of the second part of the book, than her brother's somewhat more businesslike manner as his parents' health causes him more and more concern (the attempts to ban cycling, despite their mother's protestations, provide an amusing veneer to these disquiets!). As a window into the real social history of an English middle-class suburban family before, during and after the second world war, this book is truly fascinating.

Tony Haywood (Grand Nephew of Douglas, Dorothy and Muriel)
“ Well, I never knew all that!”
Really enjoyed reading about three fascinating characters who I just happen to be related to.
I met Douglas briefly in 1967 at my brothers wedding but never met Dorothy or Muriel (unfortunately), but would have loved to, these letter have been put together in way that flow and are easy to follow which must have taken the author a great deal of headscratching but I'm so glad he persevered and I thank him .....
I now am reading it again....
Childrens

The Wellington Cobbler and the Wrekin Giant
Dave Weston

Published: June 2024
Paperback: 20 pages
Price: £5.00
ISBN: 978-1-915972-50-7
Available from
The Great British Bookshop

The Wellington Cobbler and the Wrekin Giant
by Dave Weston

The ancient borderlands of Shropshire have produced many intriguing myths and legends.

Myths are stories that have been passed down over many years before they were written down.

This is the story of how the Wrekin Hill might have been formed.

It also may explain how the phrase - going all around the Wrekin came about.

fiction

The Aqad Sword
Conrad Carew

Published: May 2024
Paperback: 308 pages
Price: £11.99
ISBN: 978-1-915972-43-9
Available on Amazon

The Aqad Sword
The History of the Secular State of Isferin 1
by Conrad Carew

Qerem must journey through a violent, ravaged landscape, spurred on by the mesmeric Qadar twins Raden and Daqel, who share his lust for revenge.

Legend has predicted that in the blissful and remote northern forests of Lornilian he will discover how to combine the magic of the past with the science of the future to raise rebellion and defeat the forces of the Secular State of Isferin.

But will his own doubts and addiction thwart his crusade and put an end to everything he holds dear? And will the Bali-flame end up destroying the world he seeks to preserve?


Conrad Carew was born and brought up in Westmorland, England.

He has worked as a teacher, university lecturer, education advisor and Research and Discovery consultant.

He lives in Bristol where he manages an agency in partnership with his son.

The second volume of his trilogy, Lornilian, will be available later in 2024, with the final volume, Valdiron, scheduled for publication in 2025.