Category Archives: NewBooks

New books for bookshelf

fiction, NewBooks

If Walls Could Talk
Julie Taylor

Published: Nov 2025
Paperback: 251 pages
Price: £11.50
ISBN: 978-1-915972-97-2
Available from
The Great British Bookshop
and
Available from
Amazon
If Walls Could Talk
by Julie Taylor

A chair is just a chair ... or is it?

There she stood, tall in stature, stiff lace covering her face, a lady dressed from head to foot in black. In order to display her displeasure, she slowly raised her veil and frowned.

I froze.

~

‘I want to speak to you about the squealing child running around last night.’ A smirk hovered at the corners of her mouth, ‘There are no children on the premises.’

~

Ghosts lurk in the garden, more in the attic. I know – for I have seen them, smelled them, heard them, felt them – the ‘shadow children’.

~

Alice showed them the note then read out the translation. ‘In this house we were always nervous.’ She was mortified, ‘What have I brought us to?’

~

As they stepped onto the pavement, the waiter called out, ‘Keep the lights on. Stay as a group. No one go anywhere alone!’

~

No one could deny what they were seeing. The silhouette of a woman - cast upon the wall. Everyone looked to see whose it might be. There was no one from whom it could have been projected.

~

A hand emerged through the mirror. Its cold bony fingers stroked my face.



Julie Taylor’s first book Is Anybody There? was non-fictional; focusing on haunted locations. This time her creative mind comes to the fore.

Friends; friends of friends, are always eager to share their experiences with her. Even seeking advice when inexplicable things happen to them.

A member of the Clergy requested permission to offer the use of her poems at funeral services, describing them as refreshingly different. She was entrusted to write one for an Italian family. An honour in itself.
fiction, NewBooks

Bentwood
Jan Roberts

Published: Nov 2025
Paperback: 240 pages
Price: £12.00
ISBN: 978-1-915972-92-7
Available from
The Great British Bookshop
and
Available from
Amazon
Bentwood
by Jan Roberts

A chair is just a chair ...

or is it?

This debut collection of fifteen short stories explores whether there is much more to this everyday piece of furniture than it first appears. The chairs in question are all ‘Bentwood’, the innovative creations of the designer Michael Thonet, first introduced in the mid-1830s. As each new character is revealed, and their individual loss becomes apparent, it is evident that chairs are not just for sitting upon and they carry their own history etched within the wood.

One chair becomes a weapon when rival females clash; another a makeshift stage for an older woman, whose decisions have never been her own; a Bentwood rocker is a symbol of independence and choice, and a magnificent butterfly chair befriends a troubled child. In the final story, this assortment of chairs is brought together around one grand table, where Walter, Michael Thonet’s fictitious butler, prepares for a dinner party he will never forget.



Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, into a family of avid book readers, Jan studied English Literature at Manchester University. She is a compulsive people-watcher and is enthralled by the minutiae of everyday life, utilising both these facets of her personality within her writing.

When not sitting at a desk with pen in hand, she loses herself in the garden, where she can be found with hands in the soil, or inhaling the scent of flowers. You may also catch her walking along country lanes, armed with a camera, or having fun with family and friends.

Reviews of Bentwood...

Bethany Rivers (poet, author and creative writing tutor),
author of ‘Fountain of Creativity: ways to nourish your writing.’

Jan skilfully weaves together the everyday details of the characters’ lives, bringing them vividly to life.
She creates a tapestry of stories from a variety of individual character voices you will fall in love with.
When you reach the end of the book, you will want to read these fascinating character portraits all over again.
livesinprint, NewBooks

Halt! Who Goes There?
Peter Woodroffe


Published:Oct 2025
Extent:514 pages
Available from
The Great British Bookshop
Hardback:£23.00
Images:Colour
ISBN:9781914424816
Paperback:£15.00
Images:Colour
ISBN:9781914424823
On Amazon
Paperback:£15.00
Images:B/W
ISBN:9781914424823
Kindle:£9.99
Images:Colour
Halt! Who Goes There
by Peter Woodroffe

Peter Woodroffe served with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers 1945-48 in the UK and Gibraltar. He then studied law and became a third-generation solicitor.

In his 95th year he is the oldest practicing solicitor out of the 180,000 odd in England and Wales.

Whilst writing this book, he lived at Cliff End beside the Sussex coast and swam in the English Channel. He plays tennis and golf.

The book spans the period 1945 to 2022.

Having met a multitude of attractive and famous individuals in the armed forces, business and sport, he tells a fund of riveting and at times uproarious stories.

Some of Peter’s many stories include: -
  • His taking on a bet to steal Robert Redford’s girlfriend.
  • Experiencing the thrill and terror whilst out of control on the Cresta Run at St. Moritz.
  • All traffic forbidden inter alia for Peter, his six year old son and Chelsea Pensioner to march down Whitehall.
  • Tail-gated in his Facel Vega by Formula One drivers.
  • His unfair cross examination on BBC news, repeated eight times in the day.
  • Something about houses of ill repute.
Reviews of Halt! WHo Goes There...

General Sir Evelyn Webb-Carter Horcott House, 19 April 2023.
Peter’s reminiscences are indeed amusing and, in some places, hysterical. There are also some wonderful pearls. There is something in this book for everybody including stories about bigwig personalities, history, art, clubs, show-biz, cars, historic homes, fine dining and lovely ladies. One thing is for sure: you won’t be bored. He has made the acquaintance of many of the great and good (and not so good) and not been shy in commenting on their strengths or weaknesses. He comes up with little-known, interesting splashes of history. One of his quests is to give readers advice as to how to live life, like “do not leave behind what you need to take with you”.