Memoirs Books

Book SynopsisOleg Gordievsky was the highest ranking KGB officer ever to work for Britain.For eleven years, from 1974 to 1985, he acted as a secret agent, reporting to the British Secret Intelligence Service while continuing to work as a KGB officer, first in Copenhagen, then in London. He provided Western security organizations with such a clear insight into the mind and methods of the KGB and the larger Soviet government that he has been credited with doing more than any other individual in the West to accelerate the collapse of Communism. In this thrilling memoir, Gordievsky lays out his extraordinary, meticulously planned escape from Russia, a story that has been described as 'one of the boldest and most extraordinary episodes in the history of spying.' (Ben Macintyre - The Times) Peopled with bizarre, dangerous and corrupt characters, Gordievsky introduces the reader to the fantastical world of the Soviet Embassy, tells of the British MPs and trade unionists who helped and took money from the KGB, and reveals at last what the author told Margaret Thatcher and other world leaders which made him of such value to the West. Gordievsky's autobiography gives a fascinating account of life as a secret agent. It also paints the most graphic picture yet of the paranoid incompetence, alongside the ruthless determination, of the all-encompassing and sometimes ridiculous KGB.Trade Review'Gordievsky's extraordinary courage, mental toughness and self-possession are heroic.' - THE SPECTATOR

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Book SynopsisIn 1943, following the Armistice in Italy, many Prisoners of War were released by their guards but found themselves fugitives in a country over-run by the Germans. One such prisoner was known in Italy as Luigi. Realising that the Allies were not yet in his part of the country, he decided to walk from Padua in the north to reach the front-line in the south. During the course of his arduous journey through the backwaters of Italy he was hidden and given sanctuary by two Italian farming families. In 1949 he took his fiancée to meet them. Sadly, having survived the war he died in 1959 leaving his Italian friends unaware of his tragic death.

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Book SynopsisDiary of a Muslim Nobody attempts to reach out to society as a whole, regardless of affiliations and the social constructs of the labels we place ourselves in, with the intention to reach out to the commonality of the human experience. Interweaving between personal reflections of the human experience and commentary of global issues with touches of affection & humour through his relationship with his parents, Reaz attempts to demonstrate the multiplicity of experiences as we live our everyday lives. "I have always been very aware of the power of language and the potential of its impact upon our own selves as individuals, our relationships and interactions and indeed our perceptions. Perhaps the intrinsic relationship between our language and humankind may be best understood when we consider letters, by themselves, important in their own entity and when placed together becoming even more powerful to become words - giving them substance and meaning. In this instance, human beings may be aligned to letters - each important within our right and when we recognise our own value, we are then able to understand this in context to our relationship to one another. In that moment we are able to have the most profound and positive of impact in our own lives and in the lives of others around us." As featured by: BBC LONDON, British Muslim Magazine, I am HipHop Magazine & Asian Image.

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Book SynopsisCorruption breeds corruption. If the police and courts practice corruption, then corruption seeps into society at large, from the police who think that it is fair game to assault miners protesting about their treatment, to victimising black kids simply for being black. Police have been fitting up people for years. The average citizen will shrug their shoulders, brush it aside muttering they ‘no doubt deserved it,’ without thinking of the deeper implications. However, the damage is being done, as can be seen in society today. My books explore the corruption and the potential influence of the Freemasons on the courts.

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Book SynopsisSo, you think when you go before the judge you're going to get a fair and unbiased hearing? No, no, no, you silly billy! Unless you're pristinely clean and even then you have been weighed and measured before you even get in the dock. From the senior police officer who puts the word in to the prosecution, who then puts the word into the ear of the judge. He will even know what you've had for breakfast. In my latest court case at Coventry Magistrates Court, I was charged with refusing to name the driver of a vehicle that I had sold, even though I had informed the police. The prosecution caught the eye of the judge and held it... Your honour, this is a difficult case... and there are more serious charges... The judge nodded imperceptibly... I was found guilty after 5 minutes. No witnesses. No press. You can guess what my chances are for an appeal. What serious charges? I've heard nothing... In September an ex-tenant broke into my house with eight mates in balaclavas and robbed me. In April a plumber broke into one of my properties; stole a boiler and a waste trap. He admitted it on WhatsApp! In both cases the police have done nothing. No evidence you see... The police pick on easy targets to get their results. If it's too difficult they turn away..

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Book SynopsisIan Shipley has now been traditionally hand-digging graves for 40 years. He was taught to dig the old-fashioned way and four decades on, averaging 114 graves per year, Ian can still be found habitually toiling away in one of any number of locations across Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. In Tales of a Gravedigger, the author's first book, he recalls true tales from his early years whilst working at Newark's London Road Cemetery in Nottinghamshire. It is a light-hearted and occasionally amusing look into the life of a gravedigger. From coffins getting stuck to stomach-churning exhumations. From unexpected cave-ins to practical jokes and various other ghostly goings-on. It's an interesting glimpse into a profession that most of us know very little about. Ian has always believed that a grave should be hand-dug. It's more personal that way. For years he has declined to use mechanical digging, preferring instead to keep alive the old ways. In Newark-on-Trent and throughout the surrounding villages of Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, Ian will possibly be the last of the traditional gravediggers.Table of ContentsChapter 1 Newark Cemetery 1 Chapter 2 In at the Deep End 8 Chapter 3 The Knowledge 10 Chapter 4 Initiation 14 Chapter 5 Moonlighting 16 Chapter 6 Phantom Digs 20 Chapter 7 The Notorious Mr X 22 Chapter 8 Machine Digging 24 Chapter 9 Class C's 27 Chapter 10 A Practical Joke 30 Chapter 11 Restless Spirit 31 Chapter 12 When the Coffin Gets Stuck 34 Chapter 13 The Old Gravedigger's Cottage 37 Chapter 14 There's Always One 39 Chapter 15 A Strange Occurrence 42 Chapter 16 Three Nuns 45 Chapter 17 Collapsed Graves 47 Chapter 18 Sikorski Goes Home 51 Chapter 19 A Lucky Escape for All 55 Chapter 20 Ignoring the Obvious 58 Chapter 21 The Man who was Buried Twice 61 Chapter 22 Exhumation 62 Chapter 23 Unmarked Graves 66 Chapter 24 We Do the Work; They Take the Credit 68 Chapter 25 Stumped 72 Chapter 26 Blood, Sweat and Toil 74 Chapter 27 Ashes? What Ashes? 78 Chapter 28 Can You Dig Us Another? 80 Chapter 29 An Unpleasant Smell 83 Chapter 30 All's Well That Ends Well 85 Chapter 31 Artic Conditions on New Year's Eve 88 Chapter 32 Peace of Mind 91 Chapter 33 Easily Spooked 94 Chapter 34 Strange People 97 Chapter 35 Cemetery Wildlife 99

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Book SynopsisI have always felt that i have had a very eventful life so far, I love life and value every single day. Friends have tried to talk me into putting my stories to print in the past, but I have always laughed this off. But when we found ourselves in our first ever lockdown, I ordered nine Pukka pads, a large amount of pens, and sat in our garden summer house every day and scribbled my life memoirs, to the best that my 57 year old memory allowed. Yes this book is about my weird obsessions, my deep love of music, and the unusual situations that I have always found myself in. But overall it is about the lifelong friendships of a group of Northern folk growing up in the 1970's and beyond. From life changing discoveries in my pre teens, to life and death decision making in my later years, the overwhelming conclusion of my story is that I am truly blessed and even though things in my life have not always gone to plan, I am blessed.

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Book SynopsisBorn to Farm sheds light upon the enormous changes that have taken place in farming over the past 90 years, as seen through the eyes of one of the participants. It is an absorbing and fascinating autobiography; the author's enthusiasm and quest for knowledge, his ingenuity and practical skills, have enabled him to keep abreast of changes in the wider world while building up the family farming enterprise in Suffolk. The author's early memories of the 1930s and of his school days, evoke a bygone era in the countryside and on the farm. Lifelong learning is a theme which runs through the book. Opportunities for learning and travel through the Young Farmers' Club, for example, are described with humour and give an insight into farming both in the UK and the USA during the 1950s. Back on Red House Farm, David Black deals with everyday challenges as he progresses from dogsbody to decision-maker. Problem-solving is part of a farmer's life and no aspect of the business escapes his steady hand and scrutiny. Gradually, the huge variety of crops grown is streamlined but not before we've learned about harnessing horses and draining the land, about virus-free strawberry plants and fields of tulips and peonies, of cocksfoot and fescue. Pigs are an important aspect of the family business and the evolution of suitable feed mixes, pig housing, breeding and outdoor rearing, integrated with cereal production and milling on the farm, makes compelling reading. Changes to field sizes and to farm buildings and the provision of housing for farm workers are all covered, with many interesting anecdotes. The value of sharing knowledge and of co-operation with other farmers - both formally and informally - is made apparent. The author is full of admiration for the contributions of others, but modest about his own considerable achievements. Hard work, encouragement of others, and a 'can do' attitude summarise his approach. Family life is explored and glimpses into village life provide an interesting social history of the period. Working alongside family members has its own rewards and challenges and the journey has begun along the path to secure a way forward for future generations.Table of ContentsFOREWORD v AUTHOR'S NOTE vii INTRODUCTION ix Chapter 1 EARLY MEMORIES 1 Chapter 2 SCHOOL DAYS 24 Chapter 3 BIB AND BRACES 39 Chapter 4 THE YOUNG FARMERS' CLUB 70 Chapter 5 BROADENING HORIZONS 100 Chapter 6 PIGS 114 Chapter 7 FARM BUILDINGS 153 Chapter 8 CO-OPERATIVE ACTIVITIES 170 Chapter 9 FAMILY LIFE 191 Chapter 10 REFLECTIONS 218

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Book SynopsisIn Spite of All is a memoir by a Portuguese poet, of another Portuguese poet: Alberto de Lacerda, an almost legendary figure in expatriate circles. Lacerda lived for many years in London, with sojourns also in Boston and in Austin, Texas, when lectureships took him away, but he always returned to his adopted city. A fine poet, Lacerda also had a talent for friendship, which is amply borne out by Luis Amorim de Sous'a touching memoir of his friend.

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Book SynopsisElizabeth Madeline Martin spends her days in a retirement home in Cape Town, watching the pigeons and squirrels on the branch of a tree outside her window. Bedridden, her memory fading, she can recall her early childhood spent in a small wood-and-iron house in Blackridge on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg. Though she remembers the place in detail – dogs, a mango tree, a stream – she has no idea of where exactly it is. ‘My memory is full of blotches,’ she tells her daughter Julia, ‘like ink left about and knocked over.’ Julia resolves to find the Blackridge house: with her mother lonely and confused, would this, perhaps, bring some measure of closure? A journey begins that traverses family history, forgotten documents, old photographs, and the maps that stake out a country’s troubled past – maps whose boundaries nature remains determined to resist. Kind strangers, willing to assist in the search, lead to unexpected discoveries of ancestors and wars and lullabies. Folded into this quest are the tender conversations between a daughter and a mother who does not have long to live. Taken as one, The Blackridge House is a meditation on belonging, of the stories we tell of home and family, of the precarious footprint of life.Trade Review‘The Blackridge House is a quiet masterpiece - a page-turning story told with deep empathy and insight, in limpid prose.’ – Mark Gevisser. ‘What a finely crafted text! The narrative keeps sharpening its lenses until one experiences what is hardest to grasp: everything is irrevocably interwoven – but miraculously so.’ – Antjie Krog

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Book SynopsisIn 1942 Norman Hanson learnt to fly the Royal Navy's newest fighter: the US-built Chance Vought Corsair. Fast, rugged and demanding to fly, it was an intimidating machine. But in the hands of its young Fleet Air Arm pilots it also proved to be a lethal weapon.Posted to the South Pacific aboard HMS Illustrious, Hanson and his squadron took the fight to the Japanese. Facing a desparate and determined enemy, Kamikaze attacks and the ever-present dangers of flying off a pitching carrier deck, death was never far away.Brought to life in vivid, visceral detail, Carrier Pilot is one of the finest aviator's memoirs of the war; an awe-inspiring, thrilling, sometimes terrifying account of war in the air.

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Book Synopsis`THE BIG SHOW IS AS CLOSE AS YOU’LL EVER GET TO FIGHTING YOUR LIFE FROM THE COCKPIT OF A SPITFIRE OR TYPHOON. PERHAPS MOST VISCERALLY EXCITING BOOK EVER WRITTEN BY A FIGHTER PILOT’ Rowland White, Author of Vulcan 607 Pierre Clostermann DFC was one of the outstanding Allied aces of the Second World War. A Frenchman who flew with the RAF, he survived over 420 operational sorties, shooting down scores of enemy aircraft, while friends and comrades lost their lives in the deadly skies above Europe. The Big Show, his extraordinary account of the war has been described as the greatest pilot’s memoir of WWII. `

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Book SynopsisLike so many other lads in North Staffordshire, George Shufflebotham followed his father down the pit, so he knew what to expect when he rolled up for his first day at Berry Hill Colliery. Between 1996 and 2003 he wrote a series of popular articles that were featured in the Sentinel newspaper in the series "the way we were" and "all your yesterday's". This selection of those articles recall the experiences of working underground and reflect on the many human aspects of a working life down the pit.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments; Preface; 1 Mine of Information; Fear Never Far Away from the Pit of Your Stomach; 3 My Brush with Death in Coal Fire Explosion; 4 Haway the Lads . . . Geordies Teach Us Union Ways; 5 The "Hillbillies" who sorted out old coal faces; 6 Ahead of its time; 7 "Wayn Do it mar wee ternayt!" said Arthur . . .and we did; 8 Lads so proud to be in pit gear; 9 Riding a runaway underground train; 10 I could have gone down the pit at six; 11 Spike, Tummy and Herby . . . last of the funny kind; 12 Pit Life? I would do it all over again . . .; 13 Passage to Florence

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Book SynopsisIn 2017 Susie Kennaway asked her son Guy to kill her.88 years old, with an older and infirm husband, Susie wanted to avoid sliding into infantilised catatonia. The son immediately started taking notes and Time to Go is the result.In turns a manual for those considering the benefits of assisted dying, a portrait of a mother son relationship, and a sympathetic description of old age, this book is a route map through the moral, legal, emotional, intellectual and practical maze that is the biggest issue facing the senior generations today: leaving life on their own terms.During their conversations about when and how to make Susie''s final exit, some of the difficulties of their fractious relationship mellowed and some even melted, as the reality of what they were planning brought them together. Many elderly people, like Susie, have clearly stated that they wish to die in a manner and time of their choosing. But the church, the law, the medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry stand in the way, wagging their fingers. A change is coming for the rights of the elderly, the way it has come for the rights of women and gay people. Time to Go is a rallying call in this fight.Life is too precious not to be lived properly. As with a job, a relationship or a party, you have to know when it''s time to go.

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Book SynopsisArriving in the UK from Jamaica at the tender age of 14, Keisha shares her empowering lived experiences growing up with undiagnosed Dyslexia and Dyspraxia.

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