Search results for ""Cranthorpe Millner Publishers""

After spending months suffering from bizarre nightmares about whimstricks, grubblings and other strange creatures, ten-year-old Mikey has finally had enough. But finding out the truth is more dangerous than Mikey could possibly have imagined, and he soon finds himself trapped in the magical realm of Whimsburrow.

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'If you don't know, I don't know...' 'Things not discussed can never be recorded and therefore have never taken place.' Those were the last words Michael Butler said to his younger son, Jeff, on a Saturday evening in August before Jeff left on holiday. Jeff could not have imagined that events would unravel so fast from there, starting with the suicide of his father by hanging in their garage later that night and leading to a surprising trip to Hungary, where his father had been working for an international organisation and had become involved in investigating the trafficking of Roma girls into the sex trade. As far as Jeff was concerned, the act of suicide causes such indescribable pain for those left behind that for anyone to even contemplate the act was inexcusable. An act of love betrayed. But was his father really responsible for taking his own life?

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Discovering that your dad is actually a beast from an enchanted world called Elementa is a lot to process. Finding out you are also half beast; have to travel to this strange magical world, and must compete in a series of potentially life-threatening challenges in the company of almost fifty other teenagers is surely taking things a step too far.

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An eye-opening exploration of the human mind,where reality is stranger than fiction.Drawing on solid scientific research, The Unthinkable Truth will make readers question their own human nature.

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Based on a true story, Gwendoline explores the challenges facing women in the 1900s, the struggles confronted by individuals suffering from mental health issues, and the devastating impact these issues can have on their families.

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Tyler isn't thrilled to be spending yet another mundane afternoon at Great Uncle John's. And that's putting it mildly! But after his visit sparks a chain of inexplicable events, he delightedly discovers magic at his fingertips.

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Athletes Who Rock! shares the inspiring backstories of 15 individuals who have achieved the near-impossible: success in the ultra-competitive worlds of pro sports and music.

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When Andy and Jack walk away from their successful careers, leaving family, friends and Manchester to move to the Canary Islands, they hope to find a new adventure and quality time together in the sun. What they do not expect to encounter is the intriguing, often amusing and sometimes downright bizarre cast of characters that inhabit their new, sub-tropical world. Buying a small house on a pitch 'n' putt golf course surrounded by banana plantations in the north of Tenerife, they set about trying to earn a living while getting to know the eccentric neighbour who hints at a double life as an espionage agent; the Disney Gang; and a white cat with no tail, an Eric Cantona attitude and a penchant for torture. An arrest and a sudden death turn their world upside down and open the door to a series of seemingly unrelated incidents. As Jesus takes up residence in the bottom of the garden and paradise begins to unravel, the shocking truth is finally uncovered and Andy and Jack face losing everything.

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Lieutenant-Colonel (Retd) Diane Allen had 30 years' experience in the British Army. She was one of the first women at Sandhurst. Sandhurst was so unprepared there were no boots small enough for women and no beds for them (a recurrent theme). She served in Northern Ireland and Germany in the regular army, then 25 years in the reserves, alongside a career in the public and private sector. She moved through the ranks into more senior military leadership, creating new intelligence units. But with each success she achieved, resistance from those in charge increased. In November 2018, Diane was awarded the OBE for services to military intelligence. But by November 2019, she had started a messy divorce with the Army. She isn't leaving voluntarily - she has been pushed out. This is her account of her time in the army; the comical, the tragic, the painful and the honest story of a woman for whom the Army will always be her true family.

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Enter a magical world... When Louise and Michael find a secret door in the bear house of their local animal park, they soon discover more than they could ever have imagined. Join this adventurous brother and sister duo as they explore London and beyond in the company of their talking animal friends, and make some very special new friends along the way! Step inside and meet the animals...

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'The two girls sat in the back of the car, their destination unknown and their crimes worse than murder.' In November 1979, Ailbe and Maire disappear from their rural village in Ireland, never to return. Pregnant out of wedlock, they are now outcasts from society. Believing they will at least have each other, the girls are devastated when Ailbe is dumped at the gates of a place known only as 'Bessborough', whilst Maire is forced to continue on to Dublin, to be cared for by the relatives of her married lover. What follows is an enduring tale of family, love, friendship, secrecy, self-sacrifice and the extraordinary endurance of women in the most appalling of circumstances.

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It's been 45 years since the end of the Zurvan reign. The Earth is a peaceful planet where solar panels cover the deserts and green pastures feed communities who have phased out currency in place of a local trade system. Michael and Melody are benevolent Sararan leaders who have assembled a democratically elected council in Geneva to regulate the less populated world, but a darkness grows in the west. Letters from Native American tribes find their way to the council describing a disturbing resonance near Shaktis sunken palace. With the Zurvan Order having signed a treaty of alliance years before, the royal Immortal couple is puzzled as to the origin of this mysterious demonic signal. Meanwhile, Melody's ambassador finds who she believes to be the reincarnation of Pavonis: a young adventurous girl from the Balkans named Devonia. All Melody wants is a pupil to teach, but Michael wants a son, and becomes increasingly weary from both his wife's reluctance to bear children and his deteriorating mental state from engaging in shadow wars in Africa. Between Michael's perception of betrayal he feels from Melody, and his complex emotions regarding his forced indoctrination into the Zurvan Order almost a half century earlier, Michael seeks meaning at his mother's grave where a former enemy befriends him there; a woman who knew him at his darkest hour, her web of seduction spun and waiting...

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'Penny still couldn't believe it - Stewart, dead! Killed in broad daylight on a Central London street.' Faded TV presenter Stewart Bingham is lured out of a quiet retirement for one last pay day interview on prime-time television, only to be fatally stabbed as he leaves the London studio. Racked with guilt for lining up this final job, his media agent Penny refuses to accept the police verdict of an anonymous stabbing and launches her own investigation. At the same time, British Secret Service agent Dom Stephens is enlisted to monitor the arrival of his old acquaintance, Dima, back in the UK. As their paths begin to converge, Penny and Dom realise only they can stop a threat to the very heart of the British government. "Full of twists and turns, The Necklace is difficult to put down and doesn't disappoint. The story merges the spy world with everyday life and the interconnected plots keep the reader hooked on every word."

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The woods looked dark and ominous. Between the trees, where the darkness was blacker than black, dozens of slanted yellow eyes flicked open and stared back towards the house. They weren’t the eyes of anything human. When Paul and Christy purchase Croft House, they are both looking forward to a new start. Christy’s abusive father is dying and she is ready to put the past well and truly behind her. But the house has other ideas. They soon realise there is something in the house, something that’s trying to communicate with them. In their fear, they ask a local psychic to remove this entity. And in so doing, release something far, far worse.

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"He didn't know it then, but he cycled right by the spot where his body would soon be dumped, left to decay." In his youth, JJ believed that old saying: ‘you can be anything you want to be if you just try hard enough’. He had built his whole life around it. But now, middle-aged and with his past erupting into his present, it’s clear to him that life is just not that fair. With his son’s disappearance acting as a catalyst, JJ is forced to make some unsavoury decisions in order to survive. But the choices he makes have consequences, and with his life and the lives of his friends and family being turned upside down, will anyone come out the other end unscathed?

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It’s Christmas Eve, and Nathaniel Banks is in despair. But when he begs for help from above, heaven help him, they send Anna Frost. Anna Frost has lost everything she holds dear, her job and her sword. She started the day as a lieutenant in Heaven’s army, but by the end of it, she finds herself stuck on Earth as a Guardian, in a freezing cold Central Park. Anna Frost is having the worst Christmas Eve ever! Fortunately, Anna is an angel with an F-Plan, and under the watchful gaze of her fellow Guardians, the flirtatious Leonardo and food-loving Holly, this feisty foot-soldier focuses all her efforts on fixing Nathaniel Banks so she can get her feathers back ASAP. But unfortunately for Anna, forgotten footsteps, foul play and forbidden fruit soon put her foolproof plan in jeopardy, and this featherless fighter must learn to move Heaven and Earth if her F-Plan is to succeed.

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This heart-warming picture book is a celebration of someone truly special. Beautifully illustrated, with a rhyming text, this unique story is a wonderful, glorious, celebration of love, and effortlessly teaches the lesson of not wanting to be anything other than who you are.

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Following eighteen-year-old Helen as she moves away from her home in Scotland to become a governess in France, Deception at its core is a novel about the moral dilemmas faced by those living in the shadows of war.

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Join nine-year-old Megan as she embarks on a wild, crazy adventure beneath the waves, where she learns that her littering behaviour could have deadly consequences and that rubbish should always be thrown in the bin.

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Amongst the horrors of the Anglo-Zulu War, young lieutenant Albert is conflicted by his feelings for handsome batsman Jack. But with societal prejudices against them, will their blossoming relationship survive?

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More than 150 years later, we still do not know what prompted Captain Briggs, his wife and baby, and the crew of the Mary Celeste to abandon ship mid-ocean, and the speculation continues to this day. Delve into this mysterious case and shed light on possible solutions, credible hoaxes, and tales of other ghost ships.

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Isla is a girl with a huge imagination, who loves listening to her grandad's stories of his childhood in wild and rugged Cornwall. When Isla's dad goes missing on a diving trip in Mexico, her world is turned upside down. Based on the old Cornish folktale The Mermaid of Zennor, this is a journey of curiosity, friendship, mystery and magic.

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Greenbank Primary: First Aid Brought to Life is a narrative non-fiction that tells a story. It tells a story of a town called Humphrington, a school called Greenbank Primary and the Matthews family engaging with family, friends and teachers. The main theme throughout the book is 'what can you, as a 10-12 year old person, do to give first aid in a medical emergency?' What are the simple key actions that you could take to help someone recover from a serious asthma attack, seizure, severe wound, broken limb and even drowning and cardiac arrest? Given that success rates in the UK for survival outside of hospital for cardiac arrest are below 10% there is a need for knowledge especially at a young age. In countries that invest in training young children in life saving skills, survival rates are far better than the UK. This book aims for improvement.

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'Could it really be possible that there exists two such potent, omniscient, and incompatible energies - Fate and Hate?' Sixteen-year-old Lilly-Anne is not supposed to ask about her parents. An outsider to her peers, she lives a quiet life with her Uncle Bill and his wife, Lynne. Hoping for a fresh start at a new college, little does she know that her future lies beyond Earth, and Lilly soon finds herself thrown into a completely different world, or rather, many worlds, all ruled by Fate, an omniscient power who predetermines human life. Or at least, that's what the Authority says. Attempting to understand the otherworlds, Lilly tiptoes the line of lawbreaking, seeking answers to her heritage. But her questions only multiply as she discovers that both her past and the mysterious events around her may hold the key to what Fate has planned. A Reverie Tale is a story of friendship, belonging, and a battle for free will against the most powerful of adversaries.

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'When the rains fell, the world burned...' After a childhood spent in the foster care system, failed PhD student Amy Weston attracts trouble wherever she goes. Acid rain is destroying London's trees, brain lesions are turning once-harmless pets into killer dogs, and her new work colleague, Professor Joel Harket, is the most infuriating man she has ever met. But when the media continue to insist that autumn has simply come early, and humans begin to experience the same symptoms as the killer dogs, Amy must work alongside Joel in order to convince the world of the seriousness of the situation, before it is too late. From the UN Air Health summit in Beijing to the abandoned tunnels beneath the city of London, Amy and Joel search for answers to prevent the end of the world, and as Nelson's Column crumbles and zombie-like 'howlers' wreak havoc worldwide, they discover that the only way to survive the apocalypse is to set aside their differences... and learn to trust each other.

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"Never before had I felt so acutely desperate to comfort one of my children, and never had I felt so useless, so restricted and unable to act." This is the story of a baby who becomes a morphine addict before she's even due to be born; a tale of medicalised motherhood, littered with cannulas, feeding tubes and surgery consent forms. When Amy Brett's baby girl is unexpectedly born only twenty-four weeks and six days into her pregnancy, and is immediately rushed to intensive care, Amy and her family are thrown onto the most terrifying rollercoaster ride of their lives. Amy's account of her journey through neonatal care is loaded with impossible choices and heart-wrenching moral dilemmas. It is stark evidence of the need for greater compassion, sensitivity and family integration in the neonatal setting. And yet, it is also a love story between a mother and her child who defies the odds time after time; a heartfelt testimony to the courage and endurance of the human spirit in the face of adversity, and living proof of our capacity for infinite hope in the darkest of times.

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'New York would bring with it a whole new world of possibilities and trouble.' Soon to begin her freshman year, Nkechi, a young voodoo witch, is unsure what to expect. Alone in New York, and still coming to terms with the death of her mother, Nkechi worries that she will struggle to keep her magic hidden, and is afraid that her mortal classmates will reject her quirky personality. Fortunately, Columbia College is a big place, and she soon finds her people in the form of Charlie, a mortal, and Kosum, a fellow witch, who quickly introduces Nkechi to the local coven. But all is not as it seems, and with her life finally going in the right direction, the last thing she expects is for a mysterious girl infused with magic to implode right in front of her. Determined to discover who is behind these magical occurrences, Nkechi embarks on a journey that forces her to confront her past, re-evaluate her present and embrace her future.

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The end of the virus was just the beginning… Amazonian River Fever has decimated Prague, forcing the few survivors of the savage pandemic to flee to the uninfected village of Otočka. Doctor Eliška Korbova, having desperately tried to save as many people as she could, is hopeful that the village will be their salvation. But Otočka is no paradise. The colonel in charge, the doctor’s half-sister, is fast becoming a tyrant, and a new fearful ideology is taking hold. With everyone around her descending into madness and barbarism, Eliška must find a way to stop the colonel and save the village before it’s too late.

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"We lead a quiet life. Talking to people, building up a picture. Like a jigsaw. And just like a jigsaw, we spend a lot of time sorting out pieces of sky. They may seem dull and uninteresting, but we can't leave them out." Is a virus that takes up to eight weeks for symptoms to appear, and kills only 10% of infected people, really the perfect terrorist bioweapon? In this sequel to The Death of a Smoker, four years have passed since Quinton Bickley-Morris, a suspected spy and adversary of the Tufton Street team, slipped out of the country undetected. After a chance sighting, Harry Nevile and his team are desperate to go after him, but the more immediate threat of a suspected terrorist attack on the government takes priority. As Harry's team investigates, piecing together fragments of evidence, the truth is gradually revealed, and it is far closer to home than they could ever have anticipated.

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“That evening he dipped his pen into the black ink and wrote to his mother. Thomas had finally decided to plan his return to Penweth.” Though to many Penweth is just another farm, to those who live and work there, it is a family home. Surrounded upon three sides by the mesmeric sea, it sits hunkered down upon a Cornish headland; it belongs there, as do its inhabitants. But things are changing for the family at Penweth. While his sister, Mary, sees a bright future for herself on the farm, Thomas, who is not yet a man but neither in boyhood, is tormented by two loves, his family and the sea. With Thomas threatening to throw his sister’s plans into disarray, and wider changes occurring that risk altering their peaceful lives forever, will the family’s unconditional love for one another, tested and strained to the limit, still be given without hesitation?

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Viscount Peveril’s grandson, George, has gone missing, and DCI Alexander (Sandy) McFarlane has been asked by the family to investigate his disappearance. After commencing his search in Norfolk and Derbyshire, Sandy soon finds himself in Manitoba, Canada, trying to locate George and the two friends he has run away with. Across the ocean, in Derby city centre, a young police officer is found having been shot dead by suspected drug dealers, and a large-scale police investigation is set in motion to catch his killers. Before long, Sandy’s investigation into George’s disappearance and the murder of the young police officer collide, and Sandy finds himself in conflict with the senior officer leading the murder case as they try to unravel the truth. This gripping and authentic crime mystery is the second book in the DCI McFarlane series.

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"The boat hit shore at 09:27 EAT. We can be exact on this because it was picked up by the perimeter cameras. It was an old open lifeboat, navy blue, and we counted seven people on board. Eight if you want to include the baby. Most of them didn't survive more than ten minutes." Two sisters and a baby, shipwrecked refugees, wash up on a mysterious east African Island crawling with giant, blue-skinned savages. They flee to an abandoned scientific facility where incredible and terrifying experiments have been taking place, experiments that could change the course of human history. Meanwhile, the only person who can save them is a lowly monitoring station employee half a world away in Arizona - but the clock is ticking, and the universe is about to come calling.

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'I knew one day I would find you. The hare is yours, my dear...' When Serin discovers a hidden family manuscript, she has no idea what she has set in motion. The old pages reveal the bewildering tale of an ordinary Victorian girl, Wren, who is given an enchanting pendant that changes her life. Serin reads all night, compelled to discover the fate of her ancestor. Will Wren fulfil her destiny to protect the cursed London Stone, like the witches before her? Or will the relentless raven man be her downfall? Will she lose everyone she ever loved? Will she lose herself? As Serin reads Wren's tale, strange things start to happen, and she begins to believe she may have unleashed dormant dark magic upon herself. This is a gothic tale of magic and myth, family secrets, love and revenge. It is a tale of the extraordinary, hidden beneath ordinary Victorian lives.

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‘I want to be a pioneer, an explorer, an adventurer. I want to experience something of this world we live in.’ In 1755, a spirited young woman leaves her comfortable island home of Guernsey and travels to Nova Scotia, Canada to join her fisherman husband. But Elise’s dreams of adventure soon become her reality, and what follows is a life of fear, cold, mosquitos, fish, beauty, passion, loss and fulfilment. Song of the Sea tells how the sea links and dominates the life, love and loss experienced by Elise, as we follow her on her voyage of self-discovery. “Song of the Sea is a story of incredible strength, courage, survival, resilience and love. Set in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, it is a fictional account, woven within documented historical events. This beautiful story gives a voice to the role of women and bears witness to the turmoil of the time.” - Susan Marchand-Terrio, Executive Director, Isle Madame Historical Society

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Lucy is used to moving from place to place. With her father constantly looking over his shoulder, they have never really settled in any one city. She tries not to get too attached. After all, what's the point of falling in love if you know it's going to be temporary?

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On the run from the mob who killed her mother, young witch Gweneviere Baxter is running out of options. When the opportunity to wed the local baker is presented to her, she feels she has no other choice. But everything changes with the arrival of young slave woman, Kambili

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Glass-brimming Jenny (psychiatric nurse) and her new patient, glass-definitely-half-empty (physiotherapist) Claire, develop a lifelong and fateful co-dependent friendship that is scarred by secrets and untimely ends.

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In this thrilling sequel to 'Restless Souls', Ronnie Brown's 'Unquiet Minds' follows historian-cum-detective R.I. Penny as he learns to cope with his past trauma and goes undercover to help investigate the horrific murder of a young woman that was savagely attacked.

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Transported to a world where magical creatures roam free, mystery is around every corner, and decisions really are a matter of life or death, Jane must learn to adapt to her new surroundings. But what she doesn't know is that there is something deep within her that makes her extraordinary. All she needs is the courage to accept herself as she i

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WHAT REALLY HAPPENS AT LAST LIGHT? Last Light will give you just enough illumination to see into the wonders and horrors that dwell deep within the darkest shadows. These tales will both entrance and terrify. Scared of the dark? Let Last Light guide you safely through these stories of the paranormal and terror that surrounds us all.

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"The judge described my crime as 'the most heinous' he had seen in his career on the bench. I wanted to shout, cry out and protest my innocence as my sentence was handed down. But honestly, I couldn't." Convicted of a crime he has no memory of committing, Eli Kelly is serving a life sentence in Stoutbliss Prison. After seven years as an inmate, Eli is resigned to his fate, but when a solicitor is sent to Stoutbliss as part of a government scheme to investigate potential miscarriages of justice, he finds himself contemplating a future beyond his prison cell. Working with a psychiatrist, Eli revisits his traumatic past, and as they delve deeper into his memories, Eli realises that, regardless of his guilt or innocence, he is yet another victim whose cries for help were ignored by the very services supposed to keep him safe. Will Eli finally remember what happened on that fateful night? Is he guilty? Or innocent? And given the circumstances, does it matter?

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"I promised him... I promised my dad I would always help wildlife." Emma promised her father that she would always try to protect wildlife, and when he suddenly disappears, she feels even more determined to keep her promise to him. One day, Emma discovers an incredible secret: she can talk to 'Guardian' birds, appointed by Nature to prevent extinctions! Excited by her discovery, Emma embarks on a series of adventures with the Guardians and her friends. But evil is lurking where she least expects it, and soon, Emma must come face to face with the cruel Lord of The Air. Will Emma and her friends be able to protect the natural world? Or will evil rule the roost? A magical tale with magical illustrations, The Girl and the Goldcrest is the perfect read for the next generation of nature lovers and climate activists.

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A laugh-out-loud memoir by Parachute Regiment and 22 SAS veteran John Wick – the man who helped break the story of the 2009 MPs’ Expenses Scandal. Have you ever wondered how to conduct a ransom negotiation? Would you know what to do if you accidentally found yourself in a room full of Columbian drug barons? How would you feel if you were hurtling towards the ground beneath a partially-inflated parachute? Would you panic if you were threatened with imprisonment by the Speaker of the House of Commons? These are only a few of the dilemmas faced by John during 60 years of adventures, in both Army and civilian life, which at times left him perilously close to having a rendezvous with the Grim Reaper. This is a book about family, friendship, travel and, above all, John’s enduring resilience in the face of adversity. It ends in 2009 with the MPs’ Expenses Scandal, which rocked the nation and destroyed the careers of many Members of Parliament. Who can forget the revelations of wrongdoing that filled the pages of The Daily Telegraph newspaper that Spring? Without John Wick’s courage and determination to do the right thing, at a risk to his own safety, the truth might have remained hidden from public scrutiny forever.

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“Life, as someone once said, will always disappoint you in the final analysis.” In 1973, Stella, a university student, took her own life by jumping from a high-rise building. Or so the police reports claim. Meanwhile, in the present, crime fiction writer Robert Cross is attempting to organise a fifty-year reunion of his university friends. But as long forgotten memories begin to emerge, Robert is left to piece together the reality of Stella’s death, haunted by his own disreputable past.

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Sunday, October 28th: I have discovered failure and found that it is like goose grass. It clings still and I cannot shake it off. 2012 is a disastrous year for Sebastian Scattergood, who has recently retired from the pharmaceutical industry after thirty-seven happy and uneventful years as a Health and Safety officer. Despite his eternal optimism, however, all the earmarked projects of his newly earned freedom crumble into dust, each one faithfully recorded, warts and all, in his diary. Building firms go bust on him, landscape gardeners do a runner, and his cultural tours company is sabotaged by a couple of naked German students smoking cannabis on a night walk. It is only when he has been driven into hibernation by a savage attack in the press that salvation finally arrives, in the form of Alfred Lord Tennyson. Set in a small village in the Lincolnshire Wolds, 'Trying Times for Sebastian Scattergood' is a chronicle of a horrendous year, narrated by an earnest and pompous man who lacks any sense of self-irony. Part disaster diary, part social satire, it is a novel of literary fiction which is both humorous and moving in equal measure.

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Hope Became The Enemy is the story of a young independent English woman, Josie. Looking for excitement and adventure, Josie decides on a career change and moves to Turkey to teach English. As she slowly falls in love with her new life, she takes the reader on an exciting journey across Turkey, and through her eyes they learn about the cultures and traditions of this exotic country. Josie quickly finds that living in a patriarchal country is very different to the life she knew in the west. By chance, while she is on holiday with friends on the west coast, she meets the tall, charismatic Bechir. Their relationship is rocky and has its ups and downs but a couple of years later, she accepts a proposal of marriage and soon falls pregnant with their first child. She settles down to live happily ever after with the man that she loves. All too late she discovers that she is married to a malignant narcissist and is isolated from friends and family. Trapped in a cycle of abuse, apology, and forgiveness, she knows she must leave. But how?

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Alexander (Sandy) McFarlane has just secured his new role as a DCI working for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London. Before long, he is asked to investigate the death of Robert Smythe, an accountant who has been auditing an aid grant to build a solar panel farm in Vadodara, India. DCI McFarlane travels to India where he immediately suspects foul play. But he is up against local police who refuse to admit that Robert's death was suspicious. He soon finds himself embroiled in politics, battling the extremely wealthy and powerful Thakur family, the billionaires who had facilitated the British aid grant to build the solar panel farm, and in whose interest the local police are sweeping Robert's death under the rug. For a long time it seems he is fighting a losing battle and he is forced to leave India in disgrace. Can McFarlane get justice for Robert's family?

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