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A Mother’s Worry
Immerse yourself in the riveting true story of a young maverick’s journey from the gritty slums of Melbourne to the elite ranks of Australia’s Special Air Service (SAS) during the tumultuous 1950s and 60s. Witness the struggles of his mother, wed to an abusive man, and how the hardships of his upbringing influenced his formative years. Leaving school at 14, he delved into the world of firearms and hunting by working in a gun shop, a precursor to his military service.
Enlist alongside him at 17 and endure the gruelling selection process and intense training regimen that propelled him into the SAS, Australia’s pinnacle military unit. Experience firsthand his arduous pre-deployment conditioning in the unforgiving terrains of New Guinea, and feel the adrenaline rush as he was thrust into the heart of the Vietnam War at just 19 years old.
Laced with unfiltered humour and detailing the escapades of the SAS’s hard-living, harder-fighting men, this memoir utilizes Australian War Memorial records to shed light on the innovative tactics and extraordinary kill ratios the unit achieved in Vietnam, despite their primary mission of intelligence gathering.
Chart his meteoric rise from Private to Sergeant in just one year, a promotion that garnered him both awe and animosity from older, yet less aggressive, SAS soldiers. Finally, accompany him as he navigates the tumultuous transition from battle-hardened warrior to peacetime soldier, facing the strictures of a by-the-book Regimental Sergeant Major upon his return to Australia.
£11.99 -
A Passion to Run
After ten years of six-days-a-week training, she has gained three bronze medals in individual events and three relay medals at World Masters level, yet the competitive fire still burns brightly. She continues to train and now, as a sprint coach, she shares her passion for running to enable others to improve technically and live out their dreams. Speed is always the focus, whether her athletes are training for rugby, football, basketball, netball, hockey, track, tennis or mogul skiing.
£9.99 -
A Question of Belief
Belief is rarely pure and never simple. This book explores the particular perplexities of belief as experienced by one female vicar in the Church of England. To exercise a public and representational role within any faith community will always bring its own pressures and paradoxes. Here, the author acknowledges and explores her own questions, which cover a wide range of topics from politics to preaching; from science to suffering. A constant theme of the book is the relationship between fact and truth. Fact is, of course, an important vehicle of truth, but not the only one. Symbolism, metaphor, myth, the creative arts have all conveyed the deep truths of Christianity to the author, who remains totally committed to her faith. Perhaps unsurprisingly, however, she takes a non-literalist view of belief, which she accepts will not be shared by some fellow Christians. But in her experience and understanding, to follow Christ means to seek the eternal truth which he embodied, and which will always be more elusive and intriguing than a recital of fact. And – for the author at least – more joy-giving. This is a hopeful book!
£7.99 -
A Saving Grace
A Saving Grace unmasks the personal, sporting and the inspirational life behind the cycling world champion and Paralympic medallist.
Written off as lacking concentration, a dreamer and too slow as a school kid, the young Rik at the age of just 14 became hooked on cycling after watching a stage of the Tour de France during a lesson at school. Rik soon found that his day-to-day mobility obstacles would instantly disappear each time he climbed onto a bike, leaving him free of his disability.
Rik has become not just a sporting hero but also an inspirational figure to many. After more than a decade of competing at a professional level in the elite world of Paralympic cycling, Rik became involved in the education system as an inspirational role model where the challenges and pressures faced by young people of today not just socially but also academically were at the forefront of his next life chapter.
Having the mind-set of a champion athlete and carrying the ‘never give up determination’, Rik found a new passion in helping others only to be engulfed with mental health issues due to the frustration of the education system and students being neglected with harrowing events.
In A Saving Grace, Rik takes us on his exhilarating no-holds-barred journey and mayhem of not just his professional sporting career but also his inspirational work with the twists and turns that have imposed life-changing consequences.
£14.99 -
A Slice of Life from a Vicar's Wife
Jean Jarvis was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, a market town in the East Midlands and part of the Portland estate within the Dukeries.
Her working life has been spent in schools in Worksop and Sheffield. She lived through the time when Britain was recovering from World War II. It was the time of Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley & His Comets.
She met and married the curate and became his wife and mother of two children.
During this time, she met John Betjeman, a friend of her husband. She acquired his fun name, “The Smasher”.
Her love of art and music continued throughout her life, and she became a church organist. Her love of painting is a set of fourteen stations of the cross, which was on show for a short time in Derby Cathedral.
This is the story of a long and happening life, told in slices.
£7.99 -
A Story of Hope and Happiness
This is a story of triumph over adversity – an absorbing, thought-provoking, sometimes amusing but often heart-rending account of British businesswoman Rosemary Bidwell’s struggles to set up and run an orphanage in Sierra Leone, West Africa, for orphaned street children – youngsters whose parents had been savagely killed in a truly awful civil war.
Read how, against seemingly insurmountable odds, Rosemary founded the Cotton Tree Children’s Trust charity in 2006 and set about raising thousands of pounds through donations, sponsorship, talks and myriad fund-raising events to give 20 African children a second chance in life.
Through her charity, Rosemary provided her charges not only with a roof over their heads, regular meals, clothing and general welfare and educational support, but love and affection.
Read, too, how Rosemary had to overcome all manner of obstacles on the way to achieving her goal: everything from corruption, bribery, fraud and interrogation by police for 11 hours without diplomatic representation to being falsely accused of child trafficking and suffering a suspected heart attack and having to be airlifted home.
Despite the trials and tribulations, Rosemary has overcome the many and varied setbacks she encountered over a period of 18 years. Today, thanks to her dedication, perseverance and Christian beliefs, the Cotton Tree children can now face the future with confidence and know that they have been given an opportunity to prosper in life that, sadly, has been denied to so many other Sierra Leone children.
£12.99 -
A Test of Strength
From surviving childhood trauma and confiding in her doll to cope with the abuse of her father, to giving birth to a child with spina bifida at age 19, this Australian woman’s life has been marked by strength and determination. She shares her inspiring story of triumph, including her pride at winning the title of Mrs NSW in a quest to raise funds for disabled children and her bravery in facing stage three breast cancer. But her strength is tested to its limits with the heartbreaking loss of two grown children, and she shares the spiritual signs that bring her comfort during her emotional journey of writing her life’s story. This is a brutally honest and uplifting autobiography of one woman’s determination to overcome the obstacles life throws her way.
£10.99 -
Adventures of a Cold-War Warrior!
This is a humorous – and at times, tongue-in-cheek – account of the author’s time in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces, from soldier to ‘rock ape’ (RAF Regiment), with a stint as a ‘penguin’ (steward) tucked in between.
Covering the period from 1966 to 1976, when the Cold War was still in full swing, the book tells what went on behind the scenes that the recruiting posters and adverts would never show you. Prepare to laugh, smile, shake your head in disbelief at the strange and at times downright crazy goings-on, as the author and his pals jump from one crazy adventure to the next.
This is not a book for the faint-hearted or easily offended. These are real characters that the author met, though some of the names may have been changed, as they say in all the best films, ‘to protect the guilty’! When reading, the reader is experiencing for themselves what is happening along with the author.
To those who have never been in the forces and don’t know the mindset of the military mind and reasoning of one who serves his country, the characters in this book may come across as having a beer-drinking, girl-chasing, cavalier attitude. Not true – but when single and in our late teens/early twenties and a product of the times, we lived life to the full, not knowing if the Cold War would one day turn hot…£12.99 -
Airplanes and Seahorses
Discover the inspiring true story of two people who dared to follow their dreams and found their own paradise. Life seemed perfect for the couple, living in a vibrant city, traveling the world, and earning great money. But deep down, they knew something was missing. When COVID-19 hit, they were forced to pause and reflect. Listening to their hearts, they made a bold decision to leave everything behind and embark on a journey to find fulfilment. Despite facing uncertainty and giving up financial security, they were determined to follow a path less travelled and make their dream a reality. With raw courage, trust, and a sprinkle of magic, they eventually discovered their own paradise. This book shows that when you let go of societal expectations and follow your heart, anything is possible.
£20.99 -
All Show Off
OK, if I’m completely honest, since I’ve been quite ill just before my half-century, at the end of 2016, I realised that I hadn’t ever got around to passing on the stories of my childhood to my children; that cluster of experiences and characters from my past that have “helped” me become the person that their father is today.
Memories of a childhood in late 60s and 70s Llanelli is considered within, though they’ll possibly be of no consequence to others, I hope that my girls find them of interest. This entanglement of belonging and of being are what has made me who I am and how I am.
I’ve never written a book before, though I’ve created one many times and at many stages of my life in my head. English is not even my mother tongue. Welsh has and always will be more comfortable for me, though I’ll try to make Dr Martin Rhys, my English teacher, who I both revered and feared at Ysgol y Strade, proud.
The childhood memories noted here are true from my perspective. Any factual mistakes are there because that’s how I remember them happening. None of the content is aimed at upsetting anyone, but I’m sure it will. “Que sera, sera,” as Myngu Norman used to say.
I’ve kept some personal stuff out, which if included, would create a fuss and shadow all my recollections. I’ve lived with them long enough as it is, though they may surface unintentionally in my writing.
Enjoy the reading, and enjoy the memories – I’ve enjoyed organising them into some sort of order, so that my children may understand why I am as I am, and for people that know me to have the option of crossing the road when they see me heading towards them!
Lastly, after you’ve read the book, consider this quote from Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) in his memoirs The Summing Up in 1938: “There is an impression abroad that everyone has it in him to write one book; but if by this is implied a good book then the impression is false”.
£7.99 -
An Autobiographical Meditation: The Dislodged Goldfish
In An Autobiographical Meditation: The Dislodged Goldfish, the journey traversed is as serpentine as the paths of life for those whose existence defies conformity. While some seamlessly blend into societal moulds, others are destined to a life reminiscent of a dragon’s breath: intense, fiery, and unyielding. The relentless trek through tumultuous trails and muddy roads can leave one spinning in disorientation akin to a dizzying dance with destiny. Just as a lunar eclipse graces the sky in rare moments, some lives unfold in realms where despair frolics freely, becoming an unwelcome companion. The clasp of misery, agony, and neurosis can be as tightening as a rusty wrench around one’s throat, relenting only in fleeting moments when the sun peeks through the clouds, only to retreat and reveal its countenance much later.
While the poet’s disposition has been a subject of much discourse, An Autobiographical Meditation delves into the lesser explored abyss of insanity that lurks beneath the veneer of brilliance in some of the most gifted minds. Our planet, in its endless spin, has been a silent witness to the unfolding drama, as it spirals forward with each turn of fate. Through the lens of autobiographical reflection, The Dislodged Goldfish invites readers to a voyage through the undulating waves of life, where calm and storm are but two sides of the same coin.
£7.99 -
An Irish Orphan in Africa
The fortitude of women is measured in many ways.
When Brigid is orphaned at the age of six in 1937, she is separated from her three elder brothers. She finds solace in books while living with an elderly spinster aunt and her younger brother in the country.
With her vivid imagination she dreams of travelling to faraway countries. After a strict Catholic upbringing and boarding school in a convent, she leaves Ireland at the age of 21 to follow her dreams. The British Foreign Office sends her to Libya as a radiographer for two years. It is there her love of the dark continent is ignited and three years later she arrives in Malawi to work in Lilongwe. She meets her Catholic South African husband in the first two weeks, marrying him after eight months.
Over the next 13 years, she endures constant control and abuse while trying to raise five children with no family or emotional support. The family eventually returns to Ireland in 1973, travelling by car and caravan for three and a half months through Africa, Asia and Europe. After a year of increasing control and entrapment she finally escapes with her five children, aided by her two eldest brothers. She never sees her husband again, as he departs the country leaving her penniless and a single mother of five young children.
She survived and now lives peacefully in Dublin on her own enjoying bridge and hearing from her children and 14 grandchildren.
£9.99
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