Recommended Reads
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Locked Out
Henry Evans, a 19-year-old coal miner working at the Hunter Valley Rothbury Colliery marries a local girl, 18-year-old Wynnie Spencer in September 1928 and takes a loan to purchase a small miner’s cottage located in the village of Rothbury only one block from Wynnie’s parents and directly across the road from the Rothbury colliery gates.
On the 14th of February 1929, the Northern New South Wales coal mines are given 14 days’ notice to accept new working conditions by the colliery owners.
The Mineworker’s Federation rejects the colliery owner’s ultimatum, which culminates in the colliery gates being shut and the miners thrown out of work.
The events that follow throw Henry and Wynnie’s lives into turmoil, coming to a head when, on the 16th of December 1929, an incident takes place that is described as the worst industrial event in Australian history.
The consequences have catastrophic ramifications for Henry, Wynnie and their extended family members.
£9.99 -
Judge My Soul
Betrayal, depression, loneliness, pressure, desire – emotions that shape everyday life, yet we often struggle to accept their presence. They’re woven into every moment, every memory, and every decision, both made and unmade, even within our most mundane routines. Whether we’re waking up, trying to sleep, or feeling at peace, these emotions remain.
Though our routines may differ, this struggle is universal and worth celebrating.
In those moments, we can choose to ignore our emotions or to bottle them up. Or we can express them, no matter how small or fragile they may seem. Find solace in these poems that explore the simple moments we all share yet experience so uniquely.
£5.99 -
Perfectly Woven Lies
Life seemed idyllic for the glamorous couple, a big house in the country, a successful career and a loving husband and child, what could be more perfect? Everyone wanted her life.
But behind closed doors it was a very different matter. With slow realisation, she realised she had married a monster. With no one and nowhere to turn to, would she survive?
£10.99 -
M J
Meet MJ, a young explorer who loves adventures! When his town is threatened by a flood, MJ’s curiosity leads him into a forbidden giant garden. After tasting a strange, magical plant, something unexpected happens, changing his adventure!
Now, MJ must figure out how to use his unique situation to help protect his family and friends from the rising waters.
Join MJ on his journey to save his town. What lessons will you take away from this story to help protect our own wonderful world?
£8.99 -
Not Another Murder, Please!
A grand Georgian house, now a residence for wealthy retirees, becomes the setting for a cunning plot when thieves set their sights on Lady Moira: a rich and rather difficult resident. The plan is set in motion after the daughter of the house carelessly mentions the splendour of Lady Moira’s jewellery to her new boyfriend. Seizing the opportunity, the thieves hatch a scheme.
As a play is staged at the house, it seems like the perfect moment for the thieves to strike. But when tensions rise and the thieves fall out, chaos ensues. What happens next?
£6.99 -
The Bend in the River
A Mid-life Adventure in the Catalan Countryside
Two Scorpios with a relationship of only six months, minimal Spanish, amateur DIY skills, and no catering experience – what could possibly go wrong? This story isn’t just about DIY. It offers a glimpse into life among the wonderful rural folk of Catalonia, where the author forged lifelong friendships and learned about a region steeped in history, still bearing the scars of the civil war 70 years earlier.
The story culminates in the arrival of their first guests – keen fishermen eager to explore the depths of the mighty Ebro River. Witnessing their joy as they pursue their dreams of catching huge carp and catfish is a highlight of their adventure.
Interspersed with tales of rural life are explorations of idyllic mountain villages throughout northeastern Catalonia, from the Knights Templar fortress in Miravet to the fields of Horta Saint Joan, where a young Picasso once sketched local farmers. Laughter and local charm abound in this easy-to-read and heartwarming memoir.
£17.99 -
I am You, You Are Me
A flight to escape. A past that refuses to stay buried. A journey that feels like a dream – or a trap.
Everything seems normal – until it isn’t. Strangers know too much. Shadows whisper forgotten truths. Memories shift, twisting into something unrecognizable. What was left behind is catching up, and the answers may be more unsettling than the questions.
I Am You, You Are Me is a mind-bending journey into identity, fate, and the eerie connections that bind us all. Once the truth starts to unravel, there’s no turning back.
£6.99 -
Where Do You Go When You Need to Hide Away?
‘Sometimes highly functional people have lives and minds that are falling apart. You would never know because they would never tell you ... until they write a book about it.’
Where Do You Go When You Need To Hide Away? is the story of Joe Black and his struggles with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Joe’s childhood experiences of abuse and strained family relationships left him with shame and unresolved mental health issues. As he ventured on his careers and adult relationships, his challenging childhood still shaped his thoughts and behaviours. Only in his forties and fifties during a series of mental breakdowns did Joe finally acknowledge his past traumas and start to confront his lifelong battles with his identity and poor mental health. After years of therapy, Joe describes what he has learned about himself through psychology and how he now tries to manage his mental health and finally free himself from his need to hide away.
£11.99 -
Sentinels in the Oakwood
More than 100 years after nuclear war, nature has reclaimed much of the world that was destroyed. The Missouri Ozarks have returned to what they once were: a vast wilderness of woodlands, lakes, and caves. Some of the descendants of those who survived the war have since emerged from their shelters to establish subsistence-based communities, relying on the traditions of their ancestors. Others remain in the highly sophisticated underground facilities into which their forefathers retreated when the bombs fell. Those underground live with technologies lost to the world above, including sentinels – advanced, intelligent robotic humanoids. For those who have never even known electricity, the hulking machines reflect the scary stories told around the campfire. Meanwhile, lurking in the shadows, a growing threat from the north is emerging from those who would conquer and subdue any who will not submit.
As unique challenges force each of these groups to seek compromise and cooperation to survive, new leaders must emerge to forge a new path. With the future of their people hanging in the balance, will these new leaders courageously rise to the challenge, or will they be destroyed by their self-doubt and fear?
£10.99 -
The Slow Work of God
The Earth is getting hotter and life as we know it is under threat. Will just a few of us survive? Or can we act together to avert the crisis?
The root cause of this looming existential crisis is our addiction to consumption of material goods, and our unquestioning acceptance of the outrageous maldistribution of wealth among individuals and nations. Can we throw off these addictions and assumptions, to tread more lightly on the Earth?
McCarthy believes that we can. He starts by delving into the last two thousand years of Christian history. He traces the role of Jesus’ revolutionary teaching in a series of dramatic convulsions of human consciousness that have, suddenly and unexpectedly, changed attitudes and behaviour in previously unthinkable ways. In a world where violence, slavery, power and patriarchy were once universal, we are on the way to one that strives for peace, freedom, human rights, universal democracy, and equality for everyone.
These transformations – still in progress – are instances of a complete change of heart and mind: ‘metanoia’. They are the quiet, usually unacknowledged, ‘slow work of God’.
We must hope and strive for a new metanoia – one that overturns our materialist obsessions. In the final chapters, McCarthy proposes a radical way to launch this seismic change of heart, prevent catastrophe and ‘save humanity from itself’.
His book is full of hope and promise. We just have to make it happen.
£9.99 -
The Hijacking
When a terrorist network resurfaces with a deadly new plan, Dakota Lake finds herself at the centre of a global crisis. Following a catastrophic ambush in London and a botched mission in Panama, Dakota takes the fall and is sidelined in a low-security prison. But as sleeper agents regroup and a new plot emerges targeting US energy infrastructure, Dakota is drawn back into action, this time aboard a luxury cruise ship with a deadly secret.
As the ship sails toward the Gulf of Mexico, what begins as a supposed COVID outbreak quickly reveals itself as a smokescreen for something far more sinister. With communications severed and senior crew taken hostage, Dakota must rally a small band of allies to stop the hijackers before they turn the ship into a floating weapon.
Gripping and grounded, The Hijacking is a high-stakes thriller that blends intelligence work, covert action, and the quiet heroism of ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances.
£13.99 -
Teacher, Where Are You?
I am mad and I so weep,
Teacher is very ill, and I can’t sleep.
I’m holding close my cuddly toy,
‘Cause teacher kissed it and sent me joy.On an emotional evening at the seaside, Inge took a small notebook and wrote down this story. In this book, she says farewell to her pupils, and they say farewell to her. The loss of a grandparent, mother, brother, or sister has been the theme of many nursery books, but she couldn’t find any story about a teacher or colleague who suddenly fades away.
Talking (or learning to talk) about death with young children should be done in a natural way. Inge hoped that her story would be an eye-opener in that process. Teacher, Where Are You? should be present in every primary school, every palliative care unit, medical waiting rooms, and every family.
Inge liked to make themes such as illness, loss, and mourning open for discussion and offer guidance to those who might need it.
£11.99
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