Perestroika
Christi
John Hands |
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Synopsis
The conflicting secret missions of a private secretary
to the Pope and a senior KGB officer reveal the clandestine
struggle between the Vatican and the Kremlin for the soul
of Russia; it predicted in uncanny detail the collapse of
the Soviet Union.
John
Hands' fast moving first novel explores the penultimate
battle, fought with dastardly and Machievellian brio...read
this clever and vivid book
George Bull
SUNDAY TIMES
I
could not put it down...an elaborately crafted plot leads
to a surprise outcome
Norman Stone
GUARDIAN Books of the Year
Genuinely
scary, exciting, well plotted
Harriet Waugh
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH |
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Darkness
at Dawn
John Hands
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Synopsis
An undercover agent is torn between love and fear when the
collapse of communism unleashes a militant nationalism that
threatens to plunge former Soviet republics into ethnic
warfare
Hums
with the realism of tomorrow's headlines and the suspense
is as sharp as a scalpel
Michael Hartland
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Well
researched, compellingly plausible...the climax is explosive
Askold Kruschelnycky
THE EUROPEAN
The
suspense is sustained to the very last page
Mary Dejevsky
THE INDEPENDENT
The
author's artistry means that the book succeeds not only
at the adventure tale level — gripping as the plot
line is — but more profoundly...A moving, remarkable
book
Vera Rich
THE TABLET |
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Brutal
Fantasies
John Hands
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Synopsis
A CIA officer must choose between the most precious
thing in his life and his own redemption when his quest
for a terrorist confronts him with the truths of his own
past.
This
has to be the best reading bargain in the business…
A top CIA agent, John Darcy, quickly brought to life with
the kind of details that only an artist would include, is
forced to take independent action when a ghost from his
own past combines with an act of horrific destruction
Editorial Review
AMAZON.COM
Excellent.
A psychological thriller about the compromised soul of the
secret agent... The character of John Darcy is as convincing
as any I have encountered in espionage fiction...Hands builds
and holds a palpable sense of tension that has all the drama
and intimacy of good theatre. The achingly tantalizing crawl
towards the climax is a masterpiece of suspense
Peter Millar
THE TIMES
Hands
creates a real depth of feeling between the central figures
in one of the year's best espionage novels
Michael Hartland
DAILY TELEGRAPH
This
book is not merely a thriller. It is a novel of great profundity...
One of the best novels I have read for a very long time.
It deserves not only to become a best seller on its own
merits, but also because it will promote greater understanding
of the best and worst of humanity
Jonathan Kemp
CATHOLIC HERALD |
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Uncut
Diamonds: A Selection of New Writing
Maggie
Hamand (editor) |
| |
Synopsis
These vibrant, original stories showcase the huge diversity
of new writing talent in contemporary London. They include
an incident in a women’s prison; a spiritual experience
in a motorway service station; the thoughts of an immigrant
cleaning houses; a child's eye view of growing up in sixties
Britain, and a lyrical West Indian love story.
Unusual and sometimes challenging, this collection gives voice
to writers whose experiences are critical to an understanding
of contemporary life in the UK, yet which often remain hidden
from view. |
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The
rocket man
Maggie Hamand
|
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Old
School Ties
Kate Harrison |
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Synopsis
Friends - and enemies - reunited! They say your school days
are the best days of your life and Tracey Mortimer would agree.
Sixteen years ago she ruled! She was the most popular girl
in school, had her own gang and was dating the cutest guy
in her year. Now she's 32, stuck in a dull marriage that's
only tolerable because her philandering builder husband is
rarely at home. And though Tracey loves her two kids, a daily
diet of alphabetti spaghetti and the Tweenies, isn't exactly
thrilling...Then Tracey spots an ad from a TV company wanting
to make a reality-style show on a perfect school reunion.
She jumps at the chance to relive the 'good old days'. Only
some of Tracey's classmates don't remember their schooldays
as fondly...Suzanne Sharp is more interested in revenge than
a reunion. Tracey made her teenage years a misery and what
better way to lay the past to rest than to get payback on
national television. Especially as there are a few old school
secrets that Tracey probably wouldn't want broadcast on national
TV, not least of which is Tracey's affair with her old form
tutor... |
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The
Starter Marriage
Kate Harrison |
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Synopsis
Tess Leonard thought matrimony was for life, but her husband
has decided that their marriage is the relationship equivalent
of a starter home: cramped, claustrophobic and something he's
definitely outgrown. Now, at thirty-five, Tess is in the biggest
mess of her life. Known to all her friends as 'Tip Top Tess'
because of her dogged pursuit of the perfect home, the perfect
marriage and the perfect career, she's now a candidate for
How Clean Is Your House? And it's all because Barney has walked
out. But there's a life raft on the horizon: The Divorce Survival
Class. It may be uncomfortable, overcrowded and nearly sinking
under the weight of excess baggage, but it's a boot-camp for
the broken-hearted. Over eight weeks, Tess and her battle-weary
classmates will lay bare the darkest secrets of their failed
marriages - from the thrills of a threesome to the monotony
of monogamy. And course leader William, an alchemist for the
unloved and rejected, will turn their lives around in truly
spectacular style... THE STARTER MARRIAGE is a delightfully
bittersweet comedy of marriage, mistakes and moving on, from
Kate Harrison. |
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Let
There be Blood
Jane Jakeman |
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Synopsis
'Let There Be Blood' is the first of the Malfine trilogy.
Ambrose Malfine, a Byronic character, has returned from fighting
for liberty in the Greek War of Independence, where he was
badly wounded. Scarred physically and psychologically, he
retreats to his country mansion of Malfine, where he opts
out of society. His only companion is Belos, a former actor
whom he saved from starvation in Greece. The murder of two
farmers brings Ambrose back into contact with local people,
and he is forced to act to save a gypsy family from persecution
and then to unravel the mystery of the murders. During the
course of this he is powerfully attracted by Elisabeth Anstruther,
a governess with a mysterious background that has somehow
involved her in the crimes. |
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In
the Kingdom of Mists
Jane Jakeman
|
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Synopsis
London, 1900: while Monet paints the wintry mists over the
Thames, the bodies of two young women are dragged from its
murky depths arousing fears of a return of Jack the Ripper
By now a celebrated and successful artist - despite the controversy
stirred up by the Impressionist movement - in the early months
of the new century, Monet returned to London to paint his
famous Thames series. Prompted by memories of an earlier visit
in 1870, the old man recalls his youthful struggles, his beloved
first wife Camille and his scandalous relationship with Alice
Hoschede. And now, in a frenzy of creative activity he paints
the haunting canvases that act as a backdrop to a series of
grizzly, psychopathic killings... |
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Death
at Versailles
Jane Jakeman
|
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Synopsis
After her successful prosecution of a powerful gangster in
the south of France, examining magistrate Cecile Galant has
been transferred to Versailles for her own protection. The
workload is heavy: an aristocrat accused of shoplifting, a
girl who has gone missing and a strange case in the grounds
of Versailles |
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Bluethroat
Morning
Jacqui
Lofthouse |
|
Synopsis
Alison Bliss, world-famous model and author of "Sweet
Susan", walks into the sea on a "bluethroat morning"
and becomes a greater icon in death than in life. However,
six years later when her husband Harry returns to the site
of her death with 19-year-old Helen, he discovers an unusual
mystery. |
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The
Temple of Hymen
Jacqui
Lofthouse |
|
Synopsis
Jacqui Lofthouse's accomplished first novel, set in a time
of tumult in London, with the anticipation of revolution across
the channel, reveals the diseased underbelly of a duplicitous
society eager to celebrate purity and beauty whilst disguising
corruption behind facades of paint and powder.
In London's Adelphi, during the reign of King George III,
Dr James Graham - quack physician and electricity enthusiast
- opens his Temple to Health and Fertility. His Goddess or
Youth and Health is Emilia Beaumont. She believes herself
to be a Devil Child, the cause of her mother's death and catalyst
of her father's, and enters the Temple to purify herself |
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Boudaries
Road/Een
Stille Verdwijning
Jacqui
Lofthouse |
|
Synopsis
Boundaries Road is a subtle literary thriller, published
in Dutch as Een Stille Verdwijning.
It explores the art of living and loving, motherhood, secrets
and betrayal As
a teenager, Kate wanted to be an artist, living gloriously
and with passion like her school friends Carrie and Seth.
Now she is married to a nice, ordinary man; she is the mother
of a demanding little boy.
When
by chance, on a tube platform, she sees her old friend Carrie,
now a missing person - her life is thrown into turmoil.
She gets in touch with Carrie¹s eccentric parents and
her old lover Seth, now a down-and-out cellist. As she unravels
the mystery of Carrie¹s disappearance, her feelings
for Seth are reawakened. But will she leave her husband
and child for an uncertain life with her teenage sweetheart?
Een
Stille Verdwijning is not only an exciting thriller.
It addresses profound issues: ambition, marriage and motherhood.
Where is true happiness to be found? Is it possible to live
without betraying yourself or others or is betrayal inherent
to adult life? Can we remain faithful to our ideals or should
we be realistic and conform? As in Bluethroat morning,
Lofthouse weaves an intriguing story that seizes the reader
by the throat and does not release until the very end. |
Second
Man on the Rope More Mountain Days with Davie
(1992.)
Ian Mitchell
|
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Review:
"Chris Bonington crossed with James Kelman" (Scotland
on Sunday) |
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|
The
First Munroist, The Reverend A.E. Robertson:
His Life, Munros and Photographs (1993.)
Peter Drummond, Ian
Mitchell |
| |
Review:
"An enjoyable account of a pioneering mountaineer. It
is also social history and if Ernest Press keep producing
work of this standard, we will all be fortunate." Rennie
McOwan, The West Highland Free Press |
| Synopsis:
The Rev. A.E. Robertson, the first ascender of all the Munros,
was fortunate indeed. In his stravaiging through the Scottish
hills he found the mountains totally free from the modern
horde but the valleys peopled with hospitable folk in remote
shielings. This book records his awakening to the obsession
with ascending all the Scottish mountains over 3000 feet,
and on to his completion. It also provides insight into
the social conditions and the gulf between the social classes
in the Scottish Highlands around the turn of the century.
Finally it describes AER's contribution to his fellow and
to future mountaineers in his work for the Scottish Rights
of Way Society. AER's own gleeful listing of Old Tracks,
cross-country routes and coffin roads in the North-West
Highlands which has been out of print for many years is
a valuable addition. And throughout there is the interest
of the lavish illustration provided by AER's photographs
- 96 - of people, places and mountains in the Scottish Highlands.
|
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Mountain
Footfalls, A Calendar of the Scottish
Hills (1996.)
Ian Mitchell,
Ross Gillespie (Illustrator) |
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Review:
"A masterpiece of its kind, or indeed of any kind"
(Usual Suspects, BBC Radio) |
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|
The
Mountain Weeps: Mountaineering short
stories., (1997.)
Ian Mitchell
|
Mountain
Outlaw Encounters with Ewan Macphee (2003)
Ian
Mitchell |
|
Review:
"A marvellous oddity - a classic" (Scotland on Sunday) |
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Using
Relaxation for Health & Success
Stress Reducing Techniques for Confidence
and Positive Health
Sallyann
Sheridan, Christina Waugh |
|
Synopsis
Pressure affects everyone, it is vital to relax and this book
demonstrates how to do it with simple relaxation techniques
that can be used at home or at work. It also reveals a beneficial
side to pressure and shows that getting the balance right
can lead to a healthier, more successful life. |
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Writing
Great Copy : Dramatically Increase Your
Response Rate, Sell More of Your Products and Services, Watch
Profits Soar!
Sallyann
Sheridan |
|
Synopsis
"Writing Great Copy" aims to show the reader how
to transform sales material and provides techniques that should
work for any subject matter. Topics include, before you write,
words - the copywriter's tools, reassuring the reader, avoiding
copywriting blunders, editing and improving copy. |
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Getting
More Business : Use Proven Marketing Techniques to Increase
Your Sales and Profits (Small Business S.)
Sallyann
Sheridan |
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Synopsis
This practical guide aims to help the reader to save
time and money by passing on techniques for getting more business.
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