Troubador Publishing strana 11 z 16

Amid the Alien Corn is a vivid, stylishly written memoir that takes its narrator from the bewilderment of childhood and youth towards the unfolding of a mother’s secrets, long suspected from a pervasive sense of something missing at the heart of his family. The book charts the journey from personal and political disorientation in apartheid Cape Town to professional fulfilment in Britain, where the discovery of an identity framed by the author’s commitment to literary study prompts a quest to explore the relationship between the individual and their times. To understand the roots of his mother Ruth’s emotional detachment, the writer pursues the truth about a family entwined within the systems of oppression that devastated the lives of Black Africans and European Jews throughout the 20th century.

Battles, Boudoirs & Bedsports. Glory Beckons, the first of a two-part series, is set against the tumultuous backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars and drawn from real-life accounts. This action-packed character driven epic follows three very different men, whose lives become entwined from the moment Napoleon crowns himself Emperor, to the eve of his ill-fated Russian campaign.Michel Ney: Napoleon’s “Bravest of the Brave”, legendary Marshal of France, with a fiery mistress who follows him through the chaos of war – while harbouring a secret that could bring down the Emperor himself.Sir Robert Wilson: A sharp-elbowed British General and diplomat, whose relentless hatred of Napoleon fuels a dangerous ambition to kill him.Michael Bruce: A dissolute Etonian playboy. Plucked from the erotic pleasures of the Grand Tour and thrown unwillingly into the maelstrom of Europe’s greatest conflict.The fate of Europe is at stake, as well as love, honour and survival, but above all Glory. All dictated by the insatiable ambition, iconoclasm and ego of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The best stories are true stories Tehran, 1969. An Assyrian fortune teller, who is well-known for her accurate predictions, informs a young woman, Mahin, that she would soon meet a young man with blond hair and blue eyes and travel the world. John, a British Engineer, is posted on a temporary assignment to Iran to estimate the costs of one of the Shah’s most prestigious construction projects. Following his arrival, he receives an unexpected invitation to the races where he catches sight of a breathtakingly beautiful young woman sitting with her friends. To his utter astonishment she appears to be pointing at him! Stunned by her appearance, and bewildered by her attention, his heart is in his mouth. What follows is a remarkable true story of love, passion… and good fortune, set in pre-revolution Iran – a country of cosmopolitan glamour that could not be further from the Iran of today.

Love, loss and betrayal; the life of Cecily Neville, Duchess of York and mother of two kings. A beloved daughter who made a great dynastic marriage, Cecily Neville’s future was bright and promising. Changing fortunes saw her live through the Wars of The Roses between the Houses of York and Lancaster. During this time, she watched her husband, and four sons go to their graves amid the violence of fifteenth century England. She dedicated her life to her family and to God, but this was not enough to save them from treason and battle.Cecily was a woman of influence with royal blood, from whom all English and British monarchs now descend. She experienced tumult and heartbreak during her remarkable life but would only find her way back to her family in death.Renowned historical author Toni Mounts says ‘This poignant and well researched book is a delight to read for all lovers of history and family sagas, but keep the tissues handy because only those with the stoniest heart won’t require them. Rachel Di Placito knows her stuff and writes with great charm and deep feeling for her subject. A most enjoyable read.’

How do you identify a psychopath? That’s the question Dr Emilia Dalton, a young psychology academic, and her colleagues are trying to answer. When Emilia’s mentor and the head of the psychopathy lab at Burley Griffin University is murdered, all members of the lab are on high alert. When another member of the lab is murdered, it appears that staff at the lab are being targeted. Emilia is worried about her safety. She is supported by two of her colleagues, Harry Swinburne, and her best friend, Layla Simpson. Emilia and her colleagues suspect that Anders Karlsson, the new, ambitious head of the psychopathy lab, might have a compelling reason for the murders. Can the police find the murderer before anyone else is killed? And do the murders have anything to do with Emilia’s research? When the police fail to track down the murderer, Emilia takes matters into her own hands. The Psychopathy Project is an unforgettable love story, a whodunnit and a whydunnit. It is filled with twists and turns that will leave you reeling.

Mam gone. No Mam. No Mam’s house. Tom’s sister Emmy has almost become one of the family with Rachel, Beth and Alice. But learning-disabled Emmy lives with her fiercely protective mother. A mother who has let her own fears constrain Emmy’s life and made no attempt to prepare for Emmy’s future. Emmy is thirty-six when her mother dies, and their rigid home routine has left her unprepared for change. Walk with Emmy as she takes tentative, scary steps towards independence with support from Rachel and her friends. It takes a while, but Emmy finds that she has a role to play in other people’s lives. And discovers where she truly belongs. The author has a lifetime’s experience working with people like Emmy. He has walked alongside them as they journey towards empowerment and a sense of their own agency. Sometimes, the smallest steps are the most significant.

Southern Tracks, Trails & Twittens is a walkers guide that explores the varied, stunning landscape of southern Sussex. Walks from the High Weald, where the 16th century iron industry ruled the day, along the springline and across the great domes of the South Downs, onward to the western coastal plain. Early settlers tilled the soil, leaving field systems, burial mounds and earthworks. Drovers forged routes into the Wealden forest. Romans built villas and roads that remain to this day. Later invaders constructed castles and churches and took stock of their acquisitions. Settlements, villages and towns evolved. Footpaths, bridleways and deep holloways became the trodden earthen network for people in their workaday lives. Land was farmed, oxen dragged ploughs, shepherds tended sheep; in towns markets traded, pilgrims passed through, rivers were highways, and all were linked by a cat’s cradle of tracks and trails, some of which this book explores. There were rebels too, taking on injustice, creating a stir, Sussex people not being druv – walk with them in this book.

In May 2021, a skeleton is dug up in the grounds of Kirkdale girls’ school Clayton House, resulting in DCI Harry Longbridge reopening three cold cases from the 90s and uncovering far more than he bargained for.At the same time, ex GP and high security patient Charlotte Peterson is in a coma in Bassetlaw hospital, and it was an entrusted delegate who’d failed to complete Charlotte’s kill list who put her there. Unconscious and vulnerable, Charlotte drifts back to her years at Clayton, where, with best friend Emily, a killing seed was sown, but by whom?In 1991 Charlotte Krane was the daughter of affluent parents. Emily Rowlands was certainly not, but despite their different backgrounds they were inseparable. However, it was at Clayton their friendship became truly cemented. Cemented, inextricably linked, and completely unbreakable, because what happened at Clayton House left them no choice . . . until the betrayal. Secrets and lies can’t stay buried forever. Someone at that school planted a seed so evil it created Charlotte’s psychotic personality – and someone with a link to the past knows exactly who that person is…

In a busy café in Hove, a chance meeting brings Matthew and Catherine together for the first time. Matthew is retired and struggling in his quest to become a writer, while Catherine has had a successful career as an actress. Born in Brighton in 1947, Catherine was fascinated from an early age by film stars and yearned to be an actor. An advert in the local paper asked for two local teenage girls to be extras in a film being shot in Brighton. She auditioned and successfully got her chance. From that point on, her acting career blossomed. Catherine’s story fascinates Matthew, not only her film and television roles, but her relationships with her parents, the friendship with her two best friends, and the men she fell in love with throughout her life. From Brighton to London, to Dorset, and finally back to Brighton, covering over seventy years, Catherine is a thrilling story of fulfilling your dreams, friendships, love and loss.

Summer 1930. In a leafy suburb of Torquay of the English Riviera, twin sisters Kitty and Nora Markham enjoy a privileged life. Interested in amateur sleuthing and looking for adventure, they enjoy some success in finding runaway cats and lost purses. However, when a shocking murder is committed a stone’s throw from their home, they decide to do some serious investigating, teaming up with their neighbour Arthur Westacott, son of the Chief Constable, and James Keyse, great-nephew of their housekeeper and newly appointed police constable. It seems like an open and shut case, as a man is immediately arrested and charged with this most deplorable of crimes. However, when Kitty, Nora, Arthur and Jimmy start digging a little deeper, they soon discover a deliciously twisting case that isn’t as clear cut as everything first appears.

As the country reels from the consequences of the coal miners’ strike of the mid-eighties, young Owen Morgan’s life changes significantly due to a violent event. From that moment, his journey raises questions about destiny.While history is plunging from one catastrophe to another, so does Owen’s life, navigating within a complex world. From the end of the Thatcher experiment to the troubles in West Belfast and insurgency in North Africa, Owen’s life meets many challenges as he searches for inner peace. Haunted by the choices he makes and their consequences, he finds profound love in a tragically short-lived relationship. A childhood friend resurfaces to set the conditions for Owen’s atonement in the ancient sands of the Sahel.The story addresses what can be learned from past traumas, exploring themes of love, loyalty, and betrayal, whilst revealing the rawness of human frailty.

A fantastical adventure set deep in the bowels of the Earth in another world, the world of the ancient and long-lived Snurdles, the magical Norwegian Forest Cats, fearsome fire spiders and the six-legged Alogosei.Driven into the wilderness of the high Himalayas by humans, the Snurdles are sought out by King Machitis of Atlantis and taken to that fabled isle to utilise their abilities.Barely escaping Atlantis sinking into the ocean, they undertake an epic and dangerous journey across the sea and Antarctica where they almost perish, until they find an entrance to their hidden world.Since that ancient time the Snurdles have secretly helped humanity with their love and intelligence, trying to save our world so that theirs survives too. They search for children with the potential to save it, all the while preserving literature, art, knowledge and culture in their vast caverns underground.This is a story for all children who worry about the future. There is no need. They are never far from a Snurdle.

Set in smoky London pubs, turf accountants and Newmarket racetrack, Odds & Sods introduces McQueen, an engaging grifter, hell-bent on making a fortune by levelling up the score on bookies for the murder of his beloved grandfather.Gabby, his con-artist partner, gets on board, along with French racehorse trainer, Françoise Toussaint. Having recently fled France after losing her husband in a suspicious shooting, then her stables and horses in an arson attack. Hoping for vengeance she joins forces with McQueen and Gabby, securing the best racehorse for their scam and helps McQueen and his dream team of Cockney rebels and Northern souls prepare a ‘race for revenge’.Was anyone up for it? You bet they were.But McQueen’s meticulous planning doesn’t factor in his old enemy, the underworld gang leader, Edinburgh’s Lennox Docherty.Was Team McQueen ready for Docherty? And was Docherty ready for them? Could anyone back down once they were off?

The Reality of LXVE with Venice is an unflinchingly raw and deeply personal debut memoir by 23-year-old Venice, a Gen Z navigating the aftermath of heartbreak. With her world turned upside down, Venice invites readers of all generations on an intimate journey of rediscovery, peeling back the layers of love, loss, and self-identity. Through heartbreak’s haze, Venice reflects on what it means to truly love and be loved — beyond romantic ideals and filtered social media highlights. With moments that are equal parts vulnerable and empowering, she sifts through emotional wreckage and reclaims her voice. Her introspective narration is refreshingly honest, capturing the turbulent highs and lows of a young woman figuring out life and love in real time. Woven with humor, tenderness, and hard-earned understanding, The Reality of LXVE with Venice is more than a breakup story. It’s a testament to resilience, self-love, and redefining intimacy on your own terms. In a world where love is often presented as picture-perfect, Venice’s story will resonate deeply with those of all ages who have loved and lost — and may even dare to love again.

Alex Feinstein’s life is in free-fall. His career has tanked. His wife has left him. And he’s at war with his 15-year-old son. To cap it all, he’s just had a frightening diagnosis. At the end of his tether - literally - he''s about to hang himself from the living-room ceiling when his distraught ex calls to say their son’s been kidnapped at Glasto. The gang is demanding a hefty ransom, and if the cops get involved, Fred’s toast. But who are these people - and why have they targeted Fred? With renewed sense of purpose and nothing to lose, Alex wriggles out of his makeshift noose and embarks on a frantic mission to rescue the boy - and who knows? - perhaps even himself. The House of the Rising Son is a dark comic odyssey through the converging traumas of mid-life and adolescence, with a fresh look at family dynamics through the post#MeToo male prism.

Not another medical scandal This book details the author’s struggle to regain her life after being permanently damaged by the implantation of surgical mesh. Whilst the horrific details of what happened to her will sometimes be distressing, the story is told with humour and disarming candour. After being gaslighted by her implanting surgeon, Louise concludes the Tension-free Vaginal Tape (TVT) used in an operation to treat pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence needs removing but only then discovers it is meant to be a permanent device. Further explorations lead to the discovery that the MHRA licensed the implant and NICE gave it a Gold Standard Award, on the back of no long-term trials. She learns there is no set protocol for treating women with mesh complications and most consultants who implanted the devices do not have the experience to remove them. Trying to establish a firm diagnosis, she discovers radiographers are not trained in identifying mesh using scanning equipment. Finally, Louise finds a surgeon who agrees to undertake a full removal of her mesh which has eroded and migrated. However, the operation neither resolves her pain nor immune response to the device. She later uncovers a litany of lies and coverups on the part of several health professionals. In desperation she goes to the GMC but will they listen?