Troubador Publishing strana 15 z 16

Real stories and events from Holocaust mingle with magical symbolism which will encourage children and pupils to think about difficult periods of history.Most children will respond to the idea of being relatively powerless, or having to fit their lives into what can sometimes seem a big, often confusing, messy world controlled by adults. There are moments in history which now must be re-presented. This book shows the power of love and secrets which must be shared and explored between children and adults through powerful storytelling. These stories also challenge many of the misconceptions about the Holocaust.Angel’s Teeth is set in a concentration camp outside Prague, in the former Czechoslovakia. The protagonist, Ruth and her parents will survive the Holocaust. This story shows some of the humanity of some of the Nazi soldiers. In addition, it shows resilience of Jewish people in the darkest times.  It also explains how Ruth’s father, like many Jews, had previously fought for the Germans in the First World War.

A retired GP seeks solace from tragedy by spending time in his holiday lodge on the Suffolk Heritage Coast. He finds refuge in nature. He also finds suspicion, obsession and murder. Dr Max Middleton suffers self-doubt, guilt and anxiety having misdiagnosed a child who dies and neglected his late wife Kathy’s early signs of cancer. He retires to a lodge on the idyllic Suffolk coast where he begins to recover. Then he discovers the body of his holiday-park neighbour Gertrude half-way down the site cliff. The police treat her death as accidental, but from her injuries Max suspects she’s been pushed. He begins to investigate. He begins to obsess. Max spends his time getting to know his neighbours, uncovering their secrets, finding their motives. His obsession and anxiety are compounded as events unfold, but he finds comfort in nature, distraction in the rich birdlife and support from his fully fledged children Greg and Emma. Then everything changes. They are on the hunt for a serial killer, and time is running out. ‘All That Lives Must Die’ is a bright, entertaining thriller. It is intelligent, with a sensitivity to nature that makes beautiful Suffolk as clear and important as a character.’ Leonard Whiting: Golden Globe winning actor and narrator.

JaKe Goes To The Pawlympics tells the story of a disabled dog who has dreams to run as he used to before his accident. Now with only three legs JaKe had given up all hope of running again until his friend Charlie took control of the situation and inspires JaKe to try again, and train.Charlie is a very intelligent Crow. He is JaKe’s best friend but has only one leg himself which makes his landings a little scary. Charlie teaches JaKe that anything is possible, you just have to believe in yourself. As JaKe’s self-appointed trainer, Charlie teaches JaKe to rest but not quit and other important skills like how to deal with bullies.Throughout this heart-warming story of two best friends they show what can be done when you work as a team, demonstrating that dreams can be achieved. This unlikely duo shows the importance of friendship no matter what your differences.

He could juggle with soap and dance on a tightrope. He could make snails faster and outrun his schoolmaster. Like all the characters in the Silly Kids series of rhyming picture books, Clever Trevor lives up to his name. He gets up to all sorts of cheeky things that kids love to hear about, with infectious humour that adults will enjoy too Until, like most children, he tires of being clever and wants to be something else.. Children introduced to Clever Trevor love to read his story again and again. He gives them licence to laugh out loud and an eagerness to read that parents and teachers love. Clever Trevor and Unruly Julie are the first Silly Kids books to launch with lots more on the way to keep them entertained, engaged and educated in a fun way.

Elizabeth Fallon and Isaac Goldman meet by chance in 1970s London. Elizabeth, a Tarot reader, believes she can speak to the dead. Isaac, a rootless dreamer, has written a book. Beguiled by Elizabeth, he asks for her help with questions only the dead can answer. Azazel, a Watcher from an alien race called Nephilim, reveals itself during a terrifying seance, telling Isaac his book is a prophecy. Their lives change forever.Twelve years later, Elizabeth, a SETI astrobiologist, discovers a mysterious signal containing an apocalyptic message from an extraterrestrial civilisation.Isaac, now an archaeologist, is excavating a site in Iraq. One night, he is struck by a vision, a premonition of disaster. Without warning, his excavation is bombed. His team flee for their lives across the Zagros mountains. While they shelter in a cave, Isaac makes a shattering discovery. His world implodes and he disappears.Thirty years later, a documentary film crew are trying to discover what happened to Isaac. Their only surviving witness, Elizabeth Fallon, mysteriously disappears.Dreams of Eden is a compelling and gripping story set in the near future which challenges the perception of human imagination and questions our reality.

John James Conway, an orphan, boarded the R. M. S. Cedric in Queenstown, Ireland in 1907. Turning his back on the land of his birth, John travelled alone in steerage. He prayed that if he could be strong enough to survive the journey’s wretched conditions, he would be rewarded with the promise of a better life in New York City.Seven decades later, Kat Conway, his granddaughter, prays for courage to stand on her own as she boards the QE2. Also alone, she’s in a private room with bath and a porthole. Traveling in the opposite direction, her destination is Southampton, England. Along the way, she is wined, dined, waited on, catered to, entertained and even wooed.In between these two disparate Atlantic crossings, you will be captivated by three generations of Conways. As the author captures the changing times and the changing roles of women, you will be moved. You will cheer for this family, share their pain as they conquer fear, suffer losses and endure both personal and global hardships. But you will also share their bliss and celebrate every success, as you wonder what the next page will bring. This book is a celebration of family.

When John Eccleston’s dad went into care, his childhood home in the Lancashire countryside, Garlick House, was cleared. The contents were shabby; most of them seemed destined for charity shops or the tip. But John, for whom change had come too suddenly, decided to save as much as possible, as if his childhood itself would be lost if he did not. He brought a vanload of things down to his already crowded studio flat in London.Years have passed, John still looks after most of the old treasures that he rescued, though his wife and son aren’t especially interested in them. What do these old things mean to him now? Can he recapture his childhood and the history of his family in these familiar objects and in the stories that they bring back to him? And even if he can, are the things themselves, in the end, just clutter?In this book, written as a guide to his possessions, for the benefit of his teenage son (who will inherit the lot one day), John examines a hundred and one old things. Piece by piece, he recreates a rural childhood.

Taking its title from lines in T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets – “Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind cannot bear very much reality” – this book sets out to expose some of the realities which, at this stage of our evolution, human beings cannot bear to accept. Successive chapters examine rationality, conscience, religion, perception, sexuality, free will, moral responsibility and crime, pointing out the incomprehension which mars our approach to each topic. One of the book’s themes is that we are still, below the surface, a savage species, clinging to our misconceptions because they liberate and justify our cruelty to one another.Despite its deadly serious and controversial approach, the book is enlivened by humour, personal stories, quotes from others and bits of poetry. It is not academic but readily accessible to the general reader. In the last chapter, the author sums up by saying that, although the human species now is what it is, some of us can imagine a better one: “A species that isn’t irrational, ignorant, credulous, uncomprehending, self-defeating, ill at ease with its sexuality, mired in contradictory beliefs, impelled by a savagery let loose by misperception and misunderstanding”, and asks: “Could this imaginary species ever become a real one?”.

In the year 1572 a husband killed his daughter with a poisoned apple intended for his wife. By the legal doctrine of transferred malice, the intent to murder the wife, so that he could be with his mistress, was transferred to the daughter and he was executed. Why was his accomplice, who obtained the poison and advised the husband to use it to murder the wife, allowed to go free? This is a modern-day story of a lawyer’s obsession with a high-end call girl that leads to his trial for murder. A senior detective, a rotten apple in his force, poisons the minds of those around him and is at the heart of this tale of corruption, intrigue and blackmail. Can the lawyer’s trial barrister save him by comparing what he did with the actions of the accomplice who escaped the gallows five centuries ago? Will a rogue investigation expose the real killer? Can a jury be manipulated to reach a verdict with information obtained outside the courtroom instead of the evidence they heard? Can justice prevail when barristers and judges club together to wager bets on the outcomes of their trials?

Quantum physics, prime numbers, Irish mythology, medical ethics, robotics and the rise of AI, geopolitics and alternative history: these are among the subjects that provide the basis for stories in this collection – stories distinguished by a lightness of touch and stylistic confidence. They vary in tone from the quirky, whimsical and surreal to the profound and insightful; and, what’s more, together they display the good doctor’s command of the exacting short story form. As The Docameron’s tales twist and turn, engage and enlighten, they also entertain and – above all – reward repeated reading.

In the Staffordshire village of Hawksmere, Clive Morrison is desperate to end his current failing relationship – especially as he has met someone else. When he returns home from seeing her and finds the police at his house, he can’t believe what they tell him. A body has been found in his garden. When the postmortem confirms murder, he becomes the prime suspect.But did he do it?DI Vic Hardcastle and DS Stuart Young are assigned to the case, but they can’t break Clive’s alibi. Things become even more mysterious when his new partner dies in a frenzied attack at her home. Again, Clive’s story is rock solid.What is going on?Then Clive is discovered, stabbed to death. Vic and Stuart are stunned.Now it looks as though they are dealing with yet another motiveless murder.

The Midhurst Amateur Dramatic Society are putting on a production of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, and Tessa has agreed to play a part. But when she suffers a psychotic episode, Ros, a C-list celebrity and new to the community, takes her place. In this darkly comic tale of psychosis in the Home Counties, the stage is set for a blistering examination of mental illness, how we treat it and why we don’t. While Tessa is sectioned in a secure psychiatric hospital, the relationships in the community unravel, and by the time she’s released, all that we thought we knew, and all of our judgements, are thrown into question. Dim the lights, turn off your phones, settle in as the curtain rises…

She put something smelly behind the telly and rotten fruit in her Uncle’s best suit. Like all the characters in the Silly Kids series of rhyming picture books, Unruly Julie lives up to her name. She gets up to cheeky things kids will love to hear about, with infectious humour that adults will enjoy too. Until, like most children, she tires of being Unruly and wants to be something else. It’s a very silly story with a very clever twist. Children introduced to Unruly Julie love to read her story again and again. She gives them licence to laugh out loud and an eagerness to read that parents and teachers love. Unruly Julie and Clever Trevor are the first Silly Kids books to launch with lots more on the way to keep them entertained, engaged and educated in a fun way.

We all know of Robert the Bruce’s famous victories but, years later, who will bear the brunt of his past actions?Meet Cailean, a rough but loyal highland chief thrust too young into leadership and war. And Alasdair, his brother, a sharp-witted spy. When they meet Sorcha, a naive lesser noble, everything changes. Desire flares as questions about who she is grow. The king is saying nothing, the men following her are saying nothing, and the less said about her brother, the better! Just when things cannot get more complicated, Mordag, the unwanted daughter of a man whose loyalties are dubious, is thrust upon them. Can she really be trusted when she hates them so passionately?For these four individuals, they fight not for glory but for those they love. And to protect them, they must discover the truth of their past and of each other.