A Hitchhiker's Triptych

John Gardiner worked as a journalist and media advisor for more than 40 years. He has travelled extensively across the world throughout his life. His book A Hitchhiker’s Triptych covers six months of his first journey into England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland during the turbulent days of the early 1970s. It was the time of the Troubles in Ireland. The Arabs also were holding the West to ransom with oil embargoes. John wanders head-on into these and other major world issues during his hitchhiking adventures.

His book is a superb exploration of life on the road during the 1970s. How easy it was to hitchhike in those days. Stick out a thumb and land a ride. A Hitchhiker’s Triptych is intriguing. It explores a wanderer’s life during far simpler times. Decades before the internet and instant news feeds. This is a journey pre-digital. A step back in time where adventure is achieved simply by standing beside a highway and sticking out a thumb. Wonders and wisdom found over that next hill.

A House in the Countryside

“Did I want to die with the knowledge that I hadn’t given it my all? No, I did not…”

This is the true story of William Halstead, a carefree and happy guy who succumbed to a horrific, relentless, and sometimes life-threatening gambling addiction. This eventually led him down a dark path towards serious mental health issues. A House in the Countryside is a short but compelling insight into the mind of an addict, the resulting psychological problems, and the impact this is having on many similar lives throughout society  – an awful disease from which happiness can be found again.

A Journey into Sales

-Know and believe in what you are doing or selling.

-You serve the needs of others.

-Sales is serving the unserved.

-Sales is selling whatever is lacking.

-In selling, different is good.

-It requires a lot of faith, self-confidence, willingness and preparation in accordance with the competitive products you are about to present.

-See things objectively.

-Be open-minded and always have the facts.

-Your products or services should make a difference over the competitor’s.

-Be disciplined and detailed, put the customer first, meet the customer on their turf.

-Be inspiring and exceptional in your product knowledge.

-Travel as necessary to perform the sales target.

-Sales is truly a matter of numbers.

A Kiss Under A Kalkan Sunset

A history of bad marriages and relationships can cause barriers to be raised when meeting a member of the opposite sex. Sometimes the ideal partner could be knocking at the door but past mistakes can cause blurred vision and deaf ears to the well-intended gestures of a genuine suitor. Opening up to someone new is difficult when dark shadows of the past hover nearby. Can trust ever be given again to someone new? Wonderful opportunities can arise out of some unexpected situations, and we must be ready to seize upon every one of them but we must also be aware of wolves in sheep’s clothing. True love has a way of finding you, and if you are open to it, you will never look back and will banish the demons of the past forever. They say, “Never judge a book by its cover,” and maybe we shouldn’t judge new potential happiness by a former lover.

A Legend Called Tanniv

England has an abundance of ancient stone circles, and the world is full of stone rings and megalithic places. Places like Stonehenge, The Avebury Rings, Carnac in France, even the newly found Göbeklitepe in Turkey have been discovered in more recent years, but no one knows why or what they were used for.

But what if two boys discover the actual answers to the archaeological questions that have perplexed the world for thousands of years? What if two boys knew all the answers to all the enigmas? Questions that scholars and historians worldwide have been desperately attempting to find for centuries but are largely unaware of what they are used for?

This is a story about how two young boys discovered the hidden secrets of the past and could understand why civilisations and Empires have forged over the past twelve thousand years, only to be lost and forgotten again.

Living in the New Forest in England, two boys discover a hidden stone circle in the countryside: only to find out what they were used for and why they existed; only to find out where they lead to, why they were built in the first place; only to find a closely guarded secret that only a few would know and a long-forgotten past with civilisations that rose to glory then collapsed into the ashes of history.

A sophisticated network of stone circles crisscross the globe, and voices from the past whistle in the wind around our accidental megaliths, waiting to be discovered.

A Lesson in Love

Sarah had bought herself a pub – by herself.

Miles from family and friends Sarah was about to learn what hard work really was, the building had seen better days and she was going to run the business by herself – a bit different to a small takeaway shop in a local suburb of Melbourne. What was she thinking?

Sarah was to find out how this small community pulled together and supported each other through good and bad. 

And how the love of a dog and one very infuriating man would change her world.

A Life of Breath

Jamie is a respiratory doctor working on the front line. After 12 months without catching the illness himself, he finally gets infected from an unlikely source.

He struggles to come to terms with his own first experiences of the breathlessness that has been the focus of his working life. He also has to reflect on his own potential mortality. Neither are a comfortable ride.

He has had a hugely successful 35-year career, which has taken him to the very top of his specialist field. At the same time, we meet the shy, gauche, and naïve first year doctor, who could never imagine, the achievements ahead. We read the disastrous, humorous, and unbelievable escapades, which mould his career, whilst realising that a successful personal life does not necessarily match, that of the career

The author believes the public has fallen out of love with their medical professionals and in writing this part biography, part fictional account of one doctor’s story, he hopes to put this right. You should laugh, cry and cringe in approximately equal doses, but you might not be able to look your own doctor squarely in the eye, with quite the same perspective, again.

A Little Bit of Everything

This is a compact and intriguing collection of mixed genre poetry. As the title suggests, it has “a little bit of everything” within it: happy, sad, horror and fantasy.

Let your imagination get to work, as you immerse yourself in a world of dreams, and possibly even some nightmares.

These poems may alter your perception of the world around you and make you realise that there is always something beneath the surface, or that a shift of perception can breathe new life into an old routine. Perhaps some of these poems may even reflect on your own personal circumstances?

A Little Look at Bottoms

Designer Tom Karen gives us a delightful series of drawings to amuse and inspire young readers. Children love to laugh at bottoms, and with this little book they will go back to their favourites again and again – from giraffes to jellyfish and bumblebees to bears.

A Magic Flight

As a child, Hannah Lethbridge is persistently abused by her self-centred mother. She is assaulted and cheated by a perverted tutor, and eventually collapses dramatically in her doctor’s waiting room. Only after three years’ therapeutic care can she recover her shattered self-confidence sufficiently to negotiate a job with an Edinburgh publisher, and eventually a teaching post in the University of Dundee. There, slowly, she meets and falls deeply in love with an introverted scientist. Her former life, which had wounded her so deeply, is almost forgotten, until her criminal mother appears unannounced on her doorstep, and Hannah’s world is shattered once again. This time, however, she has the support of her lover and her friends, the police and the justice to be found in the courtrooms of the Old Bailey.

A Magical Book of Children's Poems

A Magical Book of Children’s Poems will delight children and make them laugh. The poems are simple and easy to read and understand. They are about everything, from fantasy and fun to nonsense and nature: everything to inspire a child’s imagination.

A Maltese Crossing

After a full life’s hard work, retiring to the Maltese sunshine was supposed to be a relaxing sunset for Rosy’s grandparents, and a great holiday for her. But when a bleach-blonde barmaid from Bradford exploded on the scene, it all got a bit complicated. Rosy and Iain had to learn some tricky local law and intricacies of Maltese life quickly.

This family saga guides the reader across the years, and between the seasides of Lancashire and the Mediterranean, along with plenty of photos to help. A Maltese Crossing won’t make you a lawyer, but it will give you a great virtual adventure on this most enigmatic and fascinating island in the sun. Whether you read it at home, on the plane or on a Maltese beach, you will soak up the feeling, at no risk, unlike our accidental heroes.

Amaze your friends with your new favourite word: ‘usufruct!’ Guidebook, social history, a crime to solve or absolve, and a collection of all-too-realistic characters walking off the page to meet you – a captivating read.