Imaginary Order

Mothers: for nine months we are one, yet they remain a part of us, not apart from us, forever.

Told through the eyes of her daughter, Nani, Imaginary Order is the story of a mother’s psychological struggle to regain her life after a near fatal-accident. Their journey together, first to Switzerland, then Italy through to Amsterdam morphs into a redeeming story of self-discovery, independence, and the inevitable severing of the eternal child who hides within us all. 

In Green Pastures

In 1917, war rages on in Belgium and France, and German bombs fall on East London. Two sisters, Florence and Nell, living in Stratford, arrange to leave the city for the tranquillity of the North Essex countryside.

For Florence Mundy, fleeing personal demons and the imminent return of Harry, departure from London cannot come soon enough.

Nell Ashford has the safety of her five children on her mind while George is away at the Front.

In Halstead, lying peacefully in the Colne Valley, they find new challenges, friendship and pain as well as personal fulfilment. Florence discovers salvation and hard work in the newly formed Women’s Land Army while Nell takes on the role of breadwinner to her family.

But they cannot escape the consequences of the Great War and the arrival of German Prisoners of War changes the dynamics of Halstead life and Florence’s future prospects as the armistice approaches.

In Search of a True World View

Will utopian teachings and totalitarian regimes shape the future of humanity? Ronald Fagerfjäll, nestor among Sweden’s financial journalists, does not believe that at all. Religions only reflect a bygone era when men guarded herds of cattle and young women became barter for creating bonds between clans. And totalitarian regimes were formerly the general norm because something better had yet to be invented. An infallible leader quickly stifles the ability of his subjects to solve problems.

The obsolete is cleared out as economic, technological, and cultural evolution continues relentlessly, driven by millions of change projects and billions of free citizens. In knowledge economies, neither feverish fantasies nor feudal structures fit in. We cannot know our future with any certainty, but still, we create it ourselves by solving one concrete problem after another.

What does an evidence-based history of humanity look like? Our biological development was first and foremost a result of a fierce struggle for survival higher up in the food chain, first as scavengers and then as hunters. It required ever better ability to cooperate as well as constant development of weapons and tools. The fact that some 40 ice ages and countless volcanic winters passed during millions of years pushed the early people close to extinction and accelerated cultural development.

From this eye of the needle came Homo Sapiens, a species which could meet the threat from nature with innovations, stories, and cultures. Fagerfjäll has been working on his history book for four decades, but it is only now, when researchers have been able to take a closer look at both the life itself and the history of the planet, that the tale has been completed.

For anyone who doubts humanity’s ability to deal with today’s problems, this is a vaccination against pessimism.

Inciting Change

Whilst being homeless for two years and living on the peripherals of society, many an hour was contemplated to realise what is paramount in one’s life. Together, with the support and help from specialised agencies, I now have been housed and working for 13 years.

Eternally grateful for prayers answered, I hope that through the sharing of my words, others can gain insight and inspiration from a different world of thought and experience. It is hoped that the reader may realise that “coupled with consistency, the right support, love, and timely opportunities, one can conquer adversity!”

To those currently struggling with adversity in their lives, whatever their circumstances may be, I sincerely pray and hope for a better tomorrow. I regained my faith in God and humanity and pray you do too. If my words have by some measure helped in the process, I am humbled.

Infiniti

Like many other books, this book is about a journey. But unlike other books, the destination of the journey is the point where the parallel lines meet. The narrator is locked inside the book. The only way he can get out of it is by persuading one of the other characters in the book to finish off the writing process for him. But before he can do this, he has to make a journey.

On his travels, there are a number of waypoints where he must stop and collect materials which are pasted into the book. When the book is completed, he can leave the book by delivering it to the individual whom he will meet at the point where the parallel lines meet.

This journey, which is accomplished across his lifetime, takes him from the birth of Christ to the near future, with the author bending time by complex double time schemes, riddles and mathematical formulae. Every waypoint appears incredible at first, but we are in the world of weaving narrative into fiction but not fantasy. Every one of the waypoints is historical fact.

There is no trickery. The narrator does indeed take us to the point where the parallel lines meet. It had been staring at us in the face all along.

Insanitus

Make it to resemble a man

Sans emotions of any kind

Ignorant of pain and pleasure

Cold: bereft of heart and soul

One to kill at my command.

From  ‘PANDORA’

Isaiah’s Mountain

May 1901. Jo stands alone, ready to meet her fate, as British soldiers come thundering up the dusty track of her farm. She has not raised a white flag, it is pointless; the British are burning homesteads to the ground. Choked by the acrid smell of farmlands and livestock, blazing in the valley, Jo struggles to find her voice and the words she needs to save her home.

A strange twist of events transports Jo back to a time when, as a young teacher in the tiny Karoo town of Kweek Valley, she was drawn into the troubled world of a boy named Lukas Bester. A time past when nothing was as simple as it seemed and the truth lay silent and festering beneath the surface of the pious community. A time when she was Joanna Shepherd, an entirely different person…

If she is to survive, Jo has to find the words which uncover the truth as she navigates her way through grief, betrayal and the violence of war.

It's About the Living

Every reader becomes a part of this story. Charles Benford is a very ordinary man who finds himself called upon to make the kind of choices he is not equipped to make, choices that nobody should ever have to make.

Read it and perhaps think how you would have done things better or just differently given the time scales involved. Or become one of any number of the people who occupy the centre stage of the book for a chapter or two. Perhaps it is a memorable character; someone easy to recognise as part of ourselves or someone we know. Experience their fears and emotions as they flit across the pages, enduring pain, grief and, for some, death. For others, there is a huge feeling of guilt, mixed oddly with love and happiness.

This book will leave you intrigued and will make you want answers. But most of all, it will make you think.

Joint Enterprise

On a winter’s night, in a grubby alleyway, in a northern town, Josh, a 17-year-old A Level student, is found stabbed to death.

The police investigation soon focuses on the four people who were in the alleyway with him that night – Josh’s girlfriend, Naomi and three members of a local gang, involved in drugs and violence.

The three gang members are charged but the police start to look more closely at Naomi. New evidence emerges which seems to point to Naomi.

Could Naomi be complicit with the gang? Is she a victim or a suspect? Or are the police looking in the wrong place? Soon her lawyers become Naomi’s only hope of a life beyond this nightmare.

An emotional exploration of the impact of a murder on family and friends combined with the roller coaster ride of twists and turns which make for a high-profile criminal investigation and trial.

Journey to a New Life

This is a story about the long and traumatic journey of two hard working Irish families at the time of the great famine and potato blight in Ireland in the mid nineteenth century when the country was governed from London and the poor were suffering greatly from starvation and disease.

The Doyle and the Gill families both became victims of the arrogant and ignorant son of the local landlord and magistrate and were forced to leave the land of their birth.

In different ways they suffered on the first sea leg of their respective journeys to the port of Liverpool in England where they became united.

They decided that their eventual destination was Canada and to achieve that dream they had to earn enough money by working for an extended period in Liverpool and industrial Lancashire.

Finally, they travelled by sailing ship to Canada. How would they fare? Would their dream eventually come true?

Jupiter

The story of Isaac Marcu Moritz and the great affliction of his childhood caused by a lightning bolt launched by Jupiter, god of the sky, the father of gods and men, and the patron of Rome. 

The bolt kills his aged mentor whose knowledge of history and languages is transferred to the traumatised mind of the boy. He is plagued throughout his life by visions and torment of Rome’s ancient rulers and gods.

Growing up on the family farm his skill in the capture of flies by hand learned by watching his grandmother’s action while at the packing table leads to success in rural land sales and a posting in a university entomology research program of hand-fly-capture. He establishes Snap-Zap-Solutions with the aim of eradicating the pestilence to improve the human condition.

Will he ever understand himself enough to empathise or forever live in abeyance wondering who or what is really driving his life?

Just Outside This Room

This book of poems was partially written while I was quarantined courtesy of the Covid-19 pandemic in Henan Province, China.
A stay that was prolonged to seven and a half months.
The myth and mystery of human experience evoked by being alone, finding myself on the edge of no return. The vulnerability, sudden solitude, struggles in a lifetime, consolidated in meditations, poems and reflections.
Most of the poems are spiritual in context, some just free thoughts.
My nephew’s take on this book of poetry was: ‘If you thought through the poems, then I will read them.’
I am very thankful and humble for this unexpected and unique opportunity, a journey of lifetime.
I am also looking forward to sharing this adventure in mind and spirit with you.
Michael Hovi