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Forthcoming general publications, arranged chronologically by publication date
Author: Leslie, David
Title: Bible John's Secret Daughter - Murder, Drugs and a Mother's Secret Heartbreak
Pub Date: July 2007
Rights: World All Languages
There was one partner the pretty young women who danced away the 1960s in Glasgow’s Barrowlands were desperate to avoid: Bible John, so named because he quoted scripture to his victims. He was being hunted for three brutal unsolved sex murders, and each of his victims had been picked up after a night at the famous dance hall.
Police were still investigating the first terrifying murder when Hannah Martin was raped on her way home from the Barrowlands. When Bible John struck twice more, Hannah confided to friends that his description matched that of her own attacker.
The next shock came when Hannah discovered she was pregnant. Her distraught father banished her from the family home and forced her to give her child up for adoption.
She would never see her daughter again, but in a bizarre twist three decades later, an investigation into the infamous World’s End murder would result in Hannah’s daughter discovering the identity of the mother she never knew. Tragically, the news came too late for them to be reunited but it set her on a course to uncover the shocking secrets of her mother’s life.
Did Hannah know Bible John? What did Hannah Martin reveal of her baby’s father? How did she then become a member of a multimillion-pound drug-smuggling gang?Why, after expecting a huge bounty, did she die in poverty? The answers are all here in Bible John’s Secret Daughter.
Pagination: 272pp Paperback; ISBN 1845961315 Cost £10.99 True Crime
Author: Cahill, Kevin
Title: Who Owns the World
Pub Date: July 2007
Rights: World ex USA, Can
Who Owns the World is the first ever compilation of landowners and landownership structures in every single one of the world’s 197 states and 66 territories. It covers the history of landownership as far as written history will allow and shows the division of landownership in every region of the globe.
Packed with revelatory information, the book:
• identifies the person who owns the largest proportion of the world’s land;
• provides details of the next 25 top landowners;
• reveals that aristocratic families own over 60 per cent of Europe’s land mass and receive most of the EC’s agricultural subsidy allowance;
• documents the vast landholdings of the world’s four largest religious groups;
• details the landownership structure of all the countries of the British Commonwealth;
• contains a complete survey of the historic record of landownership;
• includes an analysis of the legal structures that have reduced
85 per cent of the earth’s population to serfdom.
This is a breathtaking tome of huge political, economic and social importance. It will revolutionise our understanding of our planet, its history and its land
‘Riveting and completely eye-opening’ – The Bookseller
Pagination: 640pp Paperback; 9781845962036 Cost £12.99 Reference
Author: Howard, Ronnie with Fennell, Tim
Title: Ronnie's Looking for Trouble - The True Story of an Undercover Cop
Pub Date: July 2007
Rights: UK, Eire, ANZ only
Ronnie Howard was a drug dealer, a hitman, a hustler, a bouncer, a thief and a conman. He was very nearly a pimp.
Ronnie was also a copper whose undercover work led to some of the biggest drugs hauls the UK has ever seen. His infiltration of a paedophile network helped avert kidnap and murder while his work on the beat earned him a reputation as one of the UK’s toughest policemen. No one was safe when Ronnie was around. Criminals feared him and so did his fellow officers.
Ronnie’s Looking for Trouble reveals the true story of one man’s battle against crime and an increasingly corrupt law-enforcement service. It is the account of a man who was afraid of nothing and no one. For where there was trouble, there was glory. And Ronnie found plenty of both.
Pagination: 272pp Trade Paperback; 9781845962845 Cost £9.99 True Crime
Author: Dover, Bruce
Title: Rupert Murdoch's Adventures in China
Pub Date: August 2007
Rights: UK and EU, English language Only
In the mid-1990s, amid rumours that he had an agenda to bring down totalitarian regimes, Rupert Murdoch was blackballed by the Chinese authorities and a ‘Murdoch File’ was opened by a member of the politburo of the Chinese Communist Party.
Despite this opposition and the fact that from then on every step he made was monitored, Murdoch remained committed to establishing a media presence in China. But convincing the Chinese authorities that he wasn’t a threat was no easy matter. When News Corporation eventually announced a deal with the official organ of the Chinese Communist Party, the People’s Daily, to launch China’s first Joint Venture Internet site, the world’s media interpreted the project as the lifting of the ‘Black Ban’ on Murdoch.
This remarkable book details Murdoch’s many convoluted, money-spinning deals and ventures with high-profile Chinese figures. It is a rollercoaster read that reveals exactly what Murdoch’s dealings cost and what they achieved, and ultimately asks: was it all worth it?
Pagination: 304pp Hardback; 9781845962777 Cost £18.99 Biography/Business
Author: Yates, Yew and O'Mahoney, Bernard
Title: Wild Thing - The True Story of Britian's Rightful Guv'nor
Pub Date: August 2007
Rights: World All Languages
Everybody in the unlicensed fight game knows that one man above all others has the right to be called ‘Guv’nor’ – and that man is Lew ‘Wild Thing’ Yates.
Yates began boxing at the age of six, and as an adult he was ruthless in pursuit of his dream of becoming world heavyweight champion. But when his licence was revoked following an assault on a referee, Yates turned to the murky world of unlicensed boxing.
By day, Yates trained hard in order to become king of the unlicensed ring. By night, he dealt with the gangsters and drug dealers foolish enough to take him on in the clubs where he worked. While he survived being shot at and stabbed, two of his associates were not so lucky. Both were executed, shot through the head at close range. Their murders remain unsolved, but Yates now imparts controversial information about the assassins and reveals why both men were killed.
Wild Thing documents how Yates rose to the top of his bloody profession amid extremely turbulent circumstances in his personal life, which resulted in him raising his three children alone while struggling to make ends meet. Along the way he made many friends, including boxing legend Nigel Benn, as well as enemies, such as international drug trafficker Mickey Green. This is his remarkable story.
Pagination: 272pp Paperback; 1845961641 Cost £10.99 True Crime
Author: Hunter, James
Title: Scottish Exodus - Travels Among a Worldwide Clan
Pub Date: August 2007
Rights: World All Languages
Millions of Scots have left their homeland during the last 400 years. Until now, they have been written about in general terms. Scottish Exodus breaks new ground by taking particular emigrants, drawn from the once-powerful Clan MacLeod, and discovering what happened to them and their families. These people became, among other things, French aristocrats, Polish resistance fighters, Texan ranchers, New Zealand shepherds, Australian goldminers, Aboriginal and African-American activists, Canadian mounted policemen and Confederate rebels. One nineteenth-century MacLeod even went so far as to swap his Gaelic for Arabic and his Christianity for Islam before settling down comfortably in Cairo.
This gripping account of Scotland’s worldwide diaspora is based on unpublished documents, letters and family histories. It is also based on the author’s travels in the company of today’s MacLeods – some of them still in Scotland, others further afield.
Scottish Exodus is a tale of disastrous voyages, famine and dispossession, the hazards of pioneering on faraway frontiers. But it is also the moving story of how people separated from Scotland by hundreds of years and thousands of miles continue to identify with the small country where their journeyings began.
‘Extraordinary . . . no book has gone to these lengths to unpick so many human elements of the diaspora’
– The Herald
‘Whatever your surname or origins, Scottish Exodus is a compelling, thoughtful, witty and beautifully written book. It is Hunter’s best for at least a decade’
– The Scotsman
‘Endlessly fascinating . . . Hunter is at his best when describing the powerful forces in Scotland – hard times, poor land, high rents, rapacious landlords, two-faced clan chiefs, the prospect of better lives’ – Sunday Herald
Pagination: 416pp Paperback; 9781845961169 Cost £7.99 Scottish History
Author:
Royle, Trevor
Title: The Queen's own Highlanders - A Concise History
Pub Date: August 2007
Rights: World All Languages
Created in 1961 as a result of the amalgamation of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders and the Seaforth Highlanders, the Queen’s Own Highlanders embody the history and traditions of some of Scotland’s oldest Highland regiments. Two great Highland families – Cameron of Lochdarroch and Mackenzie of Seaforth – were involved in the formation of the antecedent regiments and their tartans were incorporated in their successor’s uniform.
During its long history, the regiment has served in the Napoleonic wars, the Crimea, the Indian Mutiny, the Boer War and the two World Wars of the twentieth century. After the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the Duke of Wellington specifically mentioned the Cameron Highlanders in his dispatches as a result of the bravery shown by Piper Kenneth Mackay, who left the safety of the regiment’s defensive square to encourage the men by playing the traditional rallying tune ‘Cogadh no Sith’ (War or Peace – the True Gathering of the Clans).
In 1994, the Queen’s Own Highlanders amalgamated with the Gordon Highlanders and in 2006 they became the 4th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. This new account of the regiment is therefore a timely memorial to its long and distinguished history.
– This is the fourth in a series of eight regimental histories by Trevor Royle, following The Royal Scots, The Black Watch and The Royal Highland Fusiliers.
Pagination: 240pp Hardback; ISBN 9781845960926 Cost £12.99 Military History
Author: Johnson, Graham
Title: The Devil - Britain's Most Feared Underworld Taxman
Pub Date: August 2007
Rights: World All Languages
The Devil gives a true snapshot of organised crime in the UK today, revealing the hidden depth and breadth to which it has penetrated society and how it affects all our lives.
Gangster Stephen French stole £20 million from Britain’s biggest drug traffickers during his reign as the underworld’s top narcotics ‘taxman’ – a new form of extortionist who kidnaps drug dealers and forces them to hand over a slice of their profits using torture and extreme violence.
From Sicily to Istanbul, French was feared by those who claim to fear no one. He kidnapped and tortured some of the world’s richest and most ruthless crimelords, using unspeakable acts of evil until they paid up.
French’s other claim to fame is that he was responsible for Curtis Warren’s introduction to the world of crime, forcing him to carry out a burglary at the age of ten. Warren went on to become the wealthiest criminal in British history and French was his top enforcer.
Now a legitimate businessman, French built up an empire worth £7.5 million at its height. Having turned his back on his former life, he is seeking to set the record straight.
Pagination: 240pp Trade Paperback; ISBN 9781845961787 Cost £9.99 True Crime
Author: Purser, John
Title: Scotland's Music- A History of the Traditional and Classical Music of Scotland from Early Twenties to the Present Daay
Pub Date: September 2007
Rights: World All Languages
Scotland’s Music is an all-embracing account of the history of music and musicians in Scotland from the Stone Age to the present day. It encompasses traditional, classical and popular music and places them in their historical contexts, adding vital information to the history of Scotland itself. It is copiously illustrated with examples of music and images of musicians, manuscripts and instruments.
The book builds on its award-winning predecessor of the same name, but this is much more than a second edition, as the text and illustrations have been substantially revised and extended to take account of new discoveries and research. These include the reconstruction of the carnyx and other archaeological finds; further exposure of the musician spies attached to the exiled Mary Queen of Scots; the use of number symbolism by Scottish composers, which includes a direct bearing on the significance of the Darien Scheme; discussion of the work of Cecil Coles, whose last composition was found on his body after his death in the First World War; as well as examinations of many more composers and topics.
Scotland’s Music is the only book which covers the subject comprehensively and does so in the context of Scotland’s history, literature, economy, and painting and architecture. It is an excellent read and a mine of information.
‘Nothing like this cornucopia of discovery, this magesterial survey of a nation’s musical heritage has been attempted, let alone achieved, with such distinction and authority . . . Purser writes with ebullient belief in his subject’
– Scotland on Sunday
‘Anyone interested in any aspect of the nation’s musical heritage will find enquiry and enlightenment in this lavishly illustrated book’ – The Herald
Pagination: 352pp Hardback; ISBN 9781845961602 Cost £30.00 Music
Author: O'Carroll, Gerry
Title: The Sheriff - A Detective's Story
Pub Date: September 2007
Rights: World All Languages
Since Gerry O’Carroll joined Ireland’s Garda in the early 1970s, there has been much bloodshed and plenty of controversy. As one of the force’s most distinguished detective inspectors, he has seen his fair share of both. Following his first posting as an officer on the beat in Rathfarham, Co. Dublin, Gerry spent three decades investigating some of the country’s most high-profile crimes and here he explains the motives behind them and reveals the confessions that led to convictions.
The Kerry Babies case split the nation and Gerry was at the centre of the debate. In The Sheriff, he shares his thoughts on the tragedy, along with his experiences as an officer at the height of the Troubles.
Following his retirement from the force, Gerry has become a popular columnist with the Evening Herald and is in demand on radio and television for his views on crime. He most famously helped Jon Voight to prepare for his performance as an Irish policeman in John Boorman’s The General. The film was based on the life of Martin Cahill, a gangster vigorously pursued by Gerry.
The Sheriff recounts Gerry’s story from his Kerry upbringing as one of a family of fifteen children to his professional success as one of Ireland’s most well-known policemen.
‘Brilliant and revealing’ – Belfast Telegraph
‘A well-told and honest account of the author’s career . . . strongly recommended’ – Ripperologist
Pagination: 352pp Paperback; ISBN 9781845962647 Cost £7.99 Autobiography
Author: MacFarlane, Colin
Title: The Real Gorbals Story
Pub Date: September 2007
Rights: World All Languages
Colin MacFarlane was born in the Gorbals in the 1950s, 20 years after the publication of No Mean City, the classic novel about pre-war life in what was once Glasgow’s most deprived district. He lived in the same street as its fictional ‘razor king’, Johnnie Stark, and subsequently realised that a lot of all the old characters represented in the book were still around as late as the 1960s. Men still wore bunnets and played pitch and toss; women still wore headscarves and treated ‘the steamie’ as their social club. The razor gangs were still running amok, human waste ran down the tenement stairs, and filth, violence, crime, rats, poverty, crumbling slums and drunkenness abounded just like they did in No Mean City.
MacFarlane witnessed the last days of the old Gorbals just as a major regeneration programme began in 1961 and, as a street boy, he had a unique insight into a once great community in rapid decline. He witnessed numerous ‘square goes’, drunken fights, gang battles, police corruption and even the occasional stabbing, slashing and murder. But the Gorbals had another side: one where ordinary hard-working people were trying to survive in what was arguably at one time the most notorious area in the world.
In this engrossing new book, MacFarlane reveals what it was really like to live in the old Gorbals.
Pagination: 240pp Trade Paperback; ISBN 9781845962074 Cost £9.99 Scottish History
Author: Long, Martha
Title: Ma, He Sold Me For a Few Cigarettes
Pub Date: September 2007
Rights: World All Languages
Born to an unmarried teenage mother in the slums of 1950s Dublin, Martha faces an uphill battle from the moment she enters the world.
As her mother moves from man to man, and more children follow, they live hand-to-mouth in squalid, freezing tenements, clothed in rags and forced to beg for food.
Just when it seems life can’t get any worse, her mother meets Jackser, a violent drunk who batters the children, hospitalises her mother and abuses Martha before selling her on to his mates for the price of a pack of cigarettes.
It’s hard to believe the little girl could survive, but Martha is a fighter. A child with an irrepressible spirit and an answer for everyone, she speaks from the heart when she says, ‘Youse won’t get the better of me.’
Martha never stops believing she is worth more than the hand she has been dealt, and her remarkable voice will remain with you long after you’ve finished the last line.
Pagination: 336pp Trade Paperback; ISBN 9781845962791 Cost £9.99 Autobiography
Author: Allison, Hugh G
Title: Culloden Tales - Stories from Scotland’s Most Famous Battlefield
Pub Date: September 2007
Rights: World All Languages
Culloden was the last battle on British soil. It marked the end of clan culture and was the harbinger of the Highland Clearances. It ensured the inevitability of the American Revolution and increased the outpouring of Scots across the globe. It is the only battle that British Army regiments are not permitted to include on their battle-honours; the only battle that Bonnie Prince Charlie ever lost; and the only battle that Cumberland ever won.
Culloden is a battlefield, a graveyard and an iconic site that draws people from all parts of the world. And as they come, they bring with them their stories and their father’s father’s stories. These stories are sometimes haunting, sometimes humorous, but always impressive. The battlefield is a poignant location, resonant with past deeds and emotive memories, and those who work the place are rarely unaffected. Their stories, here too, carry weight, and add to the undeniable reputation of the field.
Hugh G. Allison, who has worked at Culloden for many years, has collected these stories and offers them here as a unique record of the power of the place. There are tales from both before and during the battle, stories from those who visit from all corners of the globe and tales from those who work at Culloden. These stories tell of civil war, of love, of the unexpected and even of the supernatural. They are peopled by the second-sighted, by clan chiefs, by people afflicted by dreams, and by others who have kept family secrets for centuries.
They are tales for you. So here they are, Culloden Tales!
Pagination: 792pp Hardback; ISBN 9781845962395 Cost £9.99 Scottish History
Author: Ardrey, Adam
Title: Finding Merlin - The Truth Behind the Legend
Pub Date: September 2007
Rights: World All Languages
Merlin: the very name invokes intriguing images – magician, wise man, prophet, adviser to Arthur, counsellor of Camelot. The legend is famous but not the truth: that Merlin was a historical figure, a Briton, who hailed not from England or Wales, as traditional wisdom would have it, but from Scotland.
Adam Ardrey brings back to life Merlin’s role in the cataclysmic battles between reason and religion of sixth-century Britain – battles which Merlin would ultimately lose. From the time of his death up until the present day, historical records relating to Merlin have been altered, his true provenance and importance obscured and his name changed to mean ‘Madman’. The same fate awaited Merlin’s twin sister, Langoureth, as intelligent and powerful as her brother, but, as a woman, a greater threat to the power of church and state. Languoreth’s existence was all but obliterated and her story lost – until now.
Finding Merlin uncovers new evidence and re-examines the old. The places where Merlin was born, lived, died and was buried are identified, as well as the people surrounding him – his nemesis Mungo and his friend the hero Arthur. In this impressively well-researched and accessibly written book, Merlin walks from the pages of legend into history.
Pagination: 384pp Hardback; ISBN 9781845962487 Cost £12.99 History/mythology
Author: Halperin, Ian
Title: Hollywood Undercover - Revealing the Sordid Secrets of Tinseltown
Pub Date: September 2007
Rights: World All Languages
Ian Halperin is no stranger to undercover investigations. When he posed as a model in 2001 to expose the fashion industry, his resulting exposé, Shut Up and Smile, sent shockwaves through the trade and became an international bestseller.
In Hollywood Undercover, he gives us a unique and scandalous glimpse behind the scenes of the movie business. This time he poses as an aspiring actor and soon finds himself with an agent, a job offer (admittedly in a hardcore porn film) and ultimately a part in The Aviator, directed by Martin Scorcese. In the interim, he is surprised to uncover anti-Semitism in Hollywood; infiltrates the Church of Scientology, whose celebrity stable includes Tom Cruise and John Travolta; and meets numerous A-listers, including Brad Pitt, Barbra Streisand and Leonardo DiCaprio, who give him the inside track on what life in Hollywood is really like.
Hollywood Undercover is a rollicking, name-dropping, often hilarious insider’s chronicle from a man who accidentally became a movie star.
Pagination: 288pp Hardback; ISBN 9781845962661 Cost £12.99 Film/memoir
Author: English, T.J
Title: The Havana Mob: Gangsters, Gamblers, Showgirls and Revolutionaries in 1950s Cuba
Pub Date: September 2007
Rights: UK C/wealth ex Canada (English Language only)
Throughout the 1950s, as the Cuban people laboured under a violently repressive regime, in Havana the Mob-financed revelry never stopped. Tourists from around the world flooded in to gamble, go to the racetrack, see an elaborate floorshow at the Tropicana, hear some of the hottest music around and perhaps partake in the kinky sexual activities that flourished on the fringe of the most colourful and exciting nightlife scene of the twentieth century.
It may have seemed like fun and games, but for the Havana Mob it was a deadly serious business. Led by Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano – and with the full compliance of President Fulgencio Batista – the Mob set out to create a financial empire that would rival the ‘glory days’ of Prohibition in the US.
For a time, the plan seemed to be succeeding beyond their wildest dreams, but they were sowing the seeds of their own demise. Behind the scenes, Fidel Castro was building opposition to what he portrayed as the debauchery and corruption of capitalism run amok in Havana – the result was revolution.
The Havana Mob captures a unique and exotic chapter not only in the history of organised crime but in the history of the United States, and for the first time the story is told through interviews and the first-hand accounts of those who were actually there.
Pagination: 384pp Hardback; ISBN 9781845961923 Cost £17.99 True Crime
Author: Kane, Frank with Tilsley, John
Title: In the Shadow of Papillon:
Seven Years of Hell in Venezuela’s Prison System
Pub Date: October 2007
Rights: World All Languages
Following the collapse of his business and the loss of his home, Frank Kane made a catastrophic decision. In desperation, he agreed to smuggle cocaine out of Venezuela. Almost inevitably, he and his girlfriend, Sam, were caught.
The price they paid was a ten-year sentence in the hell of the overcrowded Venezuelan prison system, notorious for official corruption and abuse, and rife with weapons and gangs. At one point, Frank was held in the remote El Dorado prison, better known for being the one-time home of Henri Charrière, or Papillon. He witnessed countless murders as gang leaders fought for power, and he had to become as ruthless as his fellow inmates in order to survive. In an attempt to dull the reality of the horrendous conditions, he succumbed to drugs.
After enduring years of systematic beatings by the guards and attempts on his life by inmates, Frank suffered more than one breakdown. He lost over four stone and was riddled with disease, but somehow he found the strength within himself to survive and was eventually released in 2004 after serving over seven years of his sentence. During the long walk back from hell, Frank decided to tell his story.
Pagination: 288pp Paperback; ISBN 9781845962517 Cost £7.99 True Crime
Author: Keane, Colm
Title: Padre Pio: The Irish Connection
Pub Date: October 2007
Rights: World All Languages
Stigmatic, mystic, wonder-worker and saint – this book is crammed with miracles and cures attributed to Ireland’s most popular intercessor, Padre Pio. Scientifically inexplicable recoveries from cancer, depression, heart disease, trauma and brain damage are documented. Mystifying revivals from blood clots, strokes, multiple sclerosis and life-threatening viral infections are recounted.
Ordinary men and women describe visions and apparitions resulting in graces and favours being received from this Italian saint. Strange perfumes of roses, incense and tobacco are recalled. Supernormal coincidences are revealed. Early pilgrimages, including trail-breaking journeys to San Giovanni Rotondo by Irish men and women in the 1950s and 1960s, are revisited. The exodus of devotees to his beatification in 1999 and canonisation in 2002 are recorded. Irish people who met him tell their stories.
Colm Keane, award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author, has researched the remarkable phenomenon of Padre Pio’s Irish spiritual children. His work has brought him through all counties of Ireland, into homes and prayer groups that practise devotion to this powerful saint. Using personal testimonies and case histories, he documents the remarkable influence of this complex and intriguing Capuchin saint, who bore the wounds of Christ for half a century until his death in 1968. His compilation of stories makes for riveting reading.
Pagination: 272pp Trade Paperback; ISBN 9781845962852 Cost £9.99 Biography
Author: Royle, Trevor
Title: The Gordon Highlanders: A Concise History
Pub Date: October 2007
Rights: World All Languages
The Gordons recruit from the north-east of Scotland and the regiment’s character has been moulded by men from the farming counties of Aberdeenshire, Moray and Nairn. It was raised in 1794 by a local landowner, the Duke of Gordon, whose wife played a major role in attracting recruits by riding through her husband’s estates and offering a guinea and a kiss to each man who enlisted. Originally raised as the 100th Highlanders, it was later renumbered the 92nd Highlanders and, in 1881, was amalgamated with the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment to form the Gordon Highlanders.
Throughout the nineteenth century, the two regiments were in constant service throughout the empire and, in 1879, the 92nd Highlanders were involved in Lord Roberts’s historic march from Kabul to Kandahar during the fighting in Afghanistan. One of the first Victoria Crosses was awarded to a Gordon Highlander, Private Beach, who was decorated for his supreme gallantry while serving in the Crimea in 1854. Another Victoria Cross winner was Major George White (Afghanistan, 1879), who went on to become a field marshal. During the fighting in the north-west frontier of India in 1897, Piper George Findlater was awarded the Victoria Cross for continuing to play his pipes despite being wounded and under heavy enemy fire.
In 1994, the Gordon Highlanders amalgamated with the Queen’s Own Highlanders to form the Highlanders and, in 2006, became the 4th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. This is a celebratory account of the regiment’s long and distinguished history.
– This is the fifth in a series of eight regimental histories by Trevor Royle.
Pagination: 240pp Hardback; ISBN 9781845962708 Cost £12.99 Military History
Author: Marshall, Bruce
Title: Builidng London: The Making of a London Metropolis
Pub Date: October 2007
Rights: UK & C/Wealth exc Canada
The City of London is still confined to a square-mile enclave, as it was when its residents crossed the river to see Shakespeare’s newest plays in Southwark. At that time, up the river there was another city – Westminster, seat of the Royal Court, the Law Courts and Parliament – but within 200 years the two settlements had fused, making London the largest city on earth, the first to reach a population of one million
In the nineteenth century, London’s population grew to six million and the building boom began. Poorer people and dirty industries congregated in the east; the better-off lived and worked in the west. The Victorians built breathtaking edifices, the crown jewel of which was the new Houses of Parliament.
After the destruction of the Second World War, the post-war era saw the arrival of the Modern Movement and the wholesale use of poured concrete, glass and steel. Now in the twenty-first century, London’s architecture is as vibrant as ever – the last ten years have seen the building of many of London’s greatest landmarks, including the Swiss Re headquarters and the London Eye. Building London is a visual record of that remarkable story, detailing how the city was built and introducing the great architects and engineers. We learn about where Londoners lived, worked, shopped and worshipped. Containing rare images from the earliest days of photography as well as evocative photographs from the last 100 years, all of London’s iconic buildings are featured.
Pagination: 304pp Hardback; ISBN 9781845962814 Cost £35.00 Architecture
Author: Leslie, David
Title: Mummy Take Me Home: A Mother's Tug-of-Love Torment
Pub Date: October 2007
Rights: World All Languages
‘Mummy, take me home,’ sobbed little Jasmine Dodds as she was ripped from the arms of her mother. But there was nothing that Morag could do, as a court in Scotland had given custody of the child to her Texan father.
When her parents’ relationship had ended, the couple had fought bitterly about their daughter’s future. Fearing that she would lose her child, Morag fled with Jasmine, only to be hauled back in shackles and incarcerated in a grim American prison. When she was eventually freed, and both mother and daughter were sent back to Scotland, Morag thought her nightmare was over. In reality, it was only beginning.
Back in the UK, every move she made was watched and every mistake recorded. When a new legal challenge was mounted and Jasmine was returned to her father in the US, Morag sank into deep depression and became lost in a haze of booze and drugs. Police cells and hospital beds became her home and the once beautiful and desirable young woman’s life spiralled out of control.
Mummy, Take Me Home is the gripping, disturbing true-life story of a tug of love that no mother should ever face and no child should be forced to endure.
Pagination: 304pp Trade Paperback; ISBN 9781845962296 Cost £9.99 Biography
Author: Mrs Mills
Title: Mrs Mills Solves All Your Problems: Wit and Wisdom from the Sunday Times Agony Diva
Pub Date: October 2007
Rights: World All Languages
In a world gone astray, where courtesy and respect appear to have fallen by the wayside and there is no line that can’t be crossed, Mrs Mills’ weekly column in the Sunday Times is a voice of sanity, providing wise counsel and illuminating advice.
Who else could you ask about:
• whether or not to bother having sex if you are a 42-year-old virgin;
• the propriety of your husband cavorting naked in the hotel swimming pool with one of your best friends;
• why we should eat soup with the bowl tilted away from us;
• what the appropriate response should be while walking in the countryside and chancing upon a lady relieving herself by a tree;
• and what to do when your husband gets inconveniently frisky when your favourite programme appears on the television?
She leads us through the maze of modern manners, explaining the most difficult of issues with her mixture of dazzling wisdom and acerbic wit. The answer to everything you ever wanted to know and much more can be found in this essential collection.
Pagination: 160pp Hardback; ISBN 9781845962869 Cost £9.99 Humour
Author: White, Trevor
Title: Kitchen Con: Writing on the Restaurant Racket
Pub Date: October 2007
Rights: World ex USA & Can
Trevor White’s hilarious account of life as a restaurant critic is also a social history of restaurant criticism and an exposé of the restaurant business. The author reveals how diners are routinely ripped off by self-styled artists and greedy restaurateurs, while arguing that anyone can become a food critic – all you need is a pen and an appetite.
This defiantly populist critique of restaurant culture redefines the dining room as a place in which humans can be greatly satisfied, rather than an artist’s studio. From the world’s first restaurant to the most fashionable kitchens of London, Paris and New York, Kitchen Con is a book-length tribute to dinner but also a scathing attack on gourmet dogma.
Written with style, humour and breathtaking candour, Kitchen Con lifts the lid on the culinary cartel in a whirlwind tour of the world’s great restaurants, before turning its attention to the greatest con of all: the author himself. No one is spared in this riveting tale of life at the heart of the restaurant racket.
Pagination: 272pp Paperback; ISBN 9781845962654 Cost £7.99 Food & Drink
Author: De Vries, Jan
Title: Emotional Healing: Homeopathic Solutions for a Stress-Free Life
Pub Date: November 2007
Rights: World All Languages
In Emotional Healing, world-renowned alternative health expert Jan de Vries turns his attention to the myriad mental and emotional conditions that he has seen dramatically increase amongst his patients in recent years.
This important new addition to the Jan de Vries Healthcare series offers practical advice on how to cope with the emotional effects of unhappy relationships and broken marriages, suggests ways of eradicating depression and suicidal thoughts, reveals how to combat feelings of resentment and jealousy, and advises on how to avoid the health pitfalls linked to modern working life, such as stress and anxiety.
The book pinpoints effective ways in which to overcome feelings of guilt and trauma that arise from unfortunate situations such as road accidents. It also explores the wealth of complex emotions related to degenerative diseases, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy, and offers helpful tips on how to cope at such times.
Emotional Healing is an essential handbook for those of us who are emotionally and mentally affected by the many pressures of life in the twenty-first century. It will lift spirits and bring some positivity back into the lives of those who may have started to give up hope.
Pagination: 240pp Paperback; ISBN 9781845962715 Cost £7.99 Health
Author: Hambleton, Georgina
Title: Christy Brown: The Life That Inspired my Left Foot
Pub Date: November 2007
Rights: World All Languages
Christy Brown was severely disabled by cerebral palsy from birth and unable to use any part of his body apart from his left foot. Doctors said he was a mental defective and that he would never be able to lead any kind of normal life; Christy proved them wrong.
This is the first authorised biography of Christy Brown, written with the help and support of his surviving family members and artists who knew him well. It tells the astonishing story of Christy’s struggle with his disability and his art, beginning with his mother teaching him to read and write using chalk on the worn floor of their small family home, to the publication of his poetry, short stories and his memoir in 1954, and then his bestselling novel Down All the Days, described by the Irish Times as ‘the most important novel since Ulysses’. His story is an inspiration, proving that an individual with hope and determination may overcome great odds.
Also covered is the production and success of the film My Left Foot, using interviews with artists who worked with Daniel Day-Lewis on set. Published to coincide with what would have been Christy’s 75th birthday in 2007, and using his unpublished letters and poems, this book marks his importance as a writer and celebrates his indomitable spirit.
Pagination: 272pp Hardback; ISBN 9781845962807 Cost £15.99 Biography