I would guess that I’ve been at it for more than twenty years. It started as a result of wanting to let the mother of a fallen soldier know what happened to her son, as well as where his death took place. She and I had been in contact over the years, during which she asked quite a few questions; so, I began writing it all down. I may have been better served if I had pushed my memories of Vietnam off into the ditch alongside the road traveled and driven on without looking back. In the long run, I believe it has been therapeutic. Therefore, worth the time I put into writing it all down. We lived, and fought as a unit, covering each other’s backs. Most came home to tell their own stories, many didn’t.

    There are some memories labelled 'Look at', and others 'Leave well alone'...Emily Smith was held in a prison of fear for ten years. When she was four, her father left and a new man was brought into her life. He loved her, he kept telling her so, but the emotional and physical abuse she suffered at his hands were a daily nightmare. Until one day, after he crept into her bedroom, her life became unbearable.Emily found she was different in another way as her autism became more noticeable and punishments for her 'abnormal' behaviour more severe. Astonishingly, she managed to escape her home of hell, where she was abused right in front of her mother. Emily determinedly gained a university place and emerged triumphant with a new life and family in Ireland, desperate to treat her daughter, so similar to her, to a different life.Heartbreakingly true, Silent Child is a testament to Emily's strength as she sheds light on rampant abuse still happening today. Powerful and shocking, sharing her story means she finally has a voice to say: enough.

    In Bergen-Belsen concentration camp he survived the inhuman brutality of the SS guards, the ravages of near starvation, disease, and squalor. All but one of his family died there, his mother losing her life on the very day the British finally marched into the camp. Discovered by a Red Cross nurse who described him as ‘an enchanting scrap of humanity’, Zoltan was brought to Ireland and adopted by one of the liberators, Dr Bob Collis, who raised him as his own son on Ireland’s east coast. Now aged 65, Zoltan is ready to speak. His story is one of deepest pain and greatest joy. Zoltan tells how he lost one family and found another; of how, escaping from the ruins of a broken Europe, he was able to build himself a life – a life he may never have had.

    He is a gentle giant of a man, who promises Susan the world.Two years later they throw in their jobs, marry and sell everything they own, embarking on an incredible adventure, to start a new life in the romantic city of Granada, where they learn Spanish and enjoy too much tapas. In love, and enthralled by the splendour of a European springtime, the pair treasure every moment together.Until a shocking series of events alters everything.Susan Francis' memoir is riveting and remarkably honest and Susan Duncan said it was fearless and raw and an amazing read.

    The smells, the noise and the speed were all there for me to experience. It was like a massive injection in my head and it just blew my mind. I knew within seconds that I was going to be a TT racer. I didn’t know how or what I was going to have to do to achieve this, and my dad wasn’t going to be keen. Everyone around me was aware of the dangers, but from that moment I knew I had to do it.’ John McGuinness is one of the all-time giants of road racing, with a huge host of victories to his name. But his easy humour and down-to-earth attitude off the bike have always kept people guessing: what’s the truth about the man inside the helmet, that has kept him at the top of such a sport for over 20 years?His autobiography tells the whole story, from his humble beginnings in Morecambe and getting his first bike at the age of 3, to working as a bricklayer and cockle fisherman before deciding to follow his dream, and finally to his many victories in the most dangerous sporting event on the planet. He tells of what it takes to be a champion in such an exacting sport, and to keep winning even though all logic tells you to stop – and when so many of your fellow racers are paying the ultimate price for doing it. This thrilling autobiography gets into the head of the man who stares death in the face, and doesn’t even flinch.

    Among the stories is the remarkable transformation of nine year old Sarah, who comes into Becky’s life when she is beaten half to death by her mother’s violent boyfriend. Then there’s Liam, a tall and gangly young teen who has cut himself off from the world after being thrown out of home by his drug-addicted mother when he was just ten years old. Becky also tells the story of Jade and Jasmine, toddler twins who had been locked in a freezing, bare room for weeks on end, with just one filthy blanket to share. Sometimes these children are so vulnerable it becomes a situation of life and death, and Becky has been there and taken them to a place of safety. Although some of the stories are at times heartbreaking, Becky’s determination that no child should be forgotten makes this remarkable book an unforgettable and inspiring read.

    They said it couldn't be done, but somehow Alex Bell has managed to adopt and raise a family of children with special needs.

    With a growing media profile, thanks to his appearances on Question Time and an acclaimed documentary on racism in football, there were plenty of other opportunities, but he was determined to give it another go. Initially signing for York City before moving to Northampton Town, Carlisle was soon back in the thick of the action. As the events of the year unfolded, Carlisle looked back at his career, from his early days playing for England Under-21s, through career-threatening injuries and a battle with alcohol problems, to a late arrival at the top level with Burnley. As chairman of the PFA, Carlisle is a much-respected figure in the game; his raw honesty and penetrating insights will make readers view the game, and those who play it, in a whole new light.

    Overpaid. Ungrateful. Removed from reality. These words are often used to describe modern day footballers. None of them apply to Jon Parkin. The South Yorkshire boy has seen and done it all in a footballing life that peaked with promotion to the Premier League and plummeted to the National League North, taking in spells with no fewer than 14 different clubs. His story is one of a natural goalscorer whose talent is always in demand. His unconventional frame and liking for a lager or ten meant pre-season was always a struggle. His straight-talking style and knack of finding himself in trouble resulted in countless bust-ups with managers. But when patience, cash or contracts ran out, there was always another club ready to take a chance on him. Along the way there have been battles with booze, betting and depression. Marital breakdown and brushes with the law didn’t help, while thousands of motorway miles were covered in a bid to stay in touch with his Barnsley roots and his beloved son. There’s also been plenty of mischief. One holidaymaker in Magaluf won’t easily forget what she found in Parkin’s bath while there’s a golf towel in a hospital car park that nobody would want to find. FEED THE BEAST will feed your curiosity about the real life of a footballer.

    Mostly from the USA and UK, they bring into sharp focus the extent of the abuse of our critical life-saving services.With cartoons to depict calls and hyperlinks to take the reader to the original audio (some of them released in the public domain by the police and ambulance services in order to show the world how badly a minority of individuals will misuse valuable resources), this book promises to amuse and shock every right-minded person who understands what these services are here for.The author and illustrator are professional front line paramedics, so they know a thing or two about the subject; and from calls to the police for directions to 999 rants about the lack of buses, they have experienced their fair share of such stupidity.You won't believe some of the calls that have been made in the name of personal crisis. You simply won't believe what some people think is an emergency!

    The Liverpool band’s first three singles shot to the top of the UK charts and spawned a multi-million selling album in the mid-eighties. It was a thrilling rock’n’roll ride for ‘Nasher’, a lad from a council house barely out of his teens. But the dream didn’t last. Aged just 27, he found himself near homeless and on the dole. One of ‘The Lads’ no more.Now, 30 years on from the band’s formation, Nasher takes us back on a colourful journey to Hollywood and beyond. What price fame? It’s time to tell the real story.

    I hurled myself through the doorway and into the room. I didn’t look back.”Caught in an Ecuador hotel room with 8kg of cocaine, Pieter Tritton was no mule or dupe. He had planned and organised everything. The consequence: a 12-year sentence inside one of the world’s deadliest prison systems, where gun fights, executions and riots are a part of everyday life. As a Brit banged up abroad, Pieter had to learn how to survive – and fast – because one wrong move would mean death.This is the insider account of what it’s like to live in a place worse than hell and come out a changed man on the other side.

    The result is "To the End of June," an unforgettable portrait that takes us deep inside the lives of foster children at the critical points in their search for a stable, loving family.The book mirrors the life cycle of a foster child and so begins with the removal of babies and kids from birth families. There's a teenage birth mother in Texas who signs away her parental rights on a napkin only to later reconsider, crushing the hopes of her baby's adoptive parents. Beam then paints an unprecedented portrait of the intricacies of growing up in the system--the back-and-forth with agencies, the shuffling between pre-adoptive homes and group homes, the emotionally charged tug of prospective adoptive parents and the fundamental pull of birth parents. And then what happens as these system-reared kids become adults? Beam closely follows a group of teenagers in New York who are grappling with what aging out will mean for them and meets a woman who has parented eleven kids from the system, almost all over the age of eighteen, and all still in desperate need of a sense of home and belonging.Focusing intensely on a few foster families who are deeply invested in the system's success, "To the End of June" is essential for humanizing and challenging a broken system, while at the same time it is a tribute to resiliency and offers hope for real change.

    Families often enter into this experience with high expectations for their child and for themselves but are broadsided by shattered assumptions. This book addresses the reality of those unmet expectations and offers validation and solutions for the challenges of parenting deeply traumatized and emotionally disturbed children.

    Following her first tentative approach to her local Court Appointed Special Advocates program to her more determined efforts, we get an insider's glimpse on this hidden world and learn what it takes to ensure that America's most vulnerable citizens are treated with care and respect. Courter's story is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, and is an inspiration for anyone who has ever looked up from a newspaper and wondered, "What can I do to help?"