After leaving school at 15 in 1950, John Wells began an apprenticeship with one of the country's leading pipe organ builders. On completion of National Service he resumed his career as an organ builder, which took him around the United Kingdom and on several occasions across the Atlantic, allowing him the priceless opportunity to meet and be reconciled with the mother who had left home when he was just six years old. Ultimately John joined the Civil Service, helping to maintain, repair and replace the many organs and pianos in military establishments, prisons, British schools and government offices at home and abroad. In the decade since retirement he has become a specialist in American 'duck stamps' and conservation stamps, a subject in which he has become an acknowledged expert. His first book was an authoritative specialist publication, The History and Local Post of Rattlesnake Island, Lake Erie. This, his life story, is his second.

Lisa Morgan didn't know how strong she was until she lost everything. Following eight exhausting years working a Lisa was burnt out and ready for a new chapter in her life-hopefully one that involved a little romance. In her forties and doubtful of ever finding true love, she meets an exotic African man who promises her happiness and the life she dreams of. Little did Lisa know that this decision would lead to heartache, a torturous legal battle and near bankruptcy. They move to Uganda, but her dreams of a happy marriage soon fade after he takes control of her life-and her life savings. As she uncovers his cruelty, the relationship becomes violent and she seeks help from the police. But not even they can be trusted, and a corrupt legal system pushes her close to death. Alone and penniless, she prepares to leave the country-but how? She is destitute and her legal status is precarious and tied up in bewildering red tape. Trapped in the terrifying depths of a lawless country with court procedures and unruly lawyers to tackle, she finds solace with unlikely strangers and is empowered by the natural beauty of the country that had become a prison. But when tragedy strikes a final blow, Lisa must break a few laws of her own to break free.

You never know when it can happen, love might be right around the corner, down the block or across the aisle from you on your next flight. Stories of how people met are endlessly fascinating and also serve as reminders that we all need to be ready for anything, including meeting the love of your life when least expert it, or, are schlepping the garbage bins to the curb in your old flannel jammies. Composer and beloved songwriter David Friedman has written many a love song but this is his first book on the world’s favorite subject. He embarked on collecting couple’s stories of “How they Met” stories a decade ago when recovering from a breakup as a kind of “heart healing” and therapeutic project. Plus, it can’t hurt to discover how people meet their true loves in real life, right? What Friedman learned was utterly surprising- there was always an element of serendipity and planning had nothing to do with it. Along the way, what started out as a path to moving forward became a mission on matters of the heart. David Friedman has gone all over North America in this study of true romance and talked to people from every walk of life – from devout church goers to same sex couples to celebrities. This inspiring read is wonderfully romantic and also offers much comfort that, even if you are looking for love in all the wrong places, love will find YOU. (When you least expect it!)

How They Met shares moving stories of how Lucie Arnaz met her famous mate, Lawrence Luckinbill and the unexpected story of Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford to name a few.

`Touching, insightful and human - this book demands a social and, above all, a political response' Jon Snow Tamsen Courtenay spent two months speaking to people who live on London's streets, the homeless and the destitute - people who feel they are invisible. With a camera and a cheap audio recorder, she listened as they chronicled their extraordinary lives, now being lived four feet below most Londoners, and she set about documenting their stories, which are transcribed in this book along with intimate photographic portraits. A builder, a soldier, a transgender woman, a child and an elderly couple are among those who describe the events that brought them to the lives they lead now. They speak of childhoods, careers and relationships; their strengths and weaknesses, dreams and regrets; all with humour and a startling honesty. Tamsen's observations and remarkable experiences are threaded throughout. The astonishing people she met changed her for ever, as they became her heroes, people she grew to respect. You don't have to go far to find these homegrown exiles: they're at the bottom of your road. Have you ever wondered how they got there?

Rosemarie Smith has written her autobiography in three parts; Little Molly, Molly II: Am I who I should be? and Molly III: The Untold Story. Having suffered, child abuse she reached a point where she had totally given up on life and felt that the long hard battle to survive just wasn't worth the pain anymore. In Molly III she gives a true account of what it was like suffering severe physical and mental abuse as a child and then to go on suffering throughout most of her life. Just as she had given up on society and every Government body, came a massive break-through and as a result of that, on July 12th 2017, a judge ruled 'life in prison' for her childhood abuser and said, "Rosemarie Smith's statement of facts was `so compelling....' he believed abuser, John Wass had committed every single sexual and indecent act that his victims had given evidence on!

"You're being ridiculous!" contains true stories of my experiences at the mercy of my foster children. I have written about the trials and tribulations of being a foster carer and the love and laughter that this has brought to me over the last six years. The first to arrive were Owen, aged seven and Neil, aged six. I write of the events of their arrival, their likeness to a couple of lion cubs and their irrational inability to agree on who went first or last at anything. A shopping trip that resulted in unattended children being returned to me like lost property. A freezer incident in a supermarket that was nothing short of horrific with a child having to be pulled from a chest freezer. A trip to a soft play centre that can only make you recoil in embarrassment for me. Should I mention the pee wars debacle, a six year olds explanation of mating Turtles and an excruciating tea time conversations? Out of the mouths of babes and you can join with me in my feelings of despair of these moments while also hearing the ringing of the choral tutters in my ears; my description of bystanders who tut their disapproval as if their children would never behave in this way. I continue with the antics of Josh (nine), William (eight), Max (five), Tom (three), Brian (seven) and Kevin (seven). There are stories of Josh's ability to fix my Wi-Fi, Williams comedic skills, Max's desires to be a pirate and Tom's way of saying excuse me that nearly drove me to distraction - Coomee! A painfully long weekend with Brian who spoke as if he was fifty and thought I was obtuse. Then there was Kevin who literally said Kevin-says-no to every question whether his final answer was no or not. Finally, Jamie was five when he came to me and his questions, often anatomical, always posed in the most earnest of fashions but in the most awkward of places and ones that I was always ill prepared for answering. His torturous counting incorrectly to 100 on a car journey. His lack of knowledge and shock at realising that girls don't have a penis and the conversation that then ensued. His swimming pool changing room observation of a furry lady and his earnest description announced to everyone as to how he thought the daddy's seeds get into mummy's tummy; they eat them apparently! Boys will be boys and I loved everyone of them. Combined with these true tales, I have also included the odd bit of slightly more serious text to remind the reader that these children are vulnerable but were also fiercely protected by me under any circumstances and regardless of the volume of choral tutting! No one is left in any doubt about the love, laughter and joy that being a foster carer has brought to me. My joy at having been a part of their lives and my hope that one day they may come back into my life with their own memories.

Wonder Boy is a riveting investigation into the turbulent life of Zappos visionary Tony Hsieh, whose radical business strategies revolutionized both the tech world and corporate culture, based on rigorous research and reporting by two seasoned journalists. Tony Hsieh's first successful venture was in middle school, selling personalized buttons. At Harvard, he made a profit compiling and selling study guides. In 1998, Hsieh sold his first company to Microsoft for $265 million. About a decade later, he sold online shoe empire Zappos to Amazon for $1.2 billion. The secret to his success? Making his employees happy. At its peak, Zappos's employee-friendly culture was so famous across the tech industry that it became one of the hardest companies to get hired at, and CEOs from other companies regularly toured the headquarters. But Hsieh's vision for change didn't stop with corporate culture: Hsieh went on to move Zappos headquarters to Las Vegas and personally funded a nine-figure campaign to revitalize the city's historic downtown area. There, he could be found living in an Airstream and chatting up the locals. But Hsieh's forays into community-revival projects spun out of control as his issues with mental health and addiction ramped up, creating the opportunity for more enablers than friends to stand in his mercurial good graces. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with a wide range of people whose lives Hsieh touched, journalists Angel Au-Yeung and David Jeans craft a rich portrait of a man who was plagued by the pressure to succeed but who never lost his generous spirit.

Not only has Glasgow produced some incredible personalities, it has also been witness to some of the greatest happenings of our times. These outstanding people and epoch-making events are featured in Glasgow: Tales of the City. As a result of painstaking research, some startling new facts have emerged about the life and times of some of the city's most interesting characters. The many individuals documented in this book include the world's greatest pilot, whose many flying feats are still held in great awe today and unlikely ever to be repeated. He was hailed as a hero in America, they gave a him a ticker-tape reception in New York and Hollywood begged him to be a star. More recently, Glasgow was popularised by a TV programme about the city's tough police officer Taggart. The role of the Glasgow detective made Mark McManus one of Scotland's first international TV stars, and Mark's own life story makes equally compelling reading. Before Billy Connolly, Glasgow's greatest-ever comedian was Lex McLean. He smashed all the box-office records in a Glasgow theatre and became a legend in his own lifetime. His story has never before been told in such detail. This is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating studies of Scotland's largest city ever published.

This giant collection includes a huge range of 20th-century first-hand accounts of hauntings, such as the American troops who repeatedly saw the ghosts of a dead platoon of men while on patrol in Vietnam; and the witnessed haunting of a house near Tintagel in Cornwall that led actress Kate Winslet to pull out of buying the property. It covers the full spectrum of credible hauntings, from poltergeists (the noisy, dangerous and frightening spirits that are usually associated with pubescent girls, like the Bell Witch), to phantoms (like the Afrits of Saudi Arabia) and seduction spirits (such as the Lorelei, which have lured German men to death). Also included are the notes of the most famous ghost hunters of the twentieth century such as Hans Holzer, Susy Smith (USA); Harry Price, Jenny Randles (UK); Joyce Zwarycz (Australia), Eric Rosenthal (South Africa), and Hwee Tan (Japan). Plus essays by such names as Robert Graves, Edgar Cayce, and M. R. James outlining their own - often extraordinary - conclusions as to just what ghosts might be; along with a full bibliography and list of useful resources. Praise for MBO Haunted House Stories: 'A first rate list of contributors ... Hair raising!' Time Out 'All we need say is buy it.' Starlog

Twaalf ongelooflike vroue wat ’n verskil maak tussen die bendes, die werkloosheid en die koeëls. Atlantis is steeds die verlore stad, maar hierdie twaalf vroue se verhale inspireer.

Hulle het besluit om nie moed op te gee nie. Hulle stories is dié van moed, optimisme en inspirasie. Dit is ’n moetlees vir almal wat glo dat liefde en geloof ’n verskil kán maak.

Atlantis aan die Weskus was die breinkind van ’n vorige regering se “desentralisasiebeleid” – maar is tans die toonvenster van ontheemding. Uit hierdie wanhoop, brand dié twaalf vroue se stories soos fakkelligte in ’n lang, donker nag.

Hulle is: Francis Brown, Mary-Ann Cedras, Chrissie Cloete, Mandy Jonker, Christine Lewis, Sylvia Losper, Lenie Maya, Carol Muller, Sillene Oppel, Olivia Pharo, Mary Tenggren en Rachael Watson.

"I was first drawn to working in oncology while I was a student nurse at St Thomas' Hospital in London. There I met a woman who had been diagnosed with breast cancer and showed such strength and fortitude in the face of her diagnosis that it left a strong impression on me."She said that, despite all the information that had been provided by the professionals and the internet, she would love to be able to dip in and out of a book that had useful advice for newly diagnosed patients, based on the experiences of other patients. The idea for this book was born."I decided to pursue this and canvassed the opinions of other patients, asking if they felt having such information available in this format would have been beneficial. The response was very positive and so I set about compiling and distributing a questionnaire to both NHS and private patients."Written by patients to help others learn from their experiences, compiled by Alison Bailey, a Breast Care Specialist Nurse

'The Perfect Scapegoat' is the true story of a naive twenty year- old girl unwittingly caught up in an investigation into alleged child sexual abuse. Jessie has spent almost five years working for a busy family with three children. Overnight her world is shattered when one of the children is suspected of having been sexually abused, and questions are being asked. From this moment on Jessie's life will never be the same again. She is caught up in a distressing police investigation and the devastation worsens with the involvement of the social services. Jessie soon realises that she is faced with an extremely serious and potentially life-changing situation. 'The Perfect Scapegoat' tells Jessie's very personal and at times heart-wrenching account of the abuse investigation and her struggle for many years after to fight for justice and a normal life.

Mike Ledingham has been a farmhand, soldier, real estate salesman, small business operator, armed security guard and caregiver. Once a Grunt is an offbeat collection of 10 short stories loosely based on his experiences in the Infantry and the SAS and beyond. They reflect his keen enjoyment of the funny side of life, his total lack of respect for bullies and self-important wallies, and his deep empathy with the underdog.