What Empty Things Are These
by J. L.Crozier
Readers of this captivating historical novel are taken by its author, J. L. Crozier, on an incredible journey back in time to Victorian England. With a fascination with English history, the author as a Masters in Creative Writing from Melbourne University, and has also won awards for short stories. Born in Malaya, after having lived in south-east Asia, Burma, Vietnam, and Australia, she now lives in France with her sons.
The time is 1860, and young Adelaide Broom is like other girls of her era, shy, yet dreaming of romance and the handsome young men who she meets and dances with, whilst being carefully chaperoned. However, she soon discovers that her fate has already been decided, she is to marry the elderly, respectable friend of her fathers, George Hadley. In this strict period of history she does her duty, yet, inside she has a spirit which is expressed in her secret writing, a pastime which allows her to pour out her feelings, and observations, unrestrained.
It is Mr Collins’s sensational (at the time) novel, The Woman in White, which is to lead to her husband’s undoing. Arriving home and furious at finding her reading something he considers so unsuitable he, as husbands had the right to do at that time, beats her. Ironically, it is this action which causes him to suffer an apoplectic fit, which results in him becoming comatose.
Suddenly the household is very different, and Adelaide has to learn to adjust to the changes in her circumstances. Now, with the support of her Ladies Maid Sobriety, this young wife and mother must manage everything, and keep up appearances, not only for herself, but also her eight year old son Toby.
However, as her horizons expands, she soon discovers the flip side to the perfect world she has grown up in. This is the one which lies beneath the silver and damask of the drawing room, and instead lives in the shadows and tunnels below London. In this world which reeks of deception, greed and treachery, her naivety is cruelly stripped away from her…
This story is more than a story, it’s a real experience! Through the authors vividly descriptive writing the reader finds themselves in Adelaide’s shoes, and the pages just come alive!
Beautifully written, wonderfully detailed and entertaining, I highly recommend this outstanding story to lovers of historical fiction.
Available from Amazon:
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Atlanta’s Concealment of the Baby Gun Club Landfill
by Jerry Brow
If I could turn back time…. I wonder how many of the people who have worked and are still working for the City of Atlanta, in the State of Georgia have this thought during recent times. As the saying goes, they had “Bitten off more than they could chew” when they forced Jerry Brow to accept their compulsory purchase of four investment properties he owned, located near the dumpsite, now known as Baby Gun Club Landfill.
Jerry Brow is the author of this shocking book which details the terrible disregard for public health and safety throughout decades which the State of Georgia and the City of Atlanta, have sanctioned just to satisfy their greed and to solve a problem quickly and with total disregard for environmental and public health. The location? Northwest Atlanta, Georgia, about five miles from downtown Atlanta.
However the story begins back in the 1940’s when the civil rights of the “black” people were non-existent, however, the effects are haunting the lives of people to this day, in both health, environment and financially. The “white” people way back then didn’t want their copious amounts of waste on their back doorstep, so they simply dumped it on the doorsteps of the “black” people, who had at that time no voice and no rights. The site, The Gun Club Landfill.
Through thorough research, the obtaining of official documents and talking with those who know, or remember, Jerry Brow describes in detail the permitted landfill trickery which took place over time, which allowed the city to accomplish their task of making the Baby Gun Club Landfill site disappear into or within the Gun Club Landfill! Jerry found a living witness, Mrs. X who, in the 1960’s remembers the dumping of waste over the years, and is an eye witness to the injustices which have been perpetuated over the years by a government who just didn’t care. Now a grandmother, she has watched the continual development of housing project homes for “black” people adjacent to the dump, where the residents not only had to see and smell the waste, but also suffer illnesses, skin lesions, and respiratory problems because of it. Health problems are no surprise when there are toxic gasses being released, cocktails of chemicals, asbestos and hazardous waste, and not only that but it is also adjacent to Procter Creek which leads directly into the national Chattahoochee River.
Deception and deceit, and total disregard for public health has continued through the years. In the early 90’s the city shut down Gun Club Landfill due to complaints, however, nothing was done to Baby Gun Club Landfill, and no attempt was carried out to inform citizens or investors like Jerry Brow, who bought four parcels near there with an eye to the future. They had no idea Baby Gun Club was a dumpsite, and how what lies beneath their homes would come to affect their lives in every way.
So, why did Jerry write this book? Well, he is not only a licensed builder and international developer, dedicated to preserving the environment, he is also a husband and father. He was the founder of the Humanitarian Medical Relief and Ayuda Medica Humanitaria and was cofounder in Exxposed.org. The experience has motivated him to found the new movement called OUR PUBLIC TRUST (OurPublicTrust. com), which has been designed to get the people of our world to unite and start talking freely about the dependence upon our government for the public’s air, water, and land.
As a father, environmentalist and humanitarian he feels passionately that he can’t let this travesty of environmental injustice to go unnoticed. He wanted, and has successfully, through the pages of this extremely interesting, shocking book, exposed the City of Atlanta and State of Georgia’s incredible lack of scruples, and derelictions of duty both to their people and the environment. This is a story which needed telling and he has done so, for the sake of the health and wellbeing of generations to come and our planet.
Available from Amazon:
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Tiny Blunders/Big Disasters: Thirty-Nine Tiny Mistakes That Changed the World Forever (Revised Edition)
by Jared Knott
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If history books were all written like this one, there would be many more people interested in the subject; it’s simply fascinating!
Meticulously researched, the author, Jared Knott, entertains his readers with incredible examples of disasters which have occurred throughout history. Skilfully written, he illustrates wonderfully the consequences of the butterfly effect of tiny blunders, accidental changes in plans, and not so good intentions have changed the course of history for people, countries, and indeed in some instances, the world.
I studied Modern History and knew the details of some of the events he writes about. Yet, he has uncovered tiny details, omissions, or slight mistakes which occurred at the time, and in telling them, reveals how these moments in time had enormous impacts on our world today. I love the quotes he uses throughout, however one especially highlights the message that we learn by our mistakes.
“Success in life is the result of good judgment. Good judgment is usually the result of experience. Experience is usually the result of bad judgment. – Anthony Robbins”
Whatever period of history you are interested in, there will be a story to entertain you, proving in the immortal words of Robert Burns written in 1785, “best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley [go often awry].” Personally, I loved reading the chapter on sibling rivalry, discovering sibling pairings which I never realized, and marvelled at the rifts which are created in families, and which in some cases last a lifetime.
Jared Knott is a father of five and he lives with his wife, Kathryn, in the Atlanta area. He is a decorated war veteran who went on to have a successful career in sales and marketing, and the home improvement industry. The author of numerous articles on a variety of subjects, “Tiny Blunders/Big Disasters,” is his first book and one which I recommend highly as not only informative but extremely entertaining.
Available from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tiny-Blunders-Big-Disasters-Thirty-Nine-ebook/dp/B08M42WWVY/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Tiny+Blunders%2FBig+Disasters%3A+Thirty-Nine+Tiny+Mistakes+That+Changed+the+World+Forever+%28Revised+Edition%29&qid=1606487499&sr=8-1
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Early Thursday: A War, A Hurricane, A Miracle!
by Linda S. Cunningham
The author as a child lived in Lake Charles, near Cameron which is the location of this story, when Hurricane Audrey hit the area in June 1957. She has, through thorough research, and listening to first-hand accounts of the local Cajun-French inhabitants of Cameron, written this heart-rending book. The sheer terror this natural disaster caused could be felt through the pages, as she revealed what it was like to experience first-hand what has been called one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in U.S. history.
Walt LaCour the protagonist, is a twelve years old boy. He lives in Cameron with his mother, younger brother Bobby and baby sister Faye. His father is a drunken fisherman, a man whose dreams have been destroyed, and who enjoys physically and mentally abusing his oldest son, for a reason Walt can’t understand. Avoiding his father, and with recurring drowning nightmares haunting his sleep, Walt’s only true friend and loyal companion is his beloved dog Pooch.
The beach-town of Cameron is located on the Gulf of Mexico, it is a close-knit community, and the village bar is its hub. Like all communities, its inhabitants have lived there for generations, their histories intertwining, memories go way back, and some of the current generations remember the WWII POW Camp nearby, and the impact its inhabitants had on the residents. Walt is to discover that it only takes a photo or a long lost letter to trigger a memory or even reveal a long-buried secret.
It is in the bar that Walt, his family, and friends discover on the news that a tropical storm has formed in the Gulf and is heading straight for them in southwest Louisiana. As the storm is upgraded to Hurricane Audrey, nothing could have prepared the inhabitants of this peaceful beach town for the devastation which was to follow, and the terrible loss of lives. However, it is a fact that community spirit is at its best in an emergency. Cameron’s residents pulled together, saved who they could, grieved, and then, as is human nature moved forward with their separate lives, forever linked by the common bond of the memories they share. For some, moving on is more difficult, and Walt finds himself troubled by regrets, guilt, and unanswered questions. However, one fateful day everything changes when he meets a stranger confronts him, and discovers he isn’t a stranger at all…
Many of us have watched on the television the damage hurricanes cause, however, the true magnitude of the devastation experienced by those who have lived through them is palpable in this incredible story. Walt’s path through life wasn’t an easy one, he suffered tragedy, love, pain, and a myriad of other emotions along the way, however, his and other stories like it deserve to be told, in memory of those who didn’t survive so they too can be remembered.
The author’s descriptive writing brings the swamps of southwest Louisiana, its people, wildlife, and climate to life. From Eli, an idiot savant with an incredible gift for violin playing, to Walt’s mother, a woman whose dream’s and life changed. This fictionalized memoir makes compelling reading and I highly recommend it.
Available from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Early-Thursday-War-Hurricane-Miracle-ebook/dp/B087D6Q6S1/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Early+Thursday%3A+A+War%2C+A+Hurricane%2C+A+Miracle%21&qid=1606487628&sr=8-1
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