In early 2004, Captain Ignatius Duffie and his motley crew of HMS Blackwater were approaching the end of the 200 years banishment to the nautical hereafter. The sentence handed down at their court-martial in 1806 for executing one of the worst blunders in the annals of the Royal Navy.

The sinking of herself and another Navy vessel in the same incident! Considering they were all ghosts anyway, all in all it hadn’t been a bad experience; especially the last fifty years, spent wiling away their time in a sleepy harbour on the east coast of England.

A man with roots in depression era Oklahoma shares a few of his experiences.

Every man who walks this planet casts a shadow – a shadow of influence that affects those around him. Sometimes for good. Sometimes for bad. This book reflects the shadow cast by a man who came to know the grace of God and learned to live life through the prism of that grace. 

With candor, Bob shares events and experiences, reflections of ministry and people he's met – real happenings taken out of real life. Bob's story, both the humorous and serious parts will bless you. Too, you will see how God can use an individual who yields to Him. Bob Horttor is a musician, a song writer, a witness for   Christ, and a preacher of the Gospel.

Wow Wow Wow, I don't even know where to begin with this review, so let me start here. Usually I am very skeptical when it comes to reading books with a paranormal aspect and I think that it's because they are so far-fetched in regards to reality that I have a hard time connecting with the characters, but this book changed that for me for sure.

In fact, i'm going as far as to say that THIS IS the BEST paranormal YA book that i've ever read.

With the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall coming up on November 9th this novel could not be more topical.  

Lisa Selvidge, novelist, writing teacher and Algarve resident takes us back to the Cold War years of the mid-eighties when Berliners on both sides of the Wall could look but not touch. And for her principal characters, this was not enough. Physical separation was enforced by guards in watchtowers but the heart finds a way.

The website www.montanhabooks.com was launched last year. It's aim is to publish and sell books about Portugal – but not only.

There’s also a general fiction and non-fiction section, a painting section, as well as a travel and short story page where you can download stories for free.

The website will expand over time. Most books/downloads are currently in English, but there will be German and Portuguese publications in the future.

Hopefully you might find something interesting – and affordable!

Kingsolver´s earlier work The Poisonwood Bible, led me to investigate the horrifying history of the Belgian Congo, and portrayed some of the difficulties that westerners have in trying to understand Africa in its post-imperial status.  It was a revelation.

I had expected something equally powerful in The Lacuna, winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction,  2010.  The cover might have discouraged me.  What sort of exciting story can be constructed around  Lacuna, a posh word for a gap?  The cover also shows Bestselling author of The Poisonwood Bible.  Even as a literary agent, I should prefer Author of bestselling The Poisonwood Bible.   I started this book with misgiving.

Professor Newitt has addressed a subject which must be high on the list of anybody interested in Portuguese history and as Emeritus Professor at King's College in London, he is well qualified to write this book. 

The author is clearly at home with his material and the ideas brought forward are new and interesting. For anybody who wishes to appreciate the disproportionate role of this tiny country on the edge of Europe in pioneering European expansion into Africa and Asia as well as its own metropolitan history, this book would be an excellent introduction.

The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of England 1327 – 1330 Ian Mortimer (no relation) Pimlico 2004.

The period of English history covering the reigns of the first Edwards has always seemed to me like some sort of distasteful sandwich – the mighty Edward I and Edward III with the very unlovely filling of Edward II in the middle.  And so this biography of a relative unknown offered the chance to assess my prejudice anew.

Harold Hutchinson (Edward II; 1971) pronounced that Edward of Carnarvon (incidentally the first English prince of Wales 1284 -1307 - ?1327) was guilty during his reign of royal efficiency only.