Andrew Nicholson is one of the world's leading event riders. He rode in his first Olympics aged 23 in Los Angeles in 1984, and has represented his native New Zealand in six Olympic Games and six world championships, winning medals of every colour. Andrew is respected and admired by his peers and sporting fans as a brilliant rider and competitor. At the age of 54 he is at the peak of his powers and, with the best team of horses he has ever had, is focused on winning one of the very few prizes to elude him an individual gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. This book tells the story of the boy from a farm in New Zealand who came to Britain as a raw 18-year-old and conquered one of the most demanding sports in the world. Illustrated with superb photographs of Andrew's career and life with horses, it reveals how he got to the top and how hard he still strives to up his game. We discover the personalities of his top horses, and the secrets he has learnt in his 35 years as a horseman. Foreword by Captain Mark Phillips.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 160

Dimensions: 189 x 246 mm

Publication Date: 28-08-2014

After six years in the idyllic Loire Valley, comedian Ian Moore, his family and his ever-expanding menagerie are beginning to feel like they’re on the cusp of the peace and tranquillity they hoped for when they moved from dreary Crawley to la belle France. Their grand project, a writing school called Les Champs Créatifs, is finally complete – only, nobody’s signed up. Natalie and the boys must contend with the ever-colourful locals, including a Sicilian faith healer, threatening hunters and the ‘Christmas Pudding Man’, and Ian must test his mod mettle against two new additions to the animal family – a pair of disappearing goats. With stresses, strains and animal poo mounting up la famille Moore have their work cut out – but they’re determined to give it their best shot!

Bind: paperback

Pages: 320

Dimensions: 129 x 198 mm

Publication Date: 04-08-2014

*Explores the growth and development and changes in one man’s faith over 87 years

*Debates and analyses, in the light of modern scholarship, key Christian doctrines.

*Speculates on the possible survival or otherwise of the Christian church in the world

Ewing’s life has known many twists and turns. He is still an ordained Presbyterian minister and has been a minister in another calling since 1979.
His faith has been shaped through illness for 5 years with tuberculosis, his theological training for the church, his experiences of the suicidal death of a son, the death of his wife and remarriage, the controversy over a book he wrote about the life of Jesus, his work over nearly 20 years with questioning and rebellious youth and 50 years of radio broadcasting.
Ewing has always questioned his Christian faith and some of the ancient doctrines of the Christian church in the light of the scientific age. The virgin birth of Jesus, the miracles, stories of Jesus’ resurrection and place of the Christian church in a world of many beliefs.
His aim is to encourage his readers to question what they believe and to be honest in their thinking about faith. And to encourage the adoption of a belief system that leads to a moral approach to the whole of life through this philosophical auto biography.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 191

Dimensions: 148 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 21-05-2014

Tony Walsh was first introduced to NZ's bush clad ranges, to pig hunting and some life-defining experiences by Ned Tuite, whose usual attire was a black woollen bush singlet and a pair of khaki shorts suspended from a thin leather belt. Through Ned, Tony met a band of those iconic good keen men of an era now past, and began a journey of experiences he will never forget.
There were the likes of ugly Eddie, who ate all the pigs' ears; Jack, who thought the ghosts were after him after a midnight tumble down the hill; or Charlie, who didn't know whether to mash his spuds before or after they were cook. Men whose characters were as colourful and multifaceted as the forests and mountains they came from.
The Black Singlet Brigade is a memoir written with eloquence and a dash of humour at every turn. It combines the untamed beauty of the wild with hilarious adventures and unique characters to build a picture of a life long gone, in the bush and back-country of New Zealand.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 105

Publication Date: 30-07-2013

12 Years a Slave, soon to be a huge new Hollywood film (February 2014 release), is the harrowing true story of Solomon Northup who was kidnapped and sold into slavery, enduring unimaginable degradation and abuse until his rescue twelve years later.
Tricked by two men offering him a job as a musician in New York State in 1841, Solomon Northup was drugged and kidnapped. His life in jeopardy, he was forced to assume a new name and fake past. Taken to Louisiana on a disease-ridden plague ship, he was initially sold to a cotton planter. In the twelve years that follow he is sold to many different owners who treat him with varying levels of savagery; forced labour, scant food and numerous beatings are his regular fare. Against all odds, Northup eventually succeeds in contacting a sympathetic party and manages to get word to his family. The ensuing rescue and legal cases are no less shocking and intriguing than the rest of the tale. Northup's meticulous first-hand recordings of slave life provide a true-life testament to tremendous courage and tenacity in the face of unfathomable injustice. A new film premiering in 2014, featuring Brad Pitt and Benedict Cumberbatch, and directed by Steve McQueen, is sure to introduce this amazing story to a new audience.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 300

Publication Date: 01-08-2013

Ripped Apart is Mayor Bob Parker’s personal story about the earthquakes that devastated Christchurch. Bob’s tireless and unflappable communications gained him superstar status around the world.
He so impressed the American TV network, NBC, it broadcast to the world that New York, after 9/11, had Rudy Giuliani. Christchurch, after the earthquakes, had Bob Parker.
A Christchurch mother said: “For eight days I lived in my house under a table with my children because we were so scared. The only thing that calmed us was Bob’s voice on the radio. We trusted him”.
Within a few months of his triumphs the tide turned. The Minister of Earthquake Recovery, Gerry Brownlee, dubbed him “a clown”; his council was dysfunctional; and Government, not the council, controlled the city’s rebuild.
Ripped Apart reveals the arguments, indecision, petty jealousies, power struggles and policies that occurred before, during, and after the crises. These are balanced with glimpses of dedication, courage, compassion and a unique vision. It is a story about people behind the scenes and events that saw Christchurch Ripped Apart, not just physically, but politically and emotionally.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 240

Dimensions: 152 x 229 mm

Publication Date: 01-02-1970

Robbie Paul was Super League's first superstar, a player who transformed the sport with his brilliance on the pitch and larger than life persona off it. He was the inspirational heart of a Bradford team who dominated rugby league's new summer era, with Paul the face and driving force of the Bulls for more than a decade.
He arrived from New Zealand as a skinny 18-year-old and developed into a world class talent who took Wembley by storm when he became the first player to score a hat-trick of tries there in a Challenge Cup final. It was the launch pad for a career that included a cross-code move to Harlequins as rugby union went professional, more than 30 league appearances for his beloved Kiwis and captaining Bradford to Super League and World Club title honours.
Artist, musician, media commentator, Paul was no ordinary rugby player. Born of a proud warrior race, his inspirational journey through the trials, tribulations and triumphs of a trophy-laden career is the very essence of the joy of rugby.
Paul's compelling story in his long-awaited autobiography is embellished by his own unique High Performance guide on what it takes to be a better player, mentally, physically and professionally, based on his 18-year playing career and rugby marketing and strategic role today.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 254

Dimensions: 160 x 240 x 24 mm

Publication Date: 01-09-2012

Gina Campbell, last surviving member of a remarkable dynasty, will forever be most closely associated with the fatal attempt by her father to break the water speed record in his astounding boat. In that sense she is indeed the 'daughter of Bluebird' and has played a ceaseless role in the boat's restoration. In this absorbing autobiography she talks about:

Her life with Donald Campbell as father, early-day 'celebrity', and holder of many world records on land and water.
Her personal life three failed marriages, a suicide attempt and finding happiness in later life, only to have it snatched away; her power-boating career and setting two women's world water speed records in 1984 and 1990.
Her reaction to her father's death while attempting to set a new world water speed record on Coniston Water in January 1967.
Her complete shock at the discovery of Bluebird and Donald Campbell's body by divers in 2001.
Her decision to authorise the removal of the boat and Campbell's remains from the lake despite widespread opposition.
The decision to restore Bluebird and house her in the Ruskin Museum on Coniston Water. Her dream of once again seeing and hearing Bluebird on the lake.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 286

Dimensions: 160 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 01-09-2012

William Shakespeare and John Milton are the two most important poets in English. Shakespeare’s achievements are unchallengeable and secure. Milton can make a far more controversial claim to eminence. He wrote the only poem in English recognized as an epic, Paradise Lost, a poem which challenged the beliefs and presuppositions of all of its readers. As a literary writer, his political and historical significance is unique; he was at the centre of the most traumatic period of modern British history, and this left an imprint on his writings.
Richard Bradford addresses two key topics in this short account of Milton’s life and work: the parallels between Paradise Lost and the events in England of the mid-to-late-seventeenth century; and the question of whether Milton’s writings reflect his sense of despair at man’s apparent failure to make the best of our world after the Fall and is thus the first testimony of his religious doubt.

Fascinating for both the general reader and for academics, Richard Bradford brings new understanding to the life, times and works of one of Britain’s most significant writers.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 120

Publication Date: 22-02-2013

I came here looking for some kind of happiness. I think it might be the cleverest thing I have ever done.

One difficult winter when her love life falls apart (and so does she), Jen decides on Three Gifts to Self. Gift One and Two are reducing her workload and staying away from relationships for a while. Gift Three, the most important, is a month alone on a tiny, wild Greek island. It's a chance to find another kind of contentment: one that comes from the sun and the sea, from the aroma of herbs on the mountains and holding an octopus in your hands. She decides to act on her dream of staying for longer . because life is too short not to reach out for what makes us happy. But just when everything is falling into place again, the strangest thing happens∞c Falling in Honey is an honest, mouth-watering mix of comedy and romance, and an unforgettable journey from heartbreak to happiness.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 304

Dimensions: 129 x 198 mm

Publication Date: 01-03-2013