Biography & True Accounts
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Eugene Esmonde, V.C., D.S.O.: The Courageous Life of a Naval Aviator in World War Two (Heroes of the Skies Book 6)
The moving biography of a remarkable pilot who received a posthumous Victoria Cross for courageous but fatal actions during World War Two.This work should be essential reading for fans of naval aviation history and the unsung heroes of World War Two.
Although the Fleet Air Arm may not have been as glamorous as Fighter Command, the actions of men such as Eugene Esmonde demonstrate that its personnel were just as daring, facing similarly insurmountable odds in fighting for the Allied cause.
Chaz Bowyer, the renowned aviation historian, charts the course of Esmonde’s life — from his Catholic upbringing in Ireland, which shaped his worldview, to his training as a pilot in the Royal Air Force in the interwar years. Asked to join the newly formed Royal Naval Air Branch in January 1939, he entered the heat of the action shortly after war broke out.
Bowyer draws upon a wealth of research and interviews with Esmonde’s family and fellow air service men and women to provide a vivid account of his life through the war. He describes in detail Esmonde’s actions in the Narvik campaign, his leadership in an attack against the battleship Bismarck, and his service aboard HMS Ark Royal when it was struck by a torpedo — remaining aboard as the last to leave the ship before it sank. Yet it was during Operation Fuller that Esmonde’s full courage was displayed, earning a posthumous Victoria Cross during his desperate attempt to contain Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen during their famous Channel Dash.
‘This biography makes compulsive reading and the final chapters are most moving.’ Air Pictorial
‘This saga of unmatched courage and devotion to duty is movingly told.’ Guild of Air Pilots Journal
‘Compelling reading.’ Irish Independent
‘His high courage and splendid resolution will live in the traditions of the Royal Navy, and remain for many generations a fine and stirring memory.’ Victoria Cross Citation
Although Esmonde was ultimately unsuccessful in halting the battlecruisers and their escort — and was struck down in the attempt — his story remains an epic tale of the bravery men can summon even when all hope seems lost. This work will undoubtedly appeal to all interested in the war for the skies and seas during World War Two.
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From £3.63 -
North Belfast Blues: A journey from childhood to the front line of The Troubles
It’s the early 1970’s. A boy is growing up at a terrifying sectarian interface in North Beflast during The Troubles, where bombs, bullets, death and murder are a daily occurrence. After one-too-many bodies is dumped outside his family’s front door they finally flee the violence in search of a quieter, more peaceful rural life.
He returns to the same streets a decade later, this time as a paramedic, dealing with the same horrors that denied him a childhood; events which still carry on, and will continue to do so for another decade before the ceasefires and the Good Friday Agreement.This is a true story of survival, of finding a purpose and identity that eluded him as a child. And of compassion for all ages and all sides in the terrible conflict. A testimony to the people who survived the conflict, and an acknowledgement of the dedication of the front line medical staff.
Death was everywhere, but so was humanity.
North Belfast Blues is not a story of blood or of gore; it’s a story of real people.Read more
From £1.99 -
The Successor: Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir Putin and the Decline of Modern Russia
‘MikhaIl Fishman, a veteran journalist of the Putin era, tells the Nemtsov story with extraordinary reportorial detail and a profound sense of what could have been’ David Remnick, author of Lenin’s Tomb
When did Russia lose its chance of freedom?
1990: As a new openness sweeps Russia, a talented young physicist, Boris Nemtsov, begins his career in politics. Charismatic, confident, liberal and vehemently opposed to corruption, he swiftly rises to prominence. For the first time, another future seems possible.
2015: Putin holds the country in the grip of tyranny once more. Nemtsov, now his fiercest and most unrelenting opponent, is assassinated on a Moscow bridge.
This is the story of how a nation’s dreams of democracy died.
Drawing on buried archives and off-the-record interviews, exiled journalist Mikhail Fishman gives a gripping insider account of the tragedy of modern Russia, told through many lives of Boris Nemtsov – activist, playboy, leader-in-waiting, dissident and, finally, victim. From the economic reforms under Boris Yeltsin to Vladimir Putin’s oligarchy, through two wars in Chechnya and the invasion of Ukraine, this is the story of a man fired by the belief that Russia could, still, have another future.Read more
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The Thomas the Tank Engine Man: The life of Reverend W Awdry
The stories of Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends have delighted generations of children and adults, but what do we know of the man who created them?
A devoted pastor and family man, the Reverend W Awdry first started telling the stories in order to amuse his own children, with no idea that the characters would lead to a global phenomenon that now, seventy years after their first appearance, shows no signs of waning.
In this fascinating and warm biography, prolific author Brian Sibley brings to life one of the most eminent children’s writers of the twentieth century, tracing his story from his Edwardian childhood through his time at University and into World War 2. A convinced pacifist, Awdry was thrown out of one curacy and denied another, because of his beliefs. Never afraid to fight for what he thought was right, he argued with his publishers and his illustrators, demanding the best for his favourite creations – the trains and their friends.
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From £11.82£12.99The Thomas the Tank Engine Man: The life of Reverend W Awdry
From £11.82£12.99
