Tim Murgatroyd

Breaking Bamboo is the second instalment of a trilogy set in Song and Yuan Dynasty China, charting the trials and adventures of the Yun clan.

Central China, 1264. When Mongol armies storm into the Middle Kingdom, the descendents of Yun Cai (Taming Poison Dragons) are trapped in a desperate siege that will determine the fate of the Empire. Guang and Shih are identical twins, one a heroic soldier idolised by the city he defends, the other a humble doctor. In the midst of war, jealous conflicts over Shih’s wife and concubine threaten to tear the brothers apart. Enemies close in on every side – some disturbingly close to home. Can the Yun family survive imprisonment, ruthless treachery and Kublai Khan’s bloody hordes? Or will their own reckless passions destroy them first?

Reviews

‘The author’s knowledge of and love for this region and era are clear, and the reader is definitely immersed in the atmosphere and culture of the time. I recommend this to anyone interested in China and also anyone who feels like reading an interesting and well written tale of love, betrayal, war and difficult decisions.’ Historicalnovelsociety.org

Raj Kumar

An unabashed commercial thriller – a fast moving tale of family strife, love, duty and vengeance – that nonetheless takes on some controversial themes.

Set in Saudi Arabia in the pre 9/11 era of the late 1980s the story deals with ‘honour killing’ [Sharaf = honour] and the activities of the Saudi religious police.

Sharaf is the first of three novels forming a family saga set in Arabia, America and Israel and chronicling the struggles and enmities of the ‘Peoples of the Book’.

Major-General Farhan Al-Balawi is a loyal soldier in the Saudi Arabian army who dotes on his beloved daughter, Maryam, his pride in her learning and independent spirit sharpened by the death of his elder son and his estrangement from the younger who has opted to pursue a hedonistic western lifestyle in the USA.

Despite the love she shares with her family, her respect for her father, the pride she takes in her Arabian heritage and her loyalty to Islam, Maryam yearns for travel and the opportunity to continue her education in a European university.

But then Farhan announces that Maryam is to marry – the fulfilment of a solemn promise made before Maryam was born and to a man who once saved Farhan’s life – that Farhan’s daughter would one day marry his old army comrade’s son. Maryam endeavours to stifle her bitter disappointment, and to honour her father’s wishes she complies with the betrothal.

Then she meets Joe, an American dentist – and a Jew.

As Joe and Maryam pursue an increasingly intimate clandestine relationship they dare to dream of freedom and of a life together. But Joe is gradually drawing the attention of the Muttawa, the feared religious police, and when Maryam realises that she is pregnant it is then that her trials really begin.

Reviews

‘. . . a well-told romantic tale with thriller accoutrements. . .’ jonathanpinnock.com

‘Kumar has done a superb job of wrapping it all up in a rattling good yarn, producing a book worth reading.’ thebookbag.co.uk 

Russell Whitfield

The second adventure in this visceral trilogy inspired by the famous Gladiatrix stele found near Halicarnassus in the 19th century.

Strong appeal to readers of popular historical fiction- with some crossover to fantasy and graphic novel market in the tradition of David Gemmell and Robert E Howard.

Four years have passed since Lysandra’s epic but inconclusive battle with her hated rival Sorena in the arena of Halicarnassus and after which both combatants were granted their freedom by the ambitious consul, Trajanus.

Now Sorena has found refuge among the Dacian hordes of Decebalus where she leads a vicious troop of horsewomen. Into her hands falls the young tribune Gaius Minervius Valerian and she ponders whether to deal him a slow and painful death or release him to journey back to Rome in shame and ignominy as the sole survivor of the empire’s most humiliating defeat for half a millennium.

Meanwhile, back in Halicarnassus, Lysandra has become accustomed to easy living and suffered a creeping and insidious addiction to alcohol that, together with her unabated hubris, is sapping both her self esteem and the friendship of those she loves most. But now the Emperor Domitian has called for a command performance at Rome’s newly built Flavian Amphitheatre known to history as the Coliseum. Lysandra is invited to fight Rome’s adored Gladiatrix Prima, the beautiful and deadly Illeana known as Aesalon Nocturna, the Midnight Falcon. Her record is devastating: thirty bouts; thirty wins- no draws or losses.

Lysandra has to face up to all that she is and all that she must become as all roads lead to Rome.

Reviews

‘…brutal, fast paced… a great first novel.’ Gareth Wilson, Falcata Times

‘An enthralling novel with a good insight of Roman history.’ romanarmy.com

Russell Whitfield

Under the Flavian Emperors the Roman public’s hunger for gladiatorial combat has never been greater.  The Emperor Domitian’s passion for novelty and variety in the arena has given rise to a very different kind of warrior: the Gladiatrix.

Sole survivor of a shipwreck off the coast of Asia Minor, Lysandra finds herself the property of Lucius Balbus, owner of the foremost Ludus for female gladiators in the Eastern Empire.  Lysandra, a member of an ancient Spartan sect of warrior priestesses, refuses to accept her new status as a slave.  Forced to fight for survival, her deadly combat skills win the adoration of the crowds, the respect of her Lanista, Balbus, and the admiration of Sextus Julius Frontinus, the provincial governor.

But Lysandra’s Spartan pride also earns her powerful enemies: the Dacian warrior, Sorina,Gladiatrix Prima and leader of the Barbarian faction, and the sadistic Numidian trainer Nastasen.

When plans are laid for the ultimate combat spectacle to honour the visit of the new Consul, Lysandra must face her greatest and deadliest trial.

Reviews

‘A great debut that shines an entirely new light on the glory and the bloodshed of the Roman arena. Whitfield paints a vivid picture of the fights and the passions of women combatants. It’s exciting stuff, with well rounded characters, nail-biting duels to the death and vividly depicted settings. Gladiatrix makes Gladiator look very tame indeed!’ Simon Scarrow, author of Under the Eagle and Centurion

‘What a brilliant novel! Whitfield has taken one of history’s curiosities – the role of the female gladiator – and woven from it a savage and splendid tale of the Roman arena . . . a tale that, once sampled, cannot be easily forgotten.’ Scott Oden, author of Men of Bronze and Memnon

Gavin Weston

Set against the stark beauty of sub-Saharan West Africa Harmattan is evocative and heart-wrenching. Suffused with an anger that is all the more powerful for its masterful understatement, this is a story that will be talked about for years to come.

Will appeal strongly to readers of A Thousand Splendid Suns, Half a Yellow Sun and similar novels.

Harmattan (n. A dry, dusty wind that blows from the Sahara- probably from the Arabic haram, a forbidden or accursed thing).

Haoua is a young girl growing up in a remote village in the Republic of Niger. Spirited independent and intelligent, she has benefited from a stable home life and a loving and attentive mother and enjoys working and playing with her siblings and friends.

Haoua worships her elder brother, Abdelkrim, a serving soldier who sends money home to support the family. But, on his last home visit, Abdelkrim quarrels with their father accusing him of gambling away the money he sends and being the cause of their mother’s worsening health. It also emerges that their father plans to take a second wife.

Despite this Haoua finds contentment in her schoolwork, her dreams of becoming a teacher and in writing assiduously to the family in Ireland who act as her aid sponsors.

But for Haoua, there are new storm clouds on the horizon: as civil strife mounts in Niger, she begins to fear for Abdelkrim’s safety; her mother’s illness is much more serious and further advanced than anyone had recognised; and her father’s plans are turning out to be far more threatening than she could have ever imagined.

Approaching her twelfth birthday, Haoua feels alone and vulnerable for the very first time in her life.

Reviews

‘Harmattan is a captivating and beautifully written debut novel. Gavin Weston’s unique and distinctive style hails a new era in Northern Irish literature.’ Kellie Chambers, Ulster Tatler 

‘At 11, narrator Haoua Boureima is a promising student in a remote village in Niger, her education supported by Vision Corps International. But her dreams of being a teacher die, and her life begins a downward spiral, when her mother, diagnosed with AIDS, is taken to a hospital in the capital city of Niamey. As the oldest of three children at home, Haoua is given even more chores by her father, who forbids her returning to school despite the entreaty of her teacher. Haoua’s only support is from her older brother, Abdelkrim, a soldier stationed in Niamey, who does what he can before the unrest that follows the assassination of President Mainassara. At 12, Haoua becomes the third wife of her father’s brutal cousin, with dreadful consequences. Weston’s first novel captures a time and a place, from the beauty of Niger’s vistas to the inhumanity of its patriarchal culture. The latter will arouse outrage, as will the restrictions posed by an NGO that is there to help. This is fiction that conveys truth more vividly than fact could.’  Michele Leber