Claret Press – förlag

Every project has opponents who try to manipulate it so that the result better suits them. A naive idea? Hardly! People have the inclination to adjust truth to suit themselves and thus serve their own interests: more power, more income, more respect.

Even though it is rampant, little attention has been paid until now to the art of undermining and manipulating projects. And yet many millions of Euros a year are squandered as a result of project sabotage. If more attention is given to the motivation and methods of project saboteurs, this will lead to large savings and better project results.

This book explains how to sabotage a project, the motivations that guide the project saboteur, the alliances the project saboteur might make, and most importantly, how to stop him. It includes real-life case studies, examples, and helpful check lists and tables to determine if there's a project saboteur at work. They're out there, and now you know how to kill them – we accept no legal responsibility for your actions as a result.

This children's thriller, based on the author's own experiences in London, is about coming of age and the importance of family and friends during World War II.

It's the height of the Blitz. Night after night, waves of German bombers pound London streets, determined to bring the city to its knees.

As the air-raid sirens wail, Alan and his best mates, Tommy and Wilkie, skip school to play among the bombed-out homes of their neighbors. They are soon sucked into a gang of looters run by infamous Duggie, but the police are on their tail and catching up quickly. Even if they escape, they could still fall victim to the dangerous skies above them. 

This thrilling story, based on the author’s own experiences growing up during the Blitz, is an antidote to nostalgia. It shows the terrors of the Blitz and how war brings out both the best and the worst in adults and children alike.   

Appropriate for Keystage 2.

"Brilliant and timely political who-done-it." Alan Steele-Nicholson, press officer for former US Senator Jacob Javits 

-

Murder - week after week, month after month, across the country. Pushed beyond his limits, one man takes on the establishment, the gun lobby, and corruption at the highest levels. To break the power of entrenched elites, he leads the nation on a grisly hunt.

He's hunting them. And they're hunting him. One side will have to blink. In the meantime, people are dying. Term Limits is a thriller from the front pages of our newspapers. It couldn't be more topical.

Justice will be done, but what kind of justice?

High on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, near the ancient Temple of Apollo, a group of young idealists protest against the despoiling of the planet outside a European governmental conference. Inside, corporate business lobbyists mingle with lawmakers, seeking profit and influence. Then the charismatic leader of the protest goes missing.

Oracle is about justice, from the brutal, archaic form of blood vengeance prevalent in early human societies to modern systems of law and jurisprudence, set in the context of a democracy. This is the law and equality under the law which allows democracy to thrive and underpins the freedoms and safeguards for individuals within it. The story is interlinked with Greece's past, as the ancient cradle of democracy and source of many of western ideas of government, but also to its more recent and violent past of military strongmen and authoritarianism in the twentieth century.

Oracle also considers, in the form of a crime thriller, the politicisation of the police and the justice system and how that will undermine justice, especially following the banning of Golden Dawn, the now criminal organisation which wrapped itself in the mantle of politics. It touches on the new academic discipline of zemiology, the study of 'crime' through the prism of the harm it does to people, especially those without power.

It had been solely personal. Not anymore.

Determined to lay the ghosts of her past, Cassandra Fortune asks a former head of GCHQ for help, only to receive a message from beyond the grave. A riddle to puzzle out and a murder to solve.

She revisits an old betrayal in an ancient land, uncovering subterfuge and treason. Yet, as Christmas approaches, a shadowy presence haunts her footsteps. His criminal network shattered, the diabolical villain is back. And he wants what's his.

What is real and what only appears to be? Who can be trusted and who is double-dealing? Cassie must find the truth. And survive.

One of only four girls from the 160 children in her primary school to pass the eleven plus, Sylvia Vetta was the first in her family to enjoy higher education and got to enjoy that post-WWII wonder: upward mobility.

Battling racism in Smethwick in the West Midlands during the most racist election in British history changed her life. The slogan bandied by the supporters of the Conservative candidate was, 'If you want a n***er for a neighbour, Vote Labour.'

By chance she met Indian-born Atam Vetta. Being less than 21 years of age, her boss could legally inform her parents of her young man and his racial background without Sylvia knowing of it. Sylvia and Atam married anyway and 55 years later, they're still married.

When Sylvia married Atam, mixed relationships were rare and viewed with hostility, not just in the UK. Sylvia's story embraces a revolutionary change in attitudes in the UK. Marriages and partnerships like hers are no longer rare and it is predicted that by 2075, the majority of the population will be of mixed ancestry.

She was plunged into a challenging new reality. Through Atam, she learned about glass ceilings for ethnic minority Brits. Atam's research in quantitative genetics confronted institutional and individual racism with the knowledge that discrimination had been justified by scientific racism. Atam set about helping to expose those lies.

Nine months in the USA opened her eyes to the probability that she was more disadvantaged being a woman than being married to a man of colour. Changing careers, she entered into a world where women were mostly excluded: business. Sylvia set about changing that, creating a vibrant and successful business career.

Peppered with facts and research, Sylvia's life showcases the personal within the political, the successes and setbacks of forging a fairer, more tolerant and better Britain. Part of a unique demographic that challenges traditions, Sylvia's life epitomises its clashes, its frustration, and its opportunities.

Now on her third career as a writer, Sylvia explores what we have in common, while being honest about the challenges. The ultimate prize is an enhanced understanding that comes from 'walking in someone else's shoes' and the creativity that comes from crossing cultures and allowing cream to rise.

Food of Love is a poignant account of changes to our society from the mostly untold perspective of a white woman married to a man of colour. Recipes relishing the difference flow through the narrative. The recipes at the end of chapters reflect the diversity diet in our diet that rises with the diversity in the population.

With food comes love and with love comes hope.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the married president of the United States, has started a long and passionate affair with his cousin Daisy, and moves her into the West Wing.

Daisy is one of FDR's band of unconventional women: Eleanor Roosevelt, the fiery labour organiser, Frances Perkins, the first female Secretary of Labour, and his secretary Missy LeHand, a political operative in her own right. Middle-aged spinster Daisy becomes FDR's secret wife. That's not her only secret.

This fictional biography written by a family member who knew Daisy is the untold true story of a hidden love and hidden contributions, and of a presidency that benefitted from both.

Winner of the PageTurner Award and Longlisted for the Historical Fiction Company Best Book 2022.

Days later, The Door appears again. He doesn't know where it will take him. All he knows is that he's desperate to see his wife again.

This is a story about a husband's sorrow, and where it takes him.

This is a story about grief.

This is a story about what we do when faced with the loss of those we love.

Stepping between the fantastical and the real, this modern fairy tale crystalises hope and mourning into a reflection on life itself.

Richly illustrated with evocative artwork by Becky Gough.

Read the 'mesmerising' memoir of the most controversial figure of the 2021 Afghanistan Evacuation, whose story captured global headlines.

Final Approach charts the turbulent flightpath between a jetsetting father and a planespotting son.

The 1970s were the final gasp of the Golden Age of Flying. Mark Blackburn grew up amidst this fuel-guzzling splendour, with airports his playground of choice. He came to adulthood well-heeled and well-travelled. However, he had to contend with his multimillionaire father.

Luxury cars. Private planes. Racing stables. Foreign Mistresses.

Paranoia, bullying and power plays.

At the centre was the inescapable pull of the father.

Half memoir and half travelogue, wrapped in an ode to planespotting, this is one man’s journey to break free.

It’s the trip of a lifetime. Take your seat and buckle up for take-off.

Dawson and Lucy hit Cape Town… and Cape Town hits back

When their new employer dies in a suspicious road accident and his brother, a South African government lawyer disappears in Cape Town, Dawson and Lucy are recalled to MI6. For once their mission is straightforward: liaise with Rebecca Erasmus of South African State Security and find the missing lawyer. Then Rebecca is kidnapped. Surely this has nothing to do with the forthcoming presidential election and the vengeful Chinese assassin in town…

Why are Dawson and Lucy held up at gunpoint on Table Mountain?

Why is a South African presidential candidate hiding in a vineyard?

How are the CIA and Chinese involved?

Can you fly a helicopter without scooping some goats up for the ride?

And what part does dreadful cooking have to play in proceedings?

White Road is a gritty eco-thriller set in the High Arctic, from the author of ‘surrealistic’, ‘powerful’ and ‘thought-provoking’ The Cannibal Spirit.

Death hides in the detail. He hides in plain sight.

Pencil-pushing risk-analyst Luke Smith finds himself with a bounty on his head, the police, the public and a paid assassin on his tail. A file accidentally sent to him in a high-stakes Initial Public Offering (IPO) transaction is his only clue. Inside lies the secret his client will kill to keep hidden.

On the run, he has no choice but to make London's underbelly his refuge. With nothing but the clothes on his back and his own wits, he must solve the file's mystery before he becomes just another mortality statistic.

Inspired by true events, The Mortality Thief is a razor-sharp and authentic thriller that's ripped from the headlines.

What you spy is what you get. Or is it?

Phil Osgood has it all. The wonderful wife, the fabulous kids, the lucrative career. He really only has one problem. He’s bored.

Quietly, Phil steps out of his lane and moonlights with a local detective. It’s a good compromise.

What starts as a diversion turns into a hunt for missing friends. When the hunt leads to bodies and Phil is implicated, the diversion gets personal – and deadly.

For the first time, Phil isn’t sure he’s going to win. And if he loses, he loses everything.