The Book Guild – serie

Route 116 To Sonoma is a helpful guide for navigating the various stages of life and career. Drawing on over thirty-five years of experience, Ross McWilliam explores the ‘Four Seasons of Life’. This book offers practical insights for young professionals starting their journey, those facing burnout, or anyone seeking a renewed sense of purpose.Ross emphasises the importance of reviewing who you are now, identifying gaps in your knowledge, and using this awareness to unlock your full potential. Sometimes, success might mean aiming for less, celebrating strengths, or redefining your goals altogether.Having worked with over 1,500 educational institutions and 500 businesses across a diverse spectrum, Ross brings a wealth of experience. He has impacted over a million people through keynote speaking, training, and writing. Route 116 To Sonoma is a valuable resource for anyone looking to achieve sustained success or to inspire others along their journey.

Gryff Morgan, a church-going Kentucky family man, hides a dark secret. Living under an assumed identity to avoid extradition to Argentina, not even his twin sons, Travis and Chase, know their comfortable lives are built on the proceeds of drug smuggling. Only his wife, Gwenna Garland—a failed singer—knows the truth of his Welsh origins.In South Wales, Huw and Rhys grow up believing their father died at sea before they were born. Their mother, Shirley, was left heartbroken, never revealing she was pregnant when tragedy drove him away.Three decades later, during NATO peacekeeping in Sarajevo, a chance meeting between Chase and a British soldier sets events in motion, bringing the four brothers’ worlds together. Betrayal and an explosive love triangle lead to a journey from Kentucky to South Wales, where family matriarch Lowri still waits for her missing son.As secrets unravel, Gryff and Gwenna’s daughter, Country music superstar Greer Garland, takes on the task of reuniting her fractured family. But can love and forgiveness heal decades of lies, or will the past prove too devastating to overcome?

Bailey would be lost without him. He’s made sure of it.He is the man everyone wants to be or be with. He is respected, charismatic, successful. But beneath the polished exterior lies a monster. For him, control is an addiction, more intoxicating than murder. And he should know.When Sophie and Bailey cross paths with him on a night out in London, their lives take a dark and irreversible turn. Sophie becomes his victim, silenced forever, and now forced to helplessly watch as her vibrant, confident best friend falls prey to his insidious web of coercion and control. Bailey, once full of hope for the future, now struggles to get through each day. But Sophie knows his horrifying secret. Worse still, she knows what will happen when he grows tired of his game...

When successful lawyer Nikki Harper’s disastrous date with Lewis, an insurance broker, leaves her questioning her life choices, a chance encounter introduces her to James Keller, Hollywood’s most enigmatic star.Swept into his dazzling world of fame and fortune, Nikki finds herself torn between thrilling adventures, heartfelt moments, and the harsh realities of his high-profile lifestyle.Will their connection overcome the challenges of their vastly different worlds, or is true love just another Hollywood illusion?Prepare for laughs, passion, and glamour in this captivating romance!

What would your life look like if you stopped waiting for permission to live it?In this powerful and practical guide, Lizzie shares her raw, unfiltered journey from approval-addicted people pleaser to a woman who trusts her gut and lives unapologetically. From uprooting her family from an off-grid paradise in Australia to chasing her dreams in the Scottish Highlands, Lizzie reveals how breaking free from society's rules can transform your life. If you’ve ever felt stuck, doubted yourself, or tied yourself in knots trying to make everyone else happy, this book is your wake-up call. Through relatable stories, actionable exercises, and a no-nonsense approach, you’ll learn to:Let go of the need for approvalSet boundaries without guiltTrust yourself and follow your desiresBuild a life that feels expansive, not restrictiveThis isn’t just a book—it’s a rebellion against the lie that you need to be “enough” for everyone else. The life you want is waiting. Stop seeking validation. Start believing in yourself. Because you don’t need anyone’s approval to live your best life.

When investigative journalist, Maggie Shields, dives into the disappearance of a high-profile missing person in her seaside town, she uncovers a tangled web of corruption, murder, and betrayal stretching back a decade.Still haunted by an unsolved murder she witnessed as a teenager—one her brother convinced her to stay silent about— Maggie is faced with a painful dilemma. And as she connects the dots between the two cases, Maggie exposes corporate cover-ups, a fatal data breach, and a deadly conspiracy…With her career and sanity on the line, Maggie turns to an AI therapist for support—only to question whether the AI is helping her or being used to sabotage her investigation. Battling threats, paranoia, and fractured trust, Maggie must confront her past and unravel the truth before it’s too late.Will she bring justice to light—or fall victim to the shadows?

What would happen if you won the multi-million jackpot on the National Lottery?Helen Pond’s ordinary life changes overnight when she wins an unexpected fortune. Helen must decide how to use her new-found wealth while keeping her identity a secret...She turns to best friend Ana, battling cancer, who urges her to embrace the new reality. With support from lottery advisors Ben and George, Helen starts to shape a plan — but when romance blossoms between her and Ben, things become far more complicated.After another big shock, Helen’s world begins to unravel and soon she realises that secrecy comes at a price. A ruthless journalist is determined to expose her and, as the pressure mounts, she is forced to confront what real wealth means.By navigating love, loss and the results of her decisions, will Helen discover what truly matters in life?

Fifty-something newspaper columnist, Frank Savage, pens a controversial piece calling for dogs and babies to be banned from cafés as his swansong to journalism. Instead of being dismissed, the column catapults him to stardom — and into further trouble.On a night out, Frank spots his arch-enemy, Brewster, 56 — an apparently reformed racist, homophobic football hooligan turned drug dealer, now a respected figure in the local community — whom he blames for his brother’s death.This coincides with the arrival of his eldest daughter, Naomi, whom Frank hasn’t seen for years. A genius with numbers, she works for an organised crime syndicate in London, headed by the Wise One, but is desperate to break free and go straight. The Syndicate places Naomi in the seaside town of Portobello, Edinburgh, to work alongside Brewster, overseeing their money laundering operation.As Naomi and Frank grow closer and begin to heal old wounds, neither realises they are both hiding secrets that would devastate the other.

A tale of ambition, creativity and deception unfolds in 14th century England, where three brothers seek their places in a world of strict social divisions.Oswin, the youngest brother, dreams of escaping their brutal father and the daily grind of life on a farm, but his odd behaviour casts doubt on his sanity and he is sent away to be treated by an alchemist. When he is discovered to have a remarkable singing voice he joins the choristers at a great abbey, at the same time becoming entangled in a web of commerce and hazardous experiments.It is only when Oswin is forced to return to his family that he is confronted by a startling revelation that threatens to change their lives forever...

From backstage to centre stage and theatres of war, Dance of the Earth is a sweeping family saga.Set against the backdrops of London’s gilded Alhambra music hall, Diaghilev’s dazzling Ballets Russes, and the upheavals of the First World War, Rose and her children, Nina and Walter, pursue their ambitions, loves, and dreams. Dance and music become both sanctuary and self-expression, shaping their identities and helping each of them find their place in the world.Spanning the years 1875 to 1921 — an era of profound artistic and social change — fact and fiction interweave in this tapestry of birth, sacrifice, and renewal. Art — both serious and comic — is at the story’s beating heart.

Families at War is a sweeping tale of love, loyalty, and the brutal legacy of war.Set across two decades and three countries Joseph Kennedy’s debut novel traces the fates of young people whose lives are torn apart by the rise of Nazism, the brutality of war, and the long shadow of its aftermath.In 1930s Friedrichshafen, an English Jewish student, Judith, shares an artistic bond with gentle, thoughtful Matthias—and the dangerous attention of their classmate, Hinrich, whose devotion to Nazi ideology curdles into obsession. When hatred erupts into violence, Judith flees Germany with her family to England, while Matthias is driven into the Wehrmacht. The war soon hurls them into opposite worlds: Judith becomes a wartime nurse confronting the horrors of the Blitz and the burns ward, while Matthias endures the Eastern Front, witnessing atrocities that fracture his faith and future.Across the Channel, in occupied France, the fearless Yolande risks everything in the Resistance, crossing paths with Hinrich in a deadly confrontation that will reverberate for years. As families hide, flee, resist, and simply try to survive, their choices entwine in unexpected ways.After the guns fall silent, an art exhibition on Lake Constance draws these fractured lives together once more. Scarred by memory yet searching for meaning, Judith and Matthias must face the love they lost—and the man whose hatred shaped their destinies.A story of courage and cruelty, survival and renewal, Families at War illuminates how love and art endure even in history’s darkest hours.

Munich & Vienna, 1932Aspiring opera singer Angelika Eder thought she had it all — a cultured life in Vienna, along with the guidance of her glamorous mother, a world-famous soprano. But when tragedy strikes and her mother dies amidst a swirling family scandal, eighteen-year-old Angelika finds herself uprooted to Munich, where civil unrest is rife and leaders of the increasingly powerful Nazi Party seek to use her voice as propaganda.When a figure from her mother’s past offers Angelika the chance to study and sing at an elite Viennese university, she decides to fight for her dream while evading the vile Nazis she despises. But the Nazis aren’t relenting in their demand that Angelika support their party and sing for Hitler himself. Can Angelika find her voice and stand against evil, even if it means risking not only her dreams of fame, but also the safety of herself and everyone she loves?

Consumed with grief after the loss of her mother, Esme begins to see and hear things that others can’t.Diagnosed with depression and anxiety, she hides her experiences, afraid she’s losing her mind. But everything changes after a session with her psychiatrist leads her to Perkin, a Canadian expat, and his mother, Toni, a reality researcher with unorthodox ideas.As Esme and Perkin grow closer, she starts to believe her visions might be more than just symptoms – they could be glimpses into hidden layers of reality. Together, they test the boundaries of perception and are drawn into a world as dangerous as it is beautiful, where nothing is quite what it seems.

This irreverently satirical book pokes fun at the bureaucracy rampaging across quango-land; the vagaries of office life, with its endless meetings, counter-productive wellness programmes and pointless motivational events; the absurdity of many corporate visions and missions; the comicality of jargon beloved by officialdom; the pomposity of inflated job titles; political correctness gone mad; and the wholesale takeover of our daily lives by digital technologies, including artificial intelligence.The book also attempts to defuse – albeit in a light-hearted way – some of the usage booby-traps strewn across the English language.We laugh at the comical name and farcical purpose of the organisation parodied in the book, at its absurd hierarchy and taxpayer-enabled profligacy, at the pointlessness of its frenzied working practices, at the abundance of its committees with their ridiculous names and remits and at its surreal rebranding exercise.We also chuckle at the highly inventive names of the book’s protagonists and gasp in disbelief at the linguistic ineptitude of the organisation’s editorial team and at the ludicrous phraseology used by the mocked bureaucrats in their countless policies, directives, rules, regulations, edicts, decrees, statutes, precepts, schedules, memoranda and the like.

Sabrina always dreamed of becoming a professional musician alongside her twin brother Alex – until his sudden death shattered everything. Overwhelmed by guilt and grief, she seizes her last chance to attend the prestigious Boston Music College, even if it means severing ties with her parents and charting her own path in life.Struggling to move forward without Alex, Sabrina navigates her first semester, where she meets River, a famous singer-songwriter teaching one of her courses as a visiting artist. What begins as an unlikely friendship quickly deepens into something more, but Sabrina isn’t the only one carrying the weight of the past.River knows all too well that love is not to be trusted. He already has everything he thought he needed: recognition, wealth, and the power to have any woman he desires. But is that really enough?As ambition and old wounds collide, Sabrina and River must confront their pasts and decide whether love is worth the risk or if some scars run too deep.

Join Stikki and his mate Rella on their second exciting adventure – full of mystery, danger, and the wonders of magic found in the most unexpected places.Winter has arrived in Hazy Hills Wood, covering everything in a blanket of snow.Food is hard to find, and the animals are getting hungry. To make things worse, there is a scary food thief on the prowl.Stikki heads out into the cold to find his secret stash, but when he doesn’t come home, Rella goes searching for him. A frightening journey looms ahead as Stikki and Rella are forced to confront their enemies and the dreaded longlegs.Deep in the heart of the ancient wood stands the animals’ sacred ash tree. When Brodboar the badger spots something strange high in the tree’s branches, he is shocked by the discovery and begins to worry. Is it a warning?With Stikki and Rella still missing, can the woodland animals work together to find their friends before it’s too late?

When Cougar Bill, lead guitarist and founder of the iconic pop group The Cougars, is found hanging from the rafters of his sprawling country home by a curious schoolboy, Detective Chief Inspector Max Bellamy is called in to investigate.Was it suicide—or something far more sinister? What links Bill’s death to a string of mysterious drownings from years past? And how much does Josie, Bill’s wife and the band’s manager, Eric Irwin, really know?As Bellamy digs deeper, he finds himself navigating a tangle of suspects, secrets, and those eager to dismiss the death as a suicide. But when threats are made against his wife, MP Louise Bellamy, the case becomes personal — and the stakes turn deadly.Will Bellamy uncover the truth before it's too late?

A disillusioned young British journalist, Harry Marks, is drawn into a covert intelligence operation in Istanbul by a charismatic agent named James. What begins as a casual friendship spirals into espionage, murder, and manipulation as Harry unknowingly becomes a pawn in a rogue Anglo-American mission to seize Saddam Hussein’s stolen wealth. Haunted, hunted, and morally compromised, Harry must choose between loyalty, survival, and the truth.The Istanbul Connection is a gripping, morally complex thriller that explores the blurred lines between ideology and manipulation.

When Amy’s boyfriend and soulmate, James, is killed in a road accident, her world shatters. Consumed by grief and desperate to know he’s all right, she turns to mediumship.Meanwhile, up in heaven, James is facing his own turmoil. A glitch in his celestial pain filter means he misses Amy and is dismayed by her heartbreak. He appeals to God for help with contacting her, but an underintuitive heavenly app and an elderly psychic are among the obstacles that stand in the way of communicating across the great divide. As Amy’s grief overwhelms her, despite the support of a new group of friends, James is compelled to take drastic action to convince her it’s time for a fresh start. But will divine intervention end up causing more harm than good?

When struggling author Dina falls through a portal into the mythical and forgotten land of Zagras, she’s thrust into a world of danger, magic and buried truths. With the help of Greg, a cynical, alcoholic centaur, and Drustan, a dethroned prince, Dina searches for a way home while trying to unravel how and why she ended up here.Hunted and haunted by mysterious beings, Dina’s journey leads her to The Library of the Untold; a vast and enchanted archive containing every story ever lived. There, she discovers her own book… but there’s a warning written by her future self. Dina must decide whether to return home or embrace the myth she’s become.

WWII Berlin. Freyja Bremer, a patriotic museum assistant, marries Kaspar Voigt, an ambitious SS scholar, to protect her father. Yet she is unaware her husband is instrumental in Himmler’s twisted quest for Aryan supremacy.As she strives to safeguard the priceless Priam’s Treasure from air raids, Freyja falls in love with Darien Lessing, an archaeologist who exposes the moral decay beneath the Regime’s myths. Her awakening drives her into perilous resistance – aiding a Jewish doctor and his wife, Darien’s sister – while uncovering Kaspar’s role in the SS’s darkest programmes, which subvert history to justify invasion, abduction and murder.As Berlin collapses into chaos and bloodshed, Freyja, caught between duty, deception and desire, must risk everything to preserve truth in a world built on lies.A heartbreaking yet triumphant love story, Fables & Lies shines light on lesser-known aspects of the Nazi Regime. It gives voice to the complex moral struggles of German women, the forgotten resistance of Gentiles married to Jews, the dangers of contested history, the evils of Himmler’s racial studies programme and the unsung bravery of German museum curators who saved their nation’s treasures.

A haunting tale of the ripples of war, the endurance of memory and the unbreakable threads of family.1915. When the RMS Lusitania is torpedoed by a German U-boat off the Irish coast, young parents Anita and Elmore are torn from their happy lives. They survive, but amid the chaos their infant son, John, is lost. Grief drives Elmore to vengeance on the battlefields of France, where he is reported missing in action. Shattered and alone, Anita seeks solace across the Atlantic, carving out a fragile existence on her aunt’s Californian ranch and with the wealthy McKinneys in colonial Nassau, before finally settling in the shadows of New York’s skyline.Scotland, 1960. Twenty-two-year-old Charles is summoned to his grandfather’s deathbed and handed a mysterious package containing a child’s jacket and a bracelet. As curiosity turns to obsession, Charles embarks on a journey that will span decades, unravel a half-century-old mystery and lead him to a woman whose story was almost lost to time.

When Flight MH066 mysteriously vanishes an hour after leaving Kuala Lumpur, the world assumes catastrophe.In truth, its passengers are en route to an abandoned Soviet airbase in Tajikistan, recruited into Project Lazarus, a covert scheme offering broken souls a chance to begin again. At its center is James, a former MI6 officer determined to seize control of his life by giving others an escape from theirs.But in New York, solitary conspiracy theorist Truman becomes convinced the passengers survived and builds an AI tool to prove it. His search leads him to Pauline, a British woman fleeing unbearable grief, and to Rami and Amara, lovers defying the conflict that divides them.As secrets unravel and pasts refuse to stay buried, Project Lazarus begins to fracture. Is reinvention ever truly possible, or does truth always find a way home?Nothing Left to Lose is a gripping, thought-provoking story of survival, identity and the price of freedom.

1126. The Norman conquest grips Wales. Rebellion stirs. And one woman’s choice could ignite it all.Nineteen-year-old Angharad, the daughter of a Norman knight and a captive Welsh princess, arrives at Aberteifi Castle for her mother's arranged marriage. But her new stepfather, the merciless Norman commander of the castle, has other plans. He demands that Angharad expose her mother, Nesta, as a secret rebel or be cast out to die.To survive, Angharad presses Nesta to reveal the truth about her past: as a Welsh princess stolen by invaders, the victim of wars and betrayals, the seductress of kings and princes. As Nesta’s story unfolds, Angharad discovers a legacy more dangerous than she could have imagined, and must decide whether to protect her mother or herself…

How could the scuzziest man in the world and the kindest woman alive ever fall in love?Arnie Garth has it all. An LA porn empire, a gorgeous pornstar mistress and a legendary wife. Unfortunately, he has the morals of a sewer rat. And when he finds himself on his premature deathbed, he receives some unexpected news: he has no soul.According to the Keeper of Souls, he was born without one. A heavenly clerical error. His was mistakenly given to the baby girl behind him in the queue – a sweet, selfless Englishwoman named Noreen Milburn, who now has two.To avoid a fate worse than death, Arnie has just one week to find Noreen, fall genuinely in love with her, and make her fall for him too. No explanations. No shortcuts. Just real love. The problem? Noreen is a sheep-loving Lake District shepherdess who prefers charity work to men, while Arnie’s world is full of porn stars, a furious wife and a hired hitman.The route to true love runs from LA to Cumbria to Las Vegas. But will it find its way home?

1828, Suffolk.Twenty-four-year-old Jane Groom is left devastated when her world collapses after being dismissed from her respectable post as housekeeper at Worthley Rectory. With few prospects and her family circumstances increasingly precarious, Jane must navigate the dangers faced by an unprotected young woman seeking employment.She accepts a position at Worthley Hall, home of the affable yet troubled Squire Jonathan Bartlett, and soon finds herself drawn into the tangled affairs of the influential Bartletts and the formidable Bacon family of nearby Redgrove. As whispers of scandal and betrayal circulate, Jane becomes both confidante and pawn, in the path of the calculating Philip Bacon.When secrets from her mother’s past resurface and Jane’s safety is threatened, she is forced to question whom she can trust and where she truly belongs. With her reputation and future at stake, Jane must decide whether to flee Worthley forever, or claim the life she was never meant to have.

Welcome to the wonderful world of opera – and in particular Don Giovanni, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Aida, Carmen, La Bohème, Tosca, and Madam Butterfly. You may be familiar with some or all of these eight blockbuster operas by name, but how well do you know the compelling tales they tell?When Robins Nest brings them vividly to life in an accessible collection of eight short-story adaptations. From beginning to end, the action is unrelenting as it explores age-old themes of life and death, love and lust, loyalty and betrayal, humour and despair, and so much more.The true rewards of discovering opera lie in attending live performances, where story, singers, acting, and orchestra combine with sets, costumes, lighting, and direction to create thrilling moments of joy and pain, tears and laughter. Taking your first steps into opera may seem daunting, but the stories chosen for this entertaining collection offer a seductive introduction for anyone wishing to dip their toes.

Thursday 1st September 2039. On the centenary of the Second World War, atheist scientist Chris Deckers exploits the planet’s most powerful computer to reveal something so cataclysmic it makes five thousand years of recorded human history – wars, empires, revolutions, the lot – look like an underwhelming warm-up act.ERROR 404: GOD NOT FOUND.Yup. According to the most intelligent intelligence on the planet, the big old guy, as advertised, is a big old lie, dreamt up by Bronze Age shepherds who figured the only way to stop everyone coveting their oxen was to invent a punitive sky parent with an eggshell ego. And they left irrefutable evidence of their shaggy God story behind.Deckers should be rejoicing as his rational Eden is born. Instead, the baby’s screaming. Civilisation has lost its existential marbles and the God-shaped hole he crowbarred open is being rapidly filled by something far more sinister.In a race to save humanity’s soul, Deckers must face the one question he never thought to ask. What if faith matters more than facts?

At sixty-three, Anne Hough stepped aboard a Clipper Race yacht and into an experience that would test her as never before. This is a vivid account of fortitude, resilience, and adventure, following Anne and her crew as they race around the world’s great oceans in often treacherous conditions.From the fanfare of departure under Tower Bridge to the isolation of the Southern Ocean, from hurricanes and doldrums to record-breaking ocean sprints, the story captures life on a racing yacht pushed relentlessly to its limits. Crew blogs woven throughout give intimate, personal insight.Seen through the eyes of both sailor and crew, this is not just a chronicle of a race, but of human endurance: the strain of teamwork, the pull of home, and the beauty of the natural world when viewed from a boat surfing down giant waves at over twenty knots.