In this heart-warming tale of female empowerment, a young woman comes to terms with the revelation that she may be able to fly.
Alison Spedding is a loner; no real friends, no boyfriend and a job in which she goes unnoticed. At thirty-two, her only passion is birdwatching. One afternoon, high on a Scottish mountain, earnestly waiting for the rarest of sights - a white tailed eagle returning to its nest - she slips, falling silently. In shock, her fellow twitchers return to the hostel to raise the alarm, heavy with the realisation that she must be dead. What they find shocks them even more. Alison is already there, alive and unscathed...Further similar episodes cause Alison's grip on reality to slip, her mind spiralling towards breaking point. In her dreams she sees a huge shadow on the ground, as if there was a creature above her, a creature with huge wings...Her infatuated colleague Jed is concerned. Can he intervene before Alison finally loses control?
This is an extraordinary novel, exploring one woman's identity whilst posing universal questions: Who is she? Where does she belong? And must she accept her fate, or can she spread her wings and be free at last?
The sweeping love story at the heart of the Second World War, vividly reimagining General Eisenhower and Kay Summersby's infamous, star-crossed affairIn his latest historical novel Ike and Kay, acclaimed author James MacManus brings to life an unbelievably true and controversial romance and the poignant characters and personalities that shaped the course of world history.In 1942, Kay Summersby's life is changed forever when she is conscripted to drive General Eisenhower on his fact-finding visit to wartime London. Despite Eisenhower's marriage to Mamie, the pair takes an immediate liking to each other and he buys Kay a rare wartime luxury: a box of chocolates.So begins a tumultuous relationship that, against all military regulation, sees Kay traveling with Eisenhower on missions to far-flung places before the final assault on Nazi Germany. The general does dangerously little to conceal his affair with the woman widely known as "Ike's shadow," and in letters Mamie bemoans his new obsession with "Ireland." That does not stop him from using his influence to grant Kay citizenship and rank in the US army, drawing her closer still when he returns to America. When officials discover Eisenhower's plans to divorce from his wife they threaten the fragile but passionate affair, and Kay is forced to take desperate measures to hold onto the man she loves ...Based on the scandalous true story of General Eisenhower's secret World War II love affair, Ike and Kay is a compelling story of love, duty, sacrifice, and heartbreak, set against the backdrop of the most tumultuous period of the twentieth century.
In 1942, Cork-born Kay Summersby's life is changed forever when she is tasked with driving General Eisenhower on his fact-finding visit to wartime London. The pair takes an immediate liking to one another and so begins a tumultuous relationship against all military regulations. Kay becomes known as "Ike's shadow," but that does not stop him from using his influence to grant Kay US citizenship. When the US authorities discover Eisenhower's plans, Kay is forced to take desperate measures to hold onto the man she loves...
Berlin in the spring of 1939. Hitler is preparing for war. Colonel Noel Macrae, a British diplomat, plans the ultimate sacrifice to stop him. The West's appeasement policies have failed. There is only one alternative: assassination. The Gestapo, aware of Macrae's hostility, seeks to compromise him in their infamous brothel. There Macrae meets and falls in love with Sara, a Jewish woman blackmailed into becoming a Nazi courtesan.
Macrae finds himself trapped between the blind policies of his government and the dark world of betrayal and deception in Berlin. As he seeks to save the woman he loves from the brutality of the Gestapo, he defies his government and plans direct action to avert what he knows will be a global war.
Inspired by true events and characters, James MacManus' Midnight in Berlin is a passionate story that will leave you in awe of the human capacity for courage, sacrifice, and love set against a world on the brink of war.
"MacManus sets the 'dark soul' of Nazi Berlin as his backdrop, using historical characters like the brilliant historian William Shirer and the flamboyant Hermann Göring to strengthen his fictional cast...Detailed yet quick-moving, MacManus' tense, morally charged narrative ends with a possible sequel in sight."-Kirkus Reviews
Berlin, 1938: Newly-appointed military attaché Noel Macrae and his extrovert wife Primrose arrive at the British Embassy. Prime Minister Chamberlain is intent on placating Nazi Germany, but Macrae is less so. Gathering vital intelligence, Macrae is drawn to Kitty Schmidt's Salon (a Nazi bordello) and its enigmatic Jewish hostess Sara Sternschein, who is a treasure-trove of knowledge about the Nazi hierarchy in a city of lies, spies and secrets. Does she hold the key to thwarting Hitler?
It's January 1941, and the Blitz is devastating England. As America maintains its isolationist position, Churchill knows that Britain is doomed without its powerful ally. Harry Hopkins, President Roosevelt's most trusted adviser, is sent to London as his emissary, and comes face to face with the Prime Minister himself and an attractive and determined young female driver who may not be what she seems.
