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Beyond the Veil by Mirabelle Maslin

Spiral patterns in a book, a strange tape of music from Russia, and an oddly carved walking stick all have a profound effect on a group of friends in England. Ellen is thirty-something and alone, until a chance meeting with a young widower, Adam Thomas, starts a chain of uncanny events which enthrall and endanger them both. Choice and contingency, happenstance and coincidence all blend to bring the two together, and lift the pall of loss covering their lives.

A rich backdrop of music, archaeology, books and plant lore enables the author of Beyond the Veil to touch deeper issues of bereavement, friendship, illness, recovery and the impact of objects from the past on our lives. Altered states, heightened sensitivities and unseen communications are also explored, as is the nature of spiritual ecstasy, in a thoughtful novel that gives separate paths an unusual and satisfying convergence

The debut novel from Mirabelle Maslin

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Carl by Mirabelle Maslin

This book is predominantly about sexual abuse of children with its long-term consequences and therapeutic aspects.  It is couched in the arena of broader social comment.  It is in two parts: the first is presented as fiction and the second is a number of relevant submissions and essays.  The main author, Mirabelle Maslin, is a therapist of many years' experience.  The final essay was written by a psychiatrist - Dr W N Taylor.

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Letters to my Paper Lover by Fleur Soignon

The second book to be published by Augur Press is the debut novel from author Fleur Soignon, 'Letters to my Paper Lover'.

Annette is a mature woman with a wide circle of good friends and an interesting and stimulating job teaching biology at the local college. But something is wrong. She gradually realises that since the departure of her husband-to-be some years previously, she had unconsciously avoided any kind of closeness that might lead to deepening intimacy.

Becoming determined to help herself, she creates an imaginary lover to whom she writes with complete freedom and increasing confidence.

Through the course of this "correspondence" she reassesses her intimate life of the past, and she moves into a new spontaneity and lightness as her writing begins to reveal more of her true nature. She finds herself responding to the warm friendship of a colleague, a widower...

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Fay by Mirabelle Maslin

Fay is suffering from a mysterious illness. Her family and friends are concerned about her. In her vulnerable state, she begins to be affected by something more than intuition, and at first no one can make sense of it.

Alongside the preparation for her daughter's wedding, she is drawn into new situations together with resonances of lives that are long past, and at last the central meaning of her struggles begins to emerge.

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Tracy by Mirabelle Maslin

Based on the lives of young people around 10-14 years the next novel from author Mirabelle Maslin, and the first title from Augur Press, is 'Tracy'.

Based on a summer holiday that Tracy spends with her cousin and aunt the story includes quite complex relationship dilemmas, together with interaction about issues such as drugs and alcohol. Importantly it also includes how the girls learn to engage with adults and friends in a way that leads to positive outcomes for their problems.

Review of Tracy in Families Magazine
This is a book aimed at girls from 9 to 15 years old by the author of 'Beyond the Veil'. Although it is a novel, it was written by a therpist with the specific intention of helping young people to understand their feelings and communicate effectively about their emotional dilemmas, with a consequent opening up of positive choices in life. Tracy is 12 years olf, spending the summer helping out in a bed and breakfast with an older cousin, Flora. Through the book she comes across some situations which make her feel awkward and which she has difficulty in expressing.
I very much liked the safety and reassuring tone of the book, which really helps to explain that children and younger teenagers need to put their feelings into words and discuss them with someone trusted - and that other people have the same sort of feelings. My children both liked this book and found it very easy to read - and it sparked off quite a few interesting conversations. Rating 5/5 stars.

Read more reviews of 'Tracy'

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On a Dog Lead by Mirabelle Maslin

I am a therapist of many years' experience. I have written this collection of essays, short stories and reflections as my contribution to helping any reader to see more clearly what is happening in daily life in his or her immediate surroundings. The subjects in this collection of writings are drawn from a broad range of human experience, and they touch the daily lives of most of us, whether or not this is apparent.

In our society, we are mostly helped to see what we are meant to see. But each household, be it single person or more, has much that is hidden from view, and society itself (the collective version of the household) shares many tacitly-agreed 'blindnesses'. Those who comment openly upon secrets and blindnesses find that they have a mixed reception. The Tale of the Emperor's New Clothes is far from having lost its relevance, and of course, we all accept that the world is not flat!

Much of our understanding of life is programmed in us by what we have seen and experienced around us when we were small. Unless we make considerable efforts to find ways in which we can view this original patterning in an objective light, we are likely to continue to enact the habits and belief systems which we absorbed during our early years. Such causal links might not be obvious to those who live life without looking sufficiently beneath the surface, and the consequence of becoming aware of them can at times provoke feelings of denial and shock. However, we must accept the fundamental truth that full or partial obscurity only serves to enhance the power of the links and their consequences.

Mirabelle Maslin

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Poems of Wartime Years by Dr W N Taylor

My experience of World War II was in the Far East - South East Asia Command (SEAC), but these are not 'war poems' in the ordinary sense. They are thoughts and memories of the periphery rather than the centre of action, and reflections afterwards in subsequent years, some pertaining to other wars, bearing the stamp of futility, cynicism, sadness and a flicker of hope.

I was a medical student when the war began in 1939, larking about with my friends, (see A Cycle of Sonnets) but knowing that when we qualified we would be called up. After serving with an infantry battalion in coastal defence on the Isle of Wight, I was posted to a West African division and accompanied them into the jungles of Burma. This involved a fight against disease as well as the Japanese. When this was over, I sailed off with my African soldiers and returned them to their homes in the Gold Coast, now called Ghana.

Before demobilisation I served for a short time in a prisoner-of-war camp in Scotland, attending to German prisoners. It was disconcerting to be back in civilian life. Peace was full of unease, and hardly seemed peaceful. The effect of the war on social life, and upon my reaction to it, was disturbing. Our culture had changed, and I felt not for the better. I was uneasy; and thinking moreover of the international unrest and subsequent wars, I wondered what it was all leading to. I still wonder.

W N Taylor

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Hemiplegic Utopia by Lee Seymour

This is a collection of short stories from first-time author Lee Seymour - based around his interpretation of the world which surrounds him.

Lee was born suffering from a condition known as hemiplegia, and he struggles valiantly with this lifelong impairment. In this book he deals with a range of issues such as bullying, death, family and sex. His brief and sometimes frank admissions are a breath of fresh air in a society that fails to understand that disability isn't something to be scared of.

"If you believe what my grandmother says, I've been touched by the hand of God. I've suffered (if you can call it that) from hemiplegia since birth. It's a form of cerebral palsy that affects one side of the body. My family were told I'd never walk, play for Manchester United or be a concert pianist. First of all it'd be a cardinal sin to change my allegiance to the red side of the city... and secondly, I'm more of a drumming fan than a keys man.
I defied the critics, and walked before I started school. Granted, I may go about my business on the left toes and right heel - though surely, if that's the only hindrance I've to put up with, I'll be doing fine. That, and a left arm which has a mind of its own."

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Emily by Mirabelle Maslin

This is a 'stand alone' novel, but is also the sequel to both Beyond the Veil and Fay.

Orphaned by the age of ten, Emily lives with her Aunt Jane. While preparing to move house, they come across an old diary of Jane's, and she shows Emily some intriguing spiral patterns that appeared in it just before she, Emily, was born. Clearly no passing curiosity, these patterns begin to affect Emily in ways that no one can understand, and as time passes, something momentous begins to form in their lives.While studying at university, Emily meets Barnaby. Sensing that they have been drawn together for a common purpose, they discover that each carries a crucial part of an unfinished puzzle from years past. It is only then that Emily's true purpose is revealed.

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The Poetry Catchers by The Pupils of Craigton Primary School

Craigton Primary is an inner-city school in Glasgow, Scotland. It has over 200 poetry-mad pupils, and it is the first school in Glasgow to have its own poetry library! All of us have written a poem for this wonderful book. We have picked our favourite poems, and we hope that you enjoy reading them as much as we have enjoyed writing them.

We have been inspired by Michael Rosen and our poetry-loving teacher, Mrs McCay. These poems include a selection of WACKY, WITTY and WONDERFUL thoughts, taken from our real-life experiences. Some of the poems will bring a tear to your eye, and others will make you cry with laughter. Why don't you open the book and see what's inside?

The Pupils of Craigton Primary School

Images from the launch event:


The event was covered in this article from the Evening Times.

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The Fifth Key by Mirabelle Maslin

Soon after Nicholas' thirteenth birthday, his great-uncle John reveals to him a secret - handed down through hundreds of years to the 'chosen one' in every second generation. John is very old. His house has long since fallen into disrepair, and as Nicholas begins to learn about the fifth key and the pledge, John falls ill. Facing these new challenges and helping to repair John's house, Nicholas begins to discover his maturing strengths.The unexpected appearance of Jake, the traveller whom Nicholas has barely known as his much older brother, heralds a sequence of events that could never have been predicted, and a bond grows between the brothers that evolves beyond the struggles of their ancestors and of Jake's early life.

Mirabelle Maslin

This book is available 16 Nov 2008.

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