2019

Edited by Anthony Barne’s grandson, Charles Barne

Anthony Barne started his diary in August 1939 as a young, recently-married captain in the Royal Dragoons stationed in Palestine. He wrote an entry for every day of the war, often with great difficulty, sometimes when dog-tired or under fire, and sometimes when things looked black and desperate, but more often in sunshine and optimism, surrounded by good fellows who kept one cheerful and helped one through the sad and difficult times’. His diary ends in July 1945, by which time he was commanding officer of the 4th Hussars, having recently visited Downing Street for lunch alone with the Churchills. The diaries have an enormous scope covering time in Palestine and Egypt before he joins the Eighth Army, describing the retreat back to El Alamein, the battle and its aftermath. He ends the campaign commanding his regiment. He often graphically details the physical realities of war: the appalling conditions in the desert, the bombardments of the regiment from the air, the deaths and serious injuries of fellow soldiers. In 1943, he flies down to Rhodesia to see his wife and infant son before returning to Cairo to join Churchill’s regiment, the 4th Hussars. Arriving in Italy in 1944, he recounts the campaign as the Allies push north. The tone of the diaries varies wildly: often witty, sometimes outrageous but also poignant and philosophical. The voice and attitudes are entertainingly dated, but are delivered with warmth, a charming turn of phrase and a keen eye for the absurd.

Rob Driscoll, former sergeant with 42 Commando, Royal Marines, served tours in Iraq, Kuwait and Kosovo. A born leader of fighting men, with the medals to prove it, he also endured three tours in Afghanistan. The third of those will go down in history as one of the UK military’s darkest hours, for it marked the first time a British serviceman has been tried for a murder on the battlefield since the Second World War.

That man was Sergeant Alexander Blackman, Rob Driscoll’s friend and fellow NCO in 42 Commando, and on the day in question they were commanding patrols within a few hundred yards of each other. Few men know what really went on that day in Helmand Province. Rob Driscoll is one. And in his book – with Blackman’s blessing – he reveals all.

Yet Fire a Lethal Shot is more than a compelling insight into one of the most controversial rulings in recent military history. It is a clear-eyed account of life on active service with the Royal Marines, of incursions into war-torn countries where chaos and anarchy ruled – and of risking your life daily for politicians back home who won’t support you. In charting its author’s career as a Royal Marine Commando, it unflinchingly demonstrates the real-life horrors of engaging at close quarters with enemies such as the Taliban – as well as the dangers that politics can bring to the ordinary fighting serviceman.

Sergeants Blackman and Driscoll were two sides of the same coin. One came home a hero, the other a wanted man. But for circumstance, it might have been the other way round.

A mother’s story behind one of the most dramatic true crime cases in recent history.

“I have lived every parent’s worst nightmare. On what would have been my daughter’s 29th birthday, Detective Superintendent Stephen Fulcher knocked on the door and told me my beautiful Becky was dead. She had been found buried in a shallow grave in a remote field in the Gloucestershire countryside. Becky had been brutally murdered.”

This is Karen’s story of an unbreakable love for her daughter despite unimaginable tragedy: from her despair through Becky’s troubled teenage years, to the agonising eight years when Becky was missing, and then the dramatic story of how a killer’s confession led to a terrible discovery.

Karen was thrown into a world where the truth was never guaranteed; where taxi driver Christopher Halliwell nearly got away with murder; where the police officer who found her daughter was punished instead. The one constant has been Karen’s determination to fight for Becky, tirelessly campaigning for the truth about what happened and Halliwell to face the consequences of his evil actions.

*The murders of Becky Godden-Edwards and Sian O’Callaghan will soon be the focus of major new ITV series A Confession starring Martin Freeman as Stephen Fulcher and Imelda Staunton as Karen Edwards.

Lolly Bruce spent several years in the lap of luxury, but now she’s back in a world she knows: London’s East End. Her guardian Mal Fury is doing time, so Lolly is working on the wrong side of the law to get by. She’ll need to use all her street smarts to keep her safe in Kellston.

Then one day the Old Bill turn up on her doorstep. Mal is on the run, but why when he has only months left to serve? Lolly is convinced the only thing Mal would escape for is news about the daughter he lost nineteen years ago. She’s the only thing he has left to lose.

Private Investigator Nick Trent knows better than to get involved with the Furys, but his better judgement doesn’t count for much when it comes to Lolly. Before he knows it he’s agreed to help her track down Mal, and take on whatever the East End underworld throws at them…

STOLEN is the sequel to Roberta’s Kray’s SURVIVOR, but can also be read as a standalone.

Much has been written about the brutal crimes of Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, and – thirty-five years after he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of thirteen women– scarcely a week goes by without some mention of him in the media.

In any story featuring Sutcliffe, however, his victims are incidental, often reduced to a tableau of nameless faces. But each woman was much more than the manner of her death, and in Somebody’s Mother, Somebody’s Daughter, Carol Ann Lee tells, for the first time, the stories of those women who came into Sutcliffe’s murderous orbit, restoring their individuality to them and giving a voice to their families, including the twenty-three children whom he left motherless.

Based on previously unpublished material and fresh, first-hand interviews the book examines the Yorkshire Ripper story from a new perspective: focusing on the women and putting the reader in a similar position to those who lived through that time. The killer, although we know his identity, remains a shadowy figure throughout, present only as the perpetrator of the attacks.

By talking to survivors and their families, and to the families of the murdered women, Carol Ann Lee gets to the core truths of their lives and experiences, not only at the hands of Sutcliffe but also with the Yorkshire Police and their crass and ham-fisted handling of the case, where the women were put into two categories: prostitutes and non-prostitutes. In this book they are, simply, women, and all have moving backstories.

The grim reality is that not enough has changed within society to make the angle this book takes on the Yorkshire Ripper case a purely historical one. Recent news stories have shown that women and girls who come forward to report serious crimes of a sexual nature are often judged as harshly – and often more so – than the men who have wronged them. The Rochdale sex abuse scandal, the allegations against Harvey Weinstein, and the US President’s deplorable comments about women are vivid reminders that those in positions of power regard women as second class citizens. At the same time, the discussions arising from these recent stories, and much of the reporting, show that women are judged today as much on their preferences, habits and appearance as they were at the time of the Yorkshire Ripper attacks. The son of Wilma McCann, Sutcliffe’s first known murder victim, told the author, ‘We still have a very long way to go’ and in that regard he is correct.

Victim. Prostitute. Gangster’s Wife. Survivor.

Tara grew up in squalor on the island of Alderney. When she was only four, she was sexually abused by one of her mother’s many lovers, a horror that continued for five long years. As a teenager, desperate to escape the toxic environment at home, she fled to London – but was swiftly drawn into working as a prostitute. She became involved with some of London’s most notorious gangsters – even marrying one – but when she realised the danger she was inflicting on her children, she knew she had to find a way to get out.

This is the inspiring story of one woman’s will to survive, and to fight for a better life.

The ultimate guide to finding the very best person for the job, from the world’s best recruiter.

A business is only as great as the people at its heart, making recruitment the most important key to success. In this book, James Reed – chairman of REED, Britain’s largest recruitment company – offers invaluable and specific advice on the secrets to excelling in recruitment.

This book is a step-by-step guide to becoming the best recruitment consultant you can be, focusing on strategy and practical advice while revealing the seven key attributes of a great recruiter. This book is an accessible read for recruiters at any stage of their career, packed with tips and examples from REED’s extensive network of recruitment professionals.

This thorough and honest book is a must-have for any recruiter.

It takes an employer just seven seconds to save or reject a job applicant’s CV. In this book, James Reed – chairman of REED, Britain’s largest recruitment company – offers invaluable and specific advice on what employers want to see in the CVs they receive and how you can stand out from the crowd.

Unlike other career development books, the honest advice presented here has been compiled from one-to-one interviews, surveys and countrywide workshops across REED’s network of recruitment consultants. This book is an accessible and enjoyable read, intensely practical and packed with pull-out quotes, layout examples and tips.

Find out what future employers are looking for and take the first step to start loving Mondays again.