The beautiful, ancient city of Durham, its breath-taking views, medieval Cathedral, bridges, cobblestone lanes and quiet, lilting river as well as its university and unpredictable students create the romance, humour and drama of this story.
CJ Grabham emigrated from the UK to Canada when he was six and has had a foot in both countries ever since, having been educated and taught in both. A major turning point came when, in his early twenties, he stumbled into Durham University one drizzly, autumn afternoon and asked if they would let him in. They did, and his life changed forever. Changed for the better, it might be said. But then, this was not unusual, for that place has a similar effect on all who go there.
Palace Green: Yes, I am still here, and I am still yours
The beautiful, ancient city of Durham, its breath-taking views, medieval Cathedral, bridges, cobblestone lanes and quiet, lilting river as well as its university and unpredictable students create the romance, humour and drama of this story. Wander back to the sixties and allow yourself to be swept up in this gentle, sometimes raucous, yet totally irresistible comedy.
Dog Bank
On a dark, foggy morning in late 19th century Newcastle, the clipper ship Courtesan slips quietly in to dock at Newcastle’s ancient Quayside precipitating events that, in a single day, rock this sleepy Victorian town. Opium is the cargo to be exchanged for untouched fancy goods – white, female, unblemished fancy goods – which will be returned to Courtesan’s far eastern suppliers as payment for the opium. Vice and virtue grapple. Murder, kidnapping, local justice and romance wrangle in a bid to save an unintentional beauty from transportation abroad.
The story centres on Dog Bank, a rundown shambles situated between Newcastle’s Quayside and the old town. Courtesan is captained by a mysterious, violent slave-trader known simply as The African. An innocent girl is kidnapped and tortured to serve the lust of The African. A local merchant is murdered. A self-righteous, novice detective, Rupert Fenshaw, is put on the case but warned by his superior to watch and do nothing.
Roma!
Rome, the eternal city, a wonderful place to visit – The Forum, Trevi Fountain, The Opera, Sistine Chapel, Coliseum, Tivoli Gardens.
Sound nice? Try it with a coach load of English High school students who have already had a belly full of marbled antiquity and are dying to get their talons into the real life of Rome – its local Lotharios. Hilarious fun.
Tristesse: Radicalized
A guy sees this gorgeous girl on a downtown street and falls immediately in love with her. She disappears in mysterious circumstances and later emerges amid fears of terrorist radicalization. Do they have the means to cripple the world?
Christabel: …confront your demons…
Sightings of supernatural predators lurking on the outskirts of Acomb throw this sleepy southern town into a tailspin. Suspicion, innuendo, false accusations and recriminations destroy a family living on the edge of poverty when Jenny discovers that her boyfriend is not all that she first thought him to be. The young, newly elected County Judge, David Slaughter, fights against the town’s inbred superstitions to get to the bottom of the lynchings, gruesome murders and a heart stopping kidnapping that bring the town to a psychotic stand still. Hold on tight. This fast-moving story will take your breath away. The ending is a shock.
Claiming April
Ever been so stupidly and hopelessly in love you didn’t know what was happening to you? Mr. Harper, high school English teacher, doesn’t realize it until a barmaid in a Windsor pub spots the signs and tells him. The hilarious developments in his one-sided love affair bring the whole school to a stand still. Students and teachers alike try to set him back on track before he goes totally berserk.Ever been so stupidly and hopelessly in love you didn’t know what was happening to you? Mr. Harper, high school English teacher, doesn’t realize it until a barmaid in a Windsor pub spots the signs and tells him. The hilarious developments in his one-sided love affair bring the whole school to a stand still. Students and teachers alike try to set him back on track before he goes totally berserk.
“You cannot mince feelings. Love is not like that. It’s a total commitment: total, without reservation. Hold the door open. Smile a lot. Accost her with your wit. Offer to carry her books. In everything you do and in everything you say, in every look, you must tell her.
“You’ve got the whole of the Sixth Form in a tote over who you’re knocking off and whether or not it’s a bloke. That one has got best odds of the lot. You’ve brought the whole of the school to a complete standstill, just because you are unable to contain that helter-skelter pituitary of yours, and we are all sick to death of it,” she said, then chastened, softened, added, “Well at least most of us. There is a hard core of soft-headed sixth form female romantics who think you are, to use their word, ‘wonderful’. But even these girls are off their lessons. You will have to come clean. Declare your love. Tell them who it is and be done with it.”