A sweeping account of Irish and Scottish families, The Rag Boiler's Daughter portrays one woman's resolve to provide her children with a brighter future. This story follows Maggie Gilliland from her birth in Denny, Scotland in 1865 and spans the factories of 19th Century Scotland, the Irish War of Independence, two world wars and a family's migration to Lithgow, Australia. The daughter of a rag boiler and an iron miner, Maggie herself was the mother of seventeen children - nearly half of whom she buried. Touched by an epic string of losses and blessings, Maggie strove towards the hope of giving her surviving children a better life as she gave them the very best of herself. Maggie's story is timeless. Starting with the determination of working class people to improve their conditions, this story begins with Maggie's mother insisting that her daughter learn to read. With succinct historic accounts coloured by intimate emotional conflicts, Shepheard draws a map around her family history, inviting readers to glimpse a portrait familiar to so many whose common roots meet as the children of migrants. As one of the 2011 IP Picks judges raved: 'By the end of the story, I am in love with this family, their curious and complex relationships and their unabated hope'.

Bill Jackman is a senior Freemason who writes to raise money for Masonic Charities. Bill has also written poetry to raise funds for Air ambulance and the local Hospice. His first non fiction book was Masonic Memorabilia for Collectors, which sold thousands of copies all over the world. He has appeared on various antique programs on television and his poetry has been read out on Radio Bristol. This is hos first work of fiction.

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“Taylor Anderson is one of the best at military science fiction as his plots combine cerebral thought-provoking issues within a great adventure tale; the alternate realm of the Destroyermen saga is worth the journey.”—Alternative Worlds Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy of USS Walker has found an unlikely ally in Commodore Jenks of the New Britain Imperial Navy. And now they are united in their desire to find a traitor who abducted the women they would die for: Reddy’s love, nurse Sandra Ticker, and young Princess Rebecca of the New British Empire. But when Reddy and Jenks report the situation to the New Britain Company, it soon becomes obvious that the ruthless Company is attempting to overthrow the Imperial throne—and that someone involved knows where Sandra and Rebecca are. And Reddy must navigate through a tempest of politics, deception, and betrayal if he is ever going to save the hostages and live to fight another day…