“The Clean Up” is a new book from a new author, set around an unnamed town in the central Algarve (could it be Albufeira?). It follows the daily trials and tribulations of an immigrant chef, unwittingly caught up in a mysterious sting, aimed at defrauding a pair of foreign businessmen with an eye on a quick buck.
If all you know about the conquistadors is what you learned in school, or if you’re the type who finds an excursion into their times irresistible, then a new book entitled Conquistador Voices (Spruce Tree Press, Oct. 2015) may be for you.
In this two-volume set written for the general reader, author Kevin H. Siepel takes you on the expeditions of five European explorers or conquistadors, using - to a greater extent than usual in historical works - the writings of the expedition participants themselves, allowing them to tell their own version of events, and supplying connecting narrative in the manner of a film documentary. The book therefore reads not as a dry, standard history book, but rather as a series of cohesive, lively stories told by the men who were there.
Two expats living in Lisbon have published their second crime novel. And once again, a substantial part of the action and the plot takes place in Portugal - this time, in the Algarve.
Axel Bugge and Barry Hatton, both senior foreign correspondents, write fiction together under the pseudonym Axel G. Barry.
They achieved their first success with “Lisbon Water Kills”, published in 2013, which took readers into the murky and deadly underworld of international finance during the European debt crisis. It featured colourful scenes in Lisbon and the Alentejo.
Algarve author Karl Bradshaw-White will have his debut children’s book published this month.
‘The Adventures of Flossy’ is a charming, lightly humorous story of a naïve but rather vain dragonfly called Flossy! Flossy the dragonfly spends the day flying about, saying hello to lots of different animals, including the very loud bullfrog Morris, the beautiful but ever-so-busy kingfisher, some not very bright sheep and Horace the pig. What unpleasant eating habits they have!
The book launch of ‘Touching Lives: Remarkable People and Places in the Western Algarve” went really well at Lagos Cultural Centre on Tuesday 10th November. There were lots of people including Portuguese, English, Scandinavians, French, Dutch and Romanians - a veritable cross cultural event.
Many of the people I had written about were there, with market people offering regional delicacies and organic wine from a local vineyard Monte da Casteleja.
Marian Clowes is an administrator at Salford into Work, a recruitment and training company assisting unemployed people to gain employment. Prompted by their boss, Barry Milton some staff are making fraudulent claims to the government funding body.
Marian is suspected of being a whistle blower. She is also a member of a group called Harmony Earth which is protesting against FrackUK a company prospecting for shale gas.
Author Janice Russell was a great fan of intelligent fiction with a humorous turn. Yet she noticed that the lighter women's literature (or chick-lit) had a decided flaw: it seemed to stop at forty. As if women in their twenties and thirties had an exciting time working out life, had passionate or disastrous affairs, and then – nothing. What happened to these hapless heroines? Did they just grow up, settle down, and know everything? Janice didn't think so, and so she tasked herself with creating an intelligent, strong, yet still somewhat bemused character – of 50. The result was An Algarve Affair, hilarious and poignant, intelligent and post-feminist.
Marilyn has captivated the world since she first appeared on the screens back in the late 1940s. Even after her mysterious death in 1962, the iconic blond has continued to inspire and mesmerize us with her benchmark looks, smile and sex appeal. There are countless books about her life - both the good and the tragic. But there has yet to be a book like DEAD BUT NOT GONE.
