published books
“We modern oarsmen and women are sometimes asked to row as if our lives depended on it. lt is only Jumbo Edwards from the British Olympic rowing family who had to do that literally.”
Water’s Gleaming Gold
Oarsman, Olympian, Airman
The Story of Hugh ‘Jumbo’ Edwards
One wintry afternoon in 1943, a solitary airman lies injured and exhausted in an inflatable life raft. The debris of his Liberator bomber has disappeared beneath the waves of the Atlantic leaving behind a slick of black oil. He is the only survivor of a crew of eight. His name is Wing Commander Hugh ‘Jumbo’ Edwards, one of the greatest oarsmen of all time.
Eleven years earlier, at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Hugh 'Jumbo' Edwards thrilled thousands with an astonishing two gold medals won in a single hour. On this winter afternoon, in the loneliness of the North Atlantic and with darkness descending, he is now rowing to save his life.
Water’s Gleaming Gold is the incredible true story of the most extraordinary oarsman, Olympian, pilot, war hero and legendary British rowing coach. This is the tale of a man of courage and conviction – on a pursuit to redemption from public humiliation.
“One hell of a story”
Daniel James Brown, author of ‘The Boys in the Boat’
“A true Olympic and rowing hero, and a story that is both fascinating and truly dramatic”
Dan Snow, Historian, Oxford Blue and Broadcaster
“A remarkable life elegantly, and lovingly, told”
Matt Dickinson, The Times
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Publication date: 19.06.23
Format: Hardback
Page extent: 256 pages (estimated); over 60 illustrations
ISBN: 978-1999322656
Price: £20.00
“The hardest quality to find in musical theatre is a composer with a unique style and sound. Hereward Kaye has it.”
THE SHIP HITS THE FANS
He was discovered by Ray Davies of The Kinks, signed by EMI, sung and wrung dry by the Flying Pickets and his music brought to glorious life on the West End stage by Cameron Mackintosh.
The Ship Hits the Fans is one musician’s voyage into the rocks – and rocking on. Hereward Kaye’s memoir is a fascinating account of working alongside some of the biggest names in pop, rock and musical theatre. As well as taking us down the turbulent road of life as a musician, The Ship Hits the Fans reveals the inside story of Moby Dick the Musical. Moby Dick was Cameron Mackintosh’s latest extravaganza back in 1992 and eagerly anticipated, having become a minor cult on its way to The Piccadilly in London’s West End. But would it succeed and bring fame and fortune to Hereward, or fail and give the British Press the first chance they’d had to sink a musical produced by Cameron?
The Ship Hits the Fans is a life story unlike any other. A hilarious tale of a life in music and a show setting sail on waves of hope towards an ominous and lurking iceberg of critics.
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Author: Hereward Kaye
Format: Hardback (246 x 189 mm)
ISBN: 978-1-9993-2262-5
Page extent: 280 pages; 30+ black and white illustrations text goes here
Publication date: 16th September 2022
“It grips like a mystery novel but it isn’t fiction, it’s all true. Alison Cobb’s book is an evocative account of childhood, the childhood of a bright, mischievous girl with a remarkable father, her happiness marred by an enigma, the secret never to be told, the tragic secret which, like a detective, she eventually unravels.”
A Secret Never To Be TOLD
Unravelling the mystery of my missing mother
“I grew up with a mystery in my background: something important I was never told. My happy early childhood was spent in rural Norfolk, where I was brought up by my extrovert orthopaedic surgeon father. Tightly bound together, we took every opportunity to have fun. He would challenge me, aged six, to gallop across country with him. I sat on his lap steer-ing his Rolls as we raced to Newmarket to bet on horses. When he became an army surgeon and went to Palestine, North Africa and Italy, his loving fiancée looked after me as an evacuee in grand but run-down Norfolk houses. After the war, aged thirteen, I opened a file on my father’s desk and uncovered the truth. Nothing was the same for me again.”
A Secret Never to be Told is an absorbing story of a country upbringing in the early years of the Second World War, and later in Dublin. At the same time, it is a searching look at the experience of being aware that a profound truth about one’s life has been withheld. In attempting to discover what had happened to her mother, Alison Cobb explores the secrecy and even shame involved. It has taken most of her life to find out what really happened, and to understand the devastating impact that this had on her and on those around her. She throws light on some very dark corners but says that, mercifully, nowadays treatment can reduce the chance of the same thing happening.
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Author: Alison Cobb
Format: Hardback (246 x 189 mm)
ISBN: 978-1-9993-2263-2
Page extent: 396 pages; 40+ black and white illustrations
Publication date: 1st June 2022
PRIVATE COMMISSIONS include
The Brothers at War
By Ian Woolgar
The Brothers at War is an account of the wartime exploits of two brothers, Bill and Cecil Woolgar. Two ordinary lads of humble origins, Bill a baker and Cecil a hospital porter, both having never left their roots in the back streets of Hove, were now thrust into a conflict on the far side of the world.
A Tale Teller’s Tale
By Richard G. Constable
The personal remembrances and stories of Richard Constable and his family. From growing up in Sussex during the Second World War to working in the police force and construction industry, and retiring to the French countryside before a return back to his roots.
Flowers and Snow
by Madeleine H. Hyde
Edited by Jason Payne-James
The travel diaries of Madeleine Hyde, and her adventures in the Savoy Alps in 1913. The diaries are accompanied by beautifully hand drawn pen and ink illustrations by Madeleine.
For anyone who has an ambition to publish a non-fiction work on a topic they are fascinated by, write a children's book, a novel, or produce a memoir, getting a book published is an ambition for many people. But understanding the processes that go into self-publishing can appear daunting. For more information please contact Lapwing.