Whispered Torment

A compelling story based on the actual lives of a family living through the dying days of British Colonial rule in what was then Northern Rhodesia and is now Zambia, utilising extracts from the diary of Charles Barlow.

In 1945 Charles 'Chas' Barlow is a man in his 80s, with 3000 acres of farmland at Lemera, where he lives with his wife Beth who has a child called Rick from a previous marriage. As a stepson Rick is a burden to Chas, constantly owing money and not pulling his weight when employed.

With the birth of Rick's own first son, also named Charles, his wife Helene suffers serious postnatal depression and the elderly Chas and Beth find they are left to look after the new infant. Chas, in particular, becomes a real grandfather and mentor to the boy and this is later repeated with a second child named Jamie.

This real story of the two boys' upbringing, largely undertaken through the caring and indomitable spirit of Chas, together with the problems surrounding their parents, and those of running such a large farm, reflects strongly the historical background of the era, with all their lives so different to those in England at that time.

Gabriel Ellison has carefully woven a moving account which records the lives of Chas and Beth, and their close friends and grandchildren, using archival material from the period, with the book beginning and ending with poignant memories by their grandchild Jamie.

ISBN: 9781852001643 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 262pp

A traumatic suspense story that unfolds through two strong female dialogues.

Rosemary has just become a widow, and her account begins when she meets Vincent Walberg, a widower himself. He has two grown-up children, Alison and Doug, and lives on his own cattle ranch in Zambia.

Alison starts her account with early memories of her mother being ill, and the strange healing powers that come to her through `the whisperers' in her head. From the beginning, all she wants is to gratify her father.

When Rosemary marries Vincent and they live together on the farm, she soon discovers that her new daughter-in-law, Alison, is reticent to communicate and not the friend she had expected.

On discovering Rosemary's steamy and deceitful relationship with her brother Doug, Alison's vengeance knows no bounds. `The whisperers' return to her head and she knows she must rid her father of this treacherous woman. She wants him to herself.

What follows is a tortuous unfolding of anxiety and murder, with Rosemary succumbing to a state of drunken depression and unable to understand why everything has gone so wrong for her in this foreign land.

Meanwhile `the whisperers' in Alison's head become ever stronger.

ISBN: 9781852001575 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: Hardback 

Length: 184pp

The story of Gandoura travels from England to Zambia and documents the facts about the Lenshina Rebellion, a religious cult formed just before Zambia's independence, that issued passports to heaven for all their members, but was to end in massacre.

Peter Halley's life turns to one of vocation when he leaves the army after the Second World War and becomes one of the White Fathers; missionaries to Africa, identifiable by their white gandouras. His childhood in England had been difficult, with the early loss of his mother and his father's remarriage. There was an expectation that he should join his father as an architect, but the army's call was stronger.

Becoming a White Father is not easy for someone who has experienced years of reasonable affluence. In giving up all material thoughts of comfort and eschewing the woman he has known since childhood Peter's faith is truly proved.

He is sent to the mission in Abercorn, at that time in Northern Rhodesia, during a particularly difficult period. The Lenshina Rebellion is in full flow and many local people turn from the Roman Catholic Church to the Lumpa Church. Peter has particular experience of this through Chitalu, a girl who attends the mission school but whose family become followers of Alice Lenshina and the Lumpas.

Against this background the history of the Lenshina Rebellion and the battle of the United National Independence Party to gain independence for Zambia unfold The characters of the story becoming swept along by these historical events.

ISBN: 9781852001506 

Size: 217x140mm 

Binding: hardback 

Length: 315pp