Seaton's Orchid

'Hardy opens a revealing window into the ills of Empire and the savagery that mankind can so easily revert to and delivers a true punch to the gut, with fascinating echoes of his Writers Guild screenplay for TABOO, the sequel of which many of us are still eager to see, and the murky jungle epics of Joseph Conrad.' 
Maxim Jakubowski, Crimetime 
“A finely-paced and haunting story of a man – himself haunted and unsettled by the events of his past – coming to terms with the growing disorder of a world between the wars starting to fracture around him and already drawing towards its own unhappy conclusion. Part Joseph Conrad, part L.P.Hartley, Seaton’s Orchid will appeal to fans of both.” 
Robert Edric, prizewinning author\nSEATON’S ORCHID from Chips Hardy, co-creator with his son Tom Hardy of the acclaimed TV series “Taboo,” is a powerful, provocative and emotionally raw character portrait of a man haunted by a crime against nature, denied redemption, confronted by polite society, and forced to reconcile memories of a self he can no longer recognise.\nSet between WW1 and WW2, SEATON’S ORCHID tells the story of the enigmatic Captain Ainsley Seaton – a retired, much decorated professional solider, amateur explorer and artist living a reclusive life in Highleigh, a charming English village in West Sussex.\nSeaton’s quiet existence is shattered when his well-buried past is unexpectedly resurrected over dinner by a shadowy Church diplomat, who seems to know more about Seaton’s history than he does. Forced to re-open chapters of his life that he has been at such pains to forget – from the phantasmal, savage events that unfolded in the deep jungle of the North-West Amazon to the horrors of the Western Front – Seaton withdraws into characteristic seclusion. But the diplomat refuses to let matters lie, and for his own secret purpose will stop at nothing to get to the truth; a truth which reverberates through the village itself, and beyond, with devastating results.\nChips Hardy has written successfully for television, theatre, film and publication. SEATON’S ORCHID reflects upon many of the preoccupations he developed in the acclaimed TV series “TABOO,” which he co-created, wrote and produced with his son, Tom Hardy, and which earned him the Writers Guild of Great Britain award for Best Long Form TV Drama. Here he expands upon his investigation into dislocation and social dysfunction, the dark processes of Empires and their institutions, and the quest for personal redemption for those who have crossed a line of no return.\nWhat the critics said about Hardy's ‘Taboo':\nDark, brooding and consistently brilliant. 
The Observer 
Taboo is a work of Wicker Man genius. Taboo might be full of grime and torment but it’s also dry-witted, shot through with sharp and knowing one-liners. 
The Guardian 
The best thing on television…Taboo has a strong plot at its dark heart. You want to know what will happen next, which is refreshing. 
The Sunday Times 
Dark, compelling and often haunting... one of the more unique and thoughtful offerings of the new year. 
Los Angeles Times 
A swaggering brute of a costume drama. 
Daily Telegraph 
One of the most extraordinary, subversive, dramas British television has ever produced. 
Daily Mail 
Taboo takes the grim and distant world of 19th century London to extremes of darkness and wonder…. If Charles Dickens had been a TV scriptwriter, then he might have come up with something like this. 
Daily Express 
If you like your historical fiction grim and your cobblestones dirt-caked, if you don’t mind looking into some of humanity’s bleaker facets, this one’s for you. 
Boston Globe 
It is filled with darkness, danger and mystery, and has a level of quality and import not often seen in television miniseries. 
San Francisco Chronicle

Literature & Fiction

Hardy, Chips

Genre Fiction

Chiselbury

Before Hiroshima: A history of the fall of Hong Kong and Singapore and the aftermath during World War II

History

Jeynes, Dr. Jacqueline

Asia

The Casual Historian presents The Early Plantagenets

McLean, Alan

Europe

This biography of Jack Maurice Nissenthall, written by his daughter, Linda Nissen Samuels, draws heavily on Jack’s own writings: The Wizard War, an unpublished autobiographical account of his part in the development of radar before and during WW2 and its impact on the eventual outcome, and original letters and photos. Through them, we hear this Unsung War Hero telling his own story in his own words.\nAt the heart of Jack’s story is the written order that he accepted, as the anonymous “RDF (Range and Direction Finding, an early term for radar) expert” - that he was to be “adequately protected” by bodyguards from the South Saskatchewan Regiment because “under no circumstances” was he to be allowed to fall into enemy hands. Effectively, this meant that ten Canadian soldiers specifically tasked to assist him, were also, in Jack’s own words, “a sort of negative safeguard”, “my execution squad”. That he was not captured and did indeed survive was due partly to his physical fitness and the “cheerful and resourceful courage that shows in this book.” (From the Foreword to Jack’s own manuscript- written by Prof R. V. Jones, Britain’s Assistant Director of Air Intelligence in World War II.)\nThis present book answers the question: what made him do it?\nIt also recounts many episodes which demonstrate how Jack’s whole life exemplifies dictionary definitions of a hero – as a person of high moral integrity, resourceful, passionate and patient, energetic, courageous, confident and caring who willingly takes risks and makes sacrifices for others. But Jack is not a common-or-garden, rough, tough hero. You’ll be charmed to read how, as a love-struck twenty-something, he wears his heart on his sleeve, writing to his girlfriend Dally about their first kiss.\nWhy is it then, that this exceptional person was undervalued and overlooked by the powers-that-be at the end of World War II? And why was he not decorated for bravery? Indeed, an article proposes that he is “The VC that never was.”\nThis book gives an insight into why, nearly eighty years later, Jack Nissenthall’s extraordinary war service is still largely unknown and unsung (except in Canada), and why there are still so many unanswered questions about it.\nBut in the end, readers will surely acknowledge this hero’s modest and cheerful embodiment of integrity - and want to sing his well-deserved praises.

The Man Under the Radar

Biographies & Memoirs

Samuels, Linda Nissen

Leaders & Notable People

'Of all the war stories I have read, truth or fiction, this is the best' - Ottawa Journal'...a cracking good story' - Globe & Mail&#65279;&#65279;'Green Beach has blown the lid off one of the Second World War's best-kept secrets' Daily Express'If I had been aware of the orders given to the escort to shoot him rather than let him be captured, I would have cancelled them immediately' Lord Mountbatten'Green Beach is a vivid, moving and at times nerve-racking reconstruction of an act of outstanding but horrific heroism' Sunday Express In 1942 radar expert Jack Nissenthall volunteered for a suicidal mission to join a combat team who were making a surprise landing at Dieppe in occupied France. His assignment was to penetrate a German radar station on a cliff above "Green Beach". Because Nissenthall knew the secrets of British and US radar technology, he was awarded a personal bodyguard of sharpshooters. Their orders were to protect him, but in the event of possible capture lo kill him. .His choice was to succeed or die. The story of what happened to him and his bodyguards in nine hours under fire is one of World War II's most terrifying true stories of personal heroism.

Green Beach

LEASOR, JAMES

Military

Spanish Practices

Townsend, Richard

Humor & Satire

The Blunt End of the Grid: A memoir of motor racing and other automotive escapades

Roberts, Dave

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