. . . Refining the written word




Our latest title . . .
Fried Fish and Phylacteries: A glimpse of being Jewish in England - A new book by Dennis Hardy who has written on subjects ranging from utopian communities to plotland development, from garden city history to the story of British holiday camps. This time he has looked to his own ancestors for inspiration. In the course of the diaspora, they moved from country to country, escaping anti-Semitism in its various forms. He asks why so many then found their way to England? Was this to be their own version of the promised land? The story is of the timeless journey made by Jews in search of peace and freedom. England has proved to be a tolerant society and the Jewish community has generally fared well; its people have been able to get on with their lives. But recent examples of anti-Semitism offer a chilling reminder that the old enemy has not disappeared. The book is an attempt to put this into context; to show that it is nothing new, and one must be forever alert. The narrative is about the future as well as the past.


Also published by Blue Gecko Books . . .

• The Journey's End - An intriguing first novel by Jane Woolfenden, set in London and Malaysia. Issues of modern tourism in a fragile environment and a sinister backcloth of terrorism are two of its underlying themes. So, too, is the timeless tale of two people in love, transcending cultures but also threatened by forces beyond their control. The tension builds as the relationship between the couple becomes ever closer; suspense is held as the reader awaits the outcome: will it end happily or in tragedy? Because the narrative crosses boundaries – cultural as well as geographical – the book will appeal to an international readership. It also reflects on contemporary issues such as the tensions of a failing marriage and the hardships encountered by international students away from home. But it is the ‘slow burn’of real love that is at the heart of the novel.

• The Urban Sea: Cities of the Mediterranean - This outstanding book by Dennis Hardy, is a modern odyssey, tracing the fortunes of fifteen cities bordering the Mediterranean. Not one of the cities visited on this journey has escaped a turbulent history - that, it seems, is the lot of being in the Mediterranean, caught in the cross-winds between three continents. Geologically as well as geopolitically, the region lies along one of the world's most unstable fault lines. Earthquakes and volcanoes, ethnic and religious conflicts, civil wars and global conflagrations are in its very DNA. Its cities have suffered in bad times and prospered in good, but little has been constant. Change is endemic, uncertainty a by-word.

Services to writers and aspiring writers . . .
Blue Gecko Books offers a full range of editorial and writing services. Whether you have written a work of fiction or non-fiction, a speech, a report, an academic paper, an article, or a letter, we can refine and polish your manuscript or document. We can even write it for you! See our editing/proofreading and indexing/ghostwriting pages for further details.