Early ReviewersPeter Taylor-Gooby

Hated as a foreigner, despised as a woman, I became First Lady of Athens

Aspasia falls passionately in love with Pericles, the leading statesman of Fifth Century Athens. Artists, writers and thinkers frequent her salon. She hides her past as a sex-worker, trafficked to the city, and becomes Pericles’ lover. Her writings attract the attention of Socrates, and she becomes the only woman to join his circle. She is known throughout the city for her beauty and wit and strives to become recognised as an intellectual alongside men.

Pericles’ enemies attack him through Aspasia and charge her with blasphemy. As a foreigner she faces execution, but her impassioned address to the jury shames the city and saves her. Pericles is spellbound, they marry, and she becomes First Lady of Athens.

Sparta besieges the city; plague breaks out and Pericles is once again in danger.

The Immigrant Queen tells the true story of how Aspasia rose to become the First Lady of Athens and triumphed against all the odds.

The City is governed by the grim law of profit and loss. No exceptions, no place for compassion, pleasure, the warmth of friendship or the ardour of love. David, an Enforcer committed to the Law, meets Sarah, a villager from outside, and begins to understand that a different, more joyful, life is possible.

A Kinder City tells the story of their tangled relationship and of how they fall in love, and of their struggle against Franklin, the richest man in Market World. If the only law is the market, why not sell everything - and that includes the air we breathe, the land we stand on, the water we drink? No exceptions. His giant factories spew forth the road beasts - the huge machines that devastate the lands beyond the City in pursuit of yet more wealth. Not content with cloning animals, he traps horses in exo-skeletons and works them to death. Torn between her growing passion for David and her revulsion at the City that he is pledged to protect, Sarah turns her back on him.

In despair, he confronts one of the convoys supplying Franklin's mills and releases the horses trapped within the giant trucks. Pursued by terrifying security guards they escape to the Broken Lands and witness at first hand the desolation that results from ruthless strip-mining and industrial farming driven purely by greed, and the misery of the remaining villagers. In their struggle to survive and return to the City they discover the power of their love for each other. Sarah challenges Franklin to his face and, helped by David, sparks off rebellion among the poor of the City. Together they defeat Franklin. He must learn what it means to be destitute and alone in Market World. The possibility of building a kinder City lies within their grasp.

Ritchie’s life is shadowed by the death of his wife, Cat, in a car accident twenty-two years previously. He was the driver. He loves his children – Nic, who is bi-polar and often impulsive, and Jack. Both are active in the struggle against modern slavery. His life comes to a crisis as he realises how much his children despise his trade in advertising and how much the loss of Cat still means to them all. Blood Ties tells the story of how Ritchie overcomes the blunders of his life and attains a kind of redemption. The novel is a passionate and engaging tale, set against the background of forced labour and what it still means in our divided society, where ties of blood bind us to family but where others cannot escape the invisible shackles of modern slavery. Reviews: “A sensitive, sometimes harrowing, the author brings home to us the misery of the human trafficking trade. Makes you think about whether this is happening in a street near you.” Rudolph Laben_93 ”This is a fascinating read, very modern and realistic with today’s lifestyle and political arena. Refugees, illegal immigrants and slave labour are all very topical. The twist that the author gives this story feels all too possible. It really brought goosebumps at how quickly situations were adapted and by people greedy to make money from others poverty and despair. Another brilliantly written book by the author, who always seems very in tune with a constantly changing society.” Susan Hampson “Blood ties is a gritty, modern drama set to the backdrop of corporate London. Richie is our protagonist and he is engaging and likable if a little impulsive! The action heats up to an exciting crescendo. Will Ritchie overcome his demons, Makepeace and make amends with his daughter?” Trevor J. Twohig

"Blood Ties" is about love, betrayal and compassion. Ritchie, a successful advertising executive, is blackmailed into leading a campaign to make modern slavery acceptable to the public. His children, activists in the struggle against people-trafficking, are horrified. The novel tells of his journey through a Britain where rich and poor live as close and as distant as the cheeks of the blade of an axe, and how he finds that it is only through self-sacrifice that he can reunite his family.

Ade is a tax-inspector. She believes the money she raises pays for decent health service and adequate public services. She hates the City of London, the endless corruption, the bland assumption that tax is for the little people. She hates the casual sexism of people like Webster, the smug self-assurance, the inviolability of the men she deals with, and the cold certainty that nothing you can do will ever touch them. She meets Paul, an Occupy activist who works with homeless people. As their love for each other grows, they find real fulfilment in fighting for the rights of ordinary people, such as Gemma, a homeless single parent. Then Webster comes back into Ade’s life and it’s payback time. Ardent Justice is a gripping feminist thriller, endorsed by Polly Toynbee, the leading Guardian columnist. It tells the story of Ade’s struggle against the City and for her own integrity, and of her love for Paul, and of how hard it is to live a morally good life in a corrupted world. It has been inspired by Zoe Fairbairns and Lionel Shriver and will appeal to fans of character-led thrillers. Profits will be donated to Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity. “Good to find a novel with a strong social message about the way we live now” Polly Toynbee, The Guardian PETER TAYLOR-GOOBY is a leading sociologist with a strong international reputation. He has advised Lloyd’s of London, UK, European, Chinese and Korean government departments, the European Commission and the Prime Minister’s Office, and been awarded an OBE. He has written 33 academic books and two novels. He commented: ‘research may analyse our changing world, but it is our feelings that drive the way we live our lives. That is why I write novels.’

Ade is a tax-inspector. She hates the City of London. She hates the endless corruption, the bland assumption that tax is for the little people. She hates the casual sexism, the smug self-assurance, the inviolability of the men she deals with, and the cold certainty that nothing you can do will ever touch them. Then Webster tries to rape her, and she hates him enough to try to kill him. She finds herself in the world of the rootless, marginal street homeless who live meagre lives in the shadow of the office blocks that house the rich. She meets Paul, an Occupy activist who works with homeless people. Ade and Paul become modern-day Robin Hoods, getting involved in various attempts to expose the scale of fraud in the City and help the poor and dispossessed, but the power of money to influence government and control the media defeats them. As their love for each other grows, they find real fulfilment in fighting for the rights of ordinary people, such as Gemma, a homeless single parent. Then Webster comes back into Ade’s life and it’s payback time. Ardent Justice is a gripping feminist thriller, endorsed by Polly Toynbee, the leading Guardian columnist. It tells the story of Ade’s struggle against the City and for her own integrity, and of her love for Paul, and of how hard it is to live a morally good life in a corrupted world. It has been inspired by Zoe Fairbairns and Lionel Shriver and will appeal to fans of character-led thrillers. Profits will be donated to Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity. “Good to find a novel with a strong social message about the way we live now” Polly Toynbee, The Guardian

Auctioning babies makes sense; the babies go to new parents who’ve proved by paying more than anyone else that they will give them the best start in life; the parents who’ve brought them into the world get real compensation for their pain and trouble. At least that’s what everyone in Market World thinks. Ed, a tough, spirited and streetwise young woman, and Matt, innocent and loyal, an outsider, hate this world, where the market decides everything. Anna a successful business woman and Dain one of the Enforcers who police the city, think it offers a brave new civilisation. The Baby Auction tells the story of Ed and Matt’s love and of their struggle against Market World, of their pain and trials and ultimate escape. It also tells how Anna and Dain come to discover that there is more to life that success in the city, and that they must overcome the contempt of all those around them, mistrust and betrayal before they can prove their love for each other through self-sacrifice.