Bøger udgivet af Arbuthnot Books

Event/Horizon by Eamonn Vincent Step into the kaleidoscopic world of the 1970s with Event/Horizon, a novel that deftly weaves sensuality, humour, and intellectual rigour into a tapestry of human experience. Meet Steve Percival, a recent Cambridge graduate, who finds himself at an unexpected crossroads-caught between the affections of three captivating women. Could his newfound allure be linked to the enigmatic poem he's crafting on the cosmic enigma of black holes? As Steve grapples with the complexities of love and the intricacies of his poem, he veers off the preordained path set by family and academia, embarking on a journey of self-discovery and existential questioning. Eamonn Vincent delivers a satirical yet affectionate critique of a decade often dismissed for its excesses, while subtly contrasting it with the digital disillusionment of modern life. Dive into a narrative rich with discussions on aesthetics, poetry, life drawing, and cosmology, all wrapped in a layer of nostalgia for an analogue world untainted by today's digital woes. Event/Horizon is not just a coming-of-age story; it's a philosophical exploration of life's most compelling mysteries, set against the backdrop of a bygone era. "a really enjoyable and compelling novel, the hero so plausibly sweet and daft I often wanted to reach in and stage an intervention. The details of 1970's life are great fun and feel accurate, but don't get in the way of the story. A good read." - Patricia Ferguson "With its engagingly hapless hero, deftly caught period detail, and darkly comic humour, Event/Horizon is the best novel about the 1970s I've read in years. If you've ever been young, in love, or confused about life, you'll love this book." - Ms A. C. Koning "Thoroughly engaging, the almost farce like predictability of its story in no way detracts from its entertainment value. It often had me laughing out loud." - Andy Mitchell

Who Was Nightshade? by Eamonn Vincent Welcome to the quaint English village of Fordham Market during the Cold War era, where espionage, humour, and love intertwine in a tale equal parts John Le Carré, P. G. Wodehouse, and Judy Blume, yet uniquely crafted for a sophisticated adult readership. In the summer of 1963, amidst the cultural ripples of The Beatles and James Bond, Richard Warren, a cash-strapped young aristocrat, inherits the sprawling yet dilapidated estates of The Priory and Wyvern Hall in the seemingly tranquil village of Fordham Market. However, the shadows of WWII and Cold War paranoia cast a dark veil over the village, unveiling a nest of Soviet espionage anchored by the elusive double agent codenamed Nightshade. Richard's aim to salvage his financial woes by selling Wyvern Hall hits a snag due to an amended will that favours his uncle's loyal assistant, Neville 'Nippy' Smith. Enter Tony Smallwood, an old university chum with hidden Soviet allegiances, offering a shady solution to Richard's predicament, all while chasing the ghost of Nightshade through the secretive corridors of British intelligence. As the quirky yet daring teenage duo, Peter and Terri, stumble upon the espionage antics, they join forces with Nippy in a perilous journey to unravel the Soviet plot, throwing the village into a whirlwind of duplicity, betrayal, love, and the relentless quest to unmask Nightshade. "Filled with interesting characters...an enjoyable mix of comedy, espionage, and derring-do." - SusannahB (Vine Voice Reviewer) "A cracking yarn!" - DennisEW "Ingenious Cold War spy romp...beautifully conjures the mood of the early Sixties..." - Ms A. C. Koning

Me Neither is a memoir of the years 1974-88. It celebrates a haphazard approach to building a career in the wake of the turbulent economic circumstances generated by the oil crisis of 1973. It also documents what were in effect the first stirrings of the gig economy.Despite the advantage of a privileged education the author's first job on graduating from Cambridge University is as a milkman. This is followed by stints as a bus conductor, stage hand and theatre box office assistant. After a sojourn in the Western Highlands writing a play, the author returns to London and talks his way into a number of jobs in marketing and magazine publishing. This phase is in turn superseded by a move into politics first as a local government officer at the GLC in the Ken Livingstone era and then as a magazine publisher for the Labour Party. Along the way there are glimpses of Cambridge, London and Scotland in the 1970s and Germany and the USA at the start of the 1980s. There is an account of the difficulties of magazine publishing in the pre-digital age and about parliamentary procedure in the House of Lords before it was reformed by Tony Blair's administration. There is inevitably some discussion of Labour politics. There are also plentiful references to the popular music of the era, both live and recorded.Memoir cannot help looking back and in the case of Me Neither with a certain amount of affection at a period whose stock is currently low. As the sorrows emanating from the Pandora's box of digital technology and a multi-polar world order become ever more apparent, the analog, bilateral world of the Cold War era is inevitably bathed in a nostalgic glow. If there is a nascent revisionism towards the 1970s, then this book is a part of that tendency.

Edinburgh 1977. The end of an era. The end of the postwar boom. The end of the sexual revolution. But for Saul and Catherine, postgraduate students meeting at the departmental party at the university, it seems like a beginning of sorts. Their attraction to one another is instantaneous, and the affair that follows at first seems all-absorbing - a heady mix of sexual desire and literary passions. But then the arrival of Saul's wife, Virginia, from New York, introduces darker notes of built and doubt, as the lovers find themselves increasingly enmeshed in their clandestine liaison.

The Swinging Sixties are coming to an end, but for Constance Reason, living out her twilight years in the Sussex countryside, they have largely passed her by. So she is in for a rude awakening, when her louche nephew, Sandy, turns up out of the blue, with his sinister boyfriend, Ray. Next on the scene is Iseult, Sandy's unworldly cousin (who has rather an ill-judged crush on him) and his melodramatic Aunt Leonora, once a leading light of the West End stage. Quite a crowd - and that's before Nick, a famous pop singer oozing bohemian decadence, appears, entourage in tow. Then all it takes is a whiff of midsummer madness - and marijuana - to unleash some very strange goings on indeed. Suddenly everybody's having the time of their lives. The question is - will they all live to tell the tale?

This is a story of love and astronomy; music and silence; secrets and truth-telling; of world-changing discoveries, and unrequited desire. Moving from York in the 1780s to Regency Bath, and then to Hanover in the 1840s, it concerns the lives of three people-all astronomers. There is Caroline, torn between her passion for music and her passion for the stars; John, deaf from childhood, whose extraordinary mathematical gifts afford him perspectives not available to others; and Edward, friend and mentor to Caroline and to John, who must conceal his innermost feelings from them both. All three find fulfilment in the heavens for the set- backs and disappointments they encounter on earth. All three, in time, come to know the truth about variable stars.