New Releases from ORs
New Releases from ORs
Victor Lustig: The Man Who Conned the World
Fightback
A Psalm a Day
All In
Christopher Sandford (1970) The History Press
Orlando Kimber (1971) Arthur & Moose Publishing
John Nugée (1969) Laburnam Publishing
Rod Gilmour (1990) Marylebone Publishing
The period after the First World War was a golden age for the confidence man. ‘A new kind of entrepreneur is stirring amongst us,’ The Times wrote in 1919. ‘He is prone to the most detestable tactics, and is a stranger to charity and public spirit. One may nonetheless note his acuity in separating others from their money.’ Enter Victor Lustig (not his real name). An Austro-Hungarian with a dark streak, by the age of sixteen he had learned how to hustle at billiards and lay odds at the local racecourse. By nineteen he had acquired a livid facial scar in an altercation with a jealous husband.
A pulsating novel set in modernday Cornwall, where a desire to protect a cherished surf spot becomes a struggle between an individual and huge commercial interests.
A Psalm a Day is a reflective study of the Book of Psalms, interspersed with a daily journal through the spring and summer of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic took hold of the UK. The book combines a study of the 150 psalms, guiding the reader through each with a daily meditation, with commentary on daily life as the pandemic came to dominate us all.
All In is Laura Massaro’s, honest, raw and personal story of how she became one of the greatest female squash players the UK has ever produced. From a shy, young athlete sometimes crippled by nerves and self-doubt, to a World No.1 and World Champion in an intense, gruelling sport, All In takes you on a deeply personal and inspiring journey.
While the psalms have inspired and comforted the faithful for over 2,000 years, revisiting them during the first UK lockdown provided much hope and focus for the author and fellow members of his bible study group. Alongside the analyses of the psalms, each day has a diary entry taking the reader through the first five months of change as COVID-19 struck. Featuring both his personal life and that of the country as a whole, the journal entries provide a fascinating snapshot of this historic time.
Laura is candid about the struggles of balancing relationships off the court with success on it, not least with her coach and husband Danny, and she takes you behind the scenes on the darkly competitive world of the professional squash circuit. From her battles on court to her fight behind the scenes to establish equal prizemoney at squash’s biggest tournament, this is a rollercoaster ride of emotions that takes the reader into the head and heart of one of the world’s most accomplished sportswomen.
The book is written in a straightforward style, and can be read in sequence or used as a book of reference for the Book of Psalms—one of the best-loved books of the Bible, as fresh and fitting today as the day the psalms in it were first written, searching for solace in a time of uncertainty and upheaval.
All In is a story of tears, turmoil and, ultimately, triumph.
That blemish aside, he was a man of athletic good looks, with a taste for larceny and foreign intrigue. He spoke six languages and went under nearly as many aliases in the course of a continent-hopping life that also saw him act as a double (or possibly triple) agent. Along the way, he found time to dupe an impressive variety of banks and hotels on both sides of the Atlantic; to escape from no fewer than three supposedly impregnable prisons; and to swindle Al Capone out of thousands of dollars, while living to tell the tale. Undoubtedly the greatest of his hoaxes was the sale, to a wealthy but gullible Parisian scrap-metal dealer, of the Eiffel Tower in 1925.
Twenty-eight-year-old Sam Alder is a carpenter, living in a small, close-knit seaside town. Both home and work begin to fall apart, when he objects to a major building project that threatens a beautiful landscape. As he tries to restore the life he loves, he discovers a hidden world of powerful forces that want to exploit everything he holds precious … and he is in their way.
the old radleian 2021
73