Books published by 1889 Books

Come back in time to the 1970s: those glory days of football when pitches turned to mud in winter, games were never called off for a bit of snow – instead the orange ball was brought out, club chairmen had Brylcreemed hair, smoked cigars and wore trilbies, and injured players hobbled on in games because only one substitute was allowed.David Montgomery meticulously researched and wrote this book in 1977 – it then lay in a drawer until it was dusted off by his daughter and was published as a surprise present.Follow Sharrington F.C. home and away. Will they finally escape the Fourth Division under their young, new, rookie manager, Tony Davidson?

There is always a moment – it comes to all of us, irrespective of race, class, religion and all the other what-nots – when you take someone aside and point out everything – everything that has gone wrong. And there is always so much of it, and it takes hours, days, of patient recitation, probably from a book, because it is far too long and involved – like a twisty rope, left out too long in the rain, behind the house, you know it, you have seen it with your own eyes – to commit to memory, even for an old hand such as myself. You completely and utterly exhaust yourself in the doing, you end up speechless, breathless, spent. I do anyway. One cannot walk away from one’s nature.In this monologue of a mind's slow dying, an actor, man of abundant words, faces his final audience: of himself. It is a face that he barely recognises through the mist of his own tragic decline...

It was said that “the past is a foreign country” – come with us, then, on a little trip to the foreign country that was Sheffield in the late 1960s. A time of mods and rockers, of hope for a brighter, more modern future: the realisation of Harold Wilson╩╝s “white heat of the technological revolution.” Sheffield has never wallowed in nostalgia – it has always changed – but let╩╝s indulge ourselves for a moment to look back at the city in the late 60s. Hard times for some, but fondly remembered by many. Mick Jones╩╝ photographs will touch your heart and make you wonder over what came to be and what we lost on the way.

Accessible to the modern reader, this is an introduction to the poetry of Ebenezer Elliott: probably South Yorkshire's most celebrated poet.Neil and Steven Kay have done us a favour. Anyone interested in the poetry of South Yorkshire should make a friend of Elliott. Forgive him some flannel and rough edges, but take him to heart for framing a verse that puts the fight against poverty and oppression at its core, that celebrates South Yorkshire landscapes and tongues, and always displays the courage of its convictions. Even Wordsworth said after Elliott's death, "None of us have done better than he has in his best." - Ray Hearne

Why should children enjoy all the picture books? Artworks by Ruth Dupré complement beautifully the verse and prose of Michael Glover in this book you will want to possess for the sheer sake of possession, as much as for the journey it will take you on. It is the story of a woman losing her grip on a life well lived, as past and present meld with real and imagined. The words convey mood like an adagio; images appear in your head as though through a fine gauze. You will feel you have learned something important by the end.

The great Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca was assassinated by Franco's Falangists in an orchard outside Granada in 1936. This book of poems, a lament for his death which is also a tribute to his extraordinary lyrical gifts, is spoken by his imagined lover. It conjures, fleetingly, poignantly, the irrepressible gusto of his life: his gifts as a pianist, the dancing humour of his poetry for children, the street life of his beloved Granada, his brutal and incomprehensible death. Above all, it interrogates Death itself for its bewildering decision to snatch him away at the height of his powers.

Michael Glover's writes a poetry whose surface can be lightsome and almost casually, if not beguilingly, playful and direct. But the playfulness can be a deception. Laughter dries on the tongue. There is often a terrible uncertainty about the speaking voice, and a darkness about the themes the poems are exploring. The darkness of betrayal. The darkness of death. The darkness of never quite knowing where one stands. In short, the sands are forever shifting.This eighth collection, his first in five years, draws on a variety of themes and situations. It drifts on a boat in Canada. It constructs a quinoa cake from mere words and phrases. It scrutinises the films of the great improvisatory director John Cassavetes. It even picks apart the multifarious meanings of the word book itself. The influences are as generously widespread as the poems themselves, from Jorge Luis Borges to Archy and Mehitabel, from the lyrics of Edmund Spenser to the dramatic monologues of Robert Browning.In the past, Michael Glover's poetry collections have largely consisted of single poems, each one self-sufficient. This volume, by contrast, is organised into several sequences. The Quinoa Cake Recipe emerges from, and is a response to, long summer stays in Canada. Notes to Harris is a series of short poems in which one North American friend addresses another with a wry casualness. Under the Influence, a homage to Cassavetes, is spoken by a male character from a typical Cassavetes film, wayward and anguished: 'I am a raging bull of a man. I pulverise everything I look at.' In short, this is the widest-ranging and most accomplished collection that Michael Glover has ever written.

Questioning refereeing decisions is part of the matchday experience - a topic for post-match debate - but all too often fans embarrass themselves by not knowing what they are talking about. The common one is "but he got the ball!" - even TV pundits, who are supposed to be there to provide expert analysis, often don't understand what Law 12 of the game actually means.This is a book for fans, for amateur players and lovers of the beautiful game. As well as a easy to follow look at the laws of the game, there are insights into how the laws developed, and a humorous take on the state of the modern game.

Up on the hills above the town Geoffrey Harland’s body lies in the snow with a bullet through his skull. Was it suicide or murder?    Intrigue, romance, and the solidarity of a mining community in the bitter Miners’ Strike of 1893 provide the backdrop to this story of triumph of the human spirit. It is a unique and genuine collaboration between two authors, with Steven Kay re-working a novel written by Alfred Fletcher in 1895. 

The play On Behalf of The People was commissioned by The National Coal Mining Museum for England to mark the seventieth anniversary of the nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947. This is a moving story of Connie and George, Tom and Liz as the country emerges from war. A story of family, community and hope for a brighter future - where public good and welfare for all come before private profit.

Mather was one of Sheffield's greats. His was the voice of the common man in the turbulent, revolutionary times of the late 18th century. His songs, composed to the rhythm of his file-cutter's hammer, were hollered out in the streets and pubs of the town on a Saturday night. This was the 18th century jukebox, karaoke and alternative comedy.

A contemporary political thriller based on the ridiculous notion of what might happen if a left-wing, Labour leader was resurgent despite all the attempts by the media to discredit him. What if, as an election approached, he started to gain traction because of a serious downturn in the economy, unrest in the country and corruption revealed at the highest levels? What if the electorate started seeing him as an answer to their problems? How would the right and big business react?Finding himself at the heart of a conspiracy is 30-year-old Health and Safety Inspector, Mitch Miller who falls in love with someone he shouldn’t and gets into very hot water. A modern day Romeo and Juliet facing car chases through the streets of Sheffield, murder, betrayal and kidnap.