Books published by Austin Macauley

Against the background of broad brush strokes of Nepal's history and geography, David Hawker tells a dramatic story. After 20 years working in Nepal, Nurse Ellen Findlay saw an opportunity to go and attempt to meet the desperate needs of people living in the remote and inaccessible mountains of Nepal. With vision, determination and bravery, she and surgeon Mike Smith pioneered outreach into some of Nepal's most isolated and poverty-stricken communities. For 25 years, 7-10 day surgical, medical and dental camps were organised, treating more than 100,000 sick people during civil war and political upheaval, many in places with no roads or airstrips. Finally, after the massive earthquake of 2015, specialist gynaecological and ear centres were established to provide ongoing treatment and training for Nepali clinicians.

It is now two thousand years since the Sommer-lings - or faeries in mortal tongue - vanished from Elbion. Driven from their home by a great evil, they retreated through many secret doors, down into a hidden kingdom: a land so magical, so enchanting, that they sealed the doors shut and guarded them, forbidding any Sommerling to return to Elbion on pain of death, fearing that if the spells break, then the evil would follow them. But Sommerlings did return to Elbion: strangely drawn to the new mortal realm, creeping curiously through unguarded doors to walk amongst the fields and woods, mostly when night fell. But the greater evil did re-awake and she had a name... Morgalene, a creature so terrible she threatens to destroy not only mortal Elbion but also the hidden realm of faery. Will the fabled Prince of the Sommerlings, the spirit of nature, rise once more and so save both kingdoms from death and ultimate destruction?

The people of Scotland and Northern Ireland voted in the 2016 referendum to remain in the European Union. It is generally assumed that, whilst the public in these two jurisdictions might not be happy with the Brexit outcome, they will get used to it and adapt to a life as former Europeans. The Flight of the Gaels demonstrates that there could be a set of circumstances in which this assumption is proved to be wide of the mark. The story begins in the UK and Irish Permanent Representations in Brussels and winds its way via a political research project at Ulster University and political lobbying in the United States and Europe to the establishment of a new political grouping in Scotland and Ireland. A constitutional earthquake follows, with the potential to transform the politics of the British Isles. When this potential is realised, the political landscape that emerges is one that few could have predicted when the Brexit saga began in 2016.

In Blue Moon over Moorea, an anthology of poems by Australian lawyer and poet Sally Gaunt, the author mines some of her favourite themes to remarkable effect. Water in all its forms proves a constant inspiration, from 'Swimming with Seahorses' to the rapt, almost hallucinatory images of the title poem. Gaunt breathes new life into verse written for the reading community and brings a sharp eye and wry humour to the perennial subjects of love, sex and death. Many of the poems are boldly imaginative recreations of historical events, typically centred on the sea, while the cycle of feather poems that opens the book considers the concept of manhood versus mayhem in a social setting.