Books published by Beachy Books

The Mermaid Rides Again is full of lyrical and funny poems, honed from years of performance and inspired by an adventurous life.Following the success of her first poetry volume, 'The Mermaid is Unimpressed', this second volume is filled with poems covering the thrills of riding pillion on motorbikes to embarrassing entanglements with past lovers, including such topics as the joy of cake to the perils of leaving granny by the cliff edge.With a wry wit, sarcastic and tender, Sandy Kealty guides the reader with a narrative on the grit that formed the pearl of each poem. She writes in free verse, and sometimes in rhyme but always with an ear to be performed aloud, from her experience as a musician and in performing her poems to live audiences.A wise and intelligent poet, reflecting back on life, while analysing the state of the nation. With fantastic vocabulary and just the right word in the right place, she writes tight and punchy poems, that are also reflective and witty, formed from personal experience on her life that will also resonate with many.Poems to read aloud, poems to perform, poems to heal, poems as a gift, poems for mum, poems for a daughter, poems to make you smile, poems to make you laugh, poems for women, poems for men. Read them at home, on the train or out loud in a park!For more information see the publisher website: www.beachybooks.com

A personal, witty, humorous and reflective poetry collection, including poems inspired by a lifetime of adventure. Some poems are short and sweet, others more reflective. They cover themes from ageing, retirement and grief to the delights of her grandmother's hat, gardening, mermaids and Nordic walking sticks. Sandy Kealty is a poet, musician and performer. She writes poems in a direct, free-verse style, and this is her first published collection of poetry.From the author:'They told me to write about the things that I know, so that is what I have done. In this book, I celebrate and reflect upon my own experiences and the people and places intimately connected to this lifelong voyage of discovery. Because I also came across pure imagination on the way, there may be some pieces of work where, however hard you try, you will recognise no person, living or departed, nor place identifiable on a satnav. However there will probably be elements that, should we be acquainted, will remind you of me.'

David A. Ballard draws inspiration from his own experiences and that of his children and grandchildren, his nieces and nephews, in his first collection of lyrical and funny poems for children of all ages.

'Waiting for my father in the Military Service to be placed in a permanent station, we lived in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, England. Another family, also waiting a transfer, was living there also. They had an older girl than us in their family, and we got to be real friendly. There was three children in our family at the time, the oldest named Richard, next a girl named Ada Margaret and then one named Ellen...'And so begins Ellen Victoria Jane Stevenson's personal journal of her life and family at Hill Lodge, a grand Georgian house in Freshwater with tree-lined moat and gravel drive, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Military actions, brushes with royalty and escaping disaster on Titanic … Ellen invites us to share her family's remarkable journey in her own distinctive words. 'Oh yes, my dears, I remember Hill Lodge…'

Freshwater Reflections is a community book created by members of Archive Rescue (www.archiverescue.com) who looked a little further into the stories, history and photos hidden away in their archives. Read their insights into some fascinating facts about Freshwater, Isle of Wight (UK). This book was created by members of Archive Rescue (Freshwater & Totland Archive Group c/o Freshwater Library) on a Beachy Books Community Book Publishing Project, curated, delivered and published by Philip Bell, author and publisher at Beachy Books. For more information visit: www.beachybooks.com