The characters in Dave Pescod’s stunning first collection are united by their desire to find love. A lonely woman has developed an ingenious way to steal embraces from strangers, an immigrant struggles to find exactly the right words to say to his new girlfriend in a foreign tongue, and a wife is convinced that finding the perfect joke will cure her husband’s depression. The writing style is deceptively simple but deeply moving and the truth of these stories lingers long after the reading is done.

‘Shining a tender light on the human heart, these stories capture the dignity of ordinary individuals and the wonderful everydayness of love. A delight to read.’ – Michelle Spring, Royal Literary Fellow, Magdalene College, Cambridge.

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To see the names of contributors and writers, click on the Extracts tab above.

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A coalition government. A widely mistrusted ruling elite. Riots in the streets and heavy-handed police tactics. Welcome to West Berlin, 1967.

Undercover agent Peter Urbach is tasked with infiltrating a group of radical students whose anti-consumerist message is not without propaganda value on both sides of the Wall. Soon, high-minded political activism will move to the terrorism of Baader, Meinhoff and the Red Army Faction.

1989, the Wall is coming down and Urbach is breaking cover to track down Peter Green, the genius behind British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac. There’s unfinished business to resolve after their chance encounter twenty years earlier at a party in Germany. What exactly did Peter Green walk into that day? They say he has never been the same since.

More details of the book can be found on www.redarmyfactionblues.com

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Costa and Sebastián arrive in Cochabamba, Bolivia, to shoot a period film about Columbus’s arrival in the Americas. Sebastián, the director, wants to upturn the entire conservative myth of Western Civilisation’s arrival in the Americas as a force for good. His story is about what Columbus set in motion; the obsession with gold, the hunt for slaves by Spanish mastiffs, and punitive violence to those Indians who fought back. Costa, the producer, doesn’t care what happened yesterday never mind five centuries ago, he just wants to get the job done on time and within budget. The battle to get their film made intertwines with the fight of their Bolivian crew members, deprived of their most basic rights, prohibited from collecting even the rain.

As Sebastián and Costa struggle with their film, the violence in the community in which they shoot increases by the day until the entire city explodes into the now infamous Bolivian Water War of April 2000. Five hundred years after Columbus, sticks and stones confront the steel and gunpowder of a modern army. David against Goliath once again. Only this time they fight not about gold, but the simplest of life-giving elements: water.

Features full screenplay with extra scenes and introductions from Paul Laverty and Icíar Bollaín.

Winner, Audience Award, Berlin Film Festival 2011
Bridging Borders Award, Palm Springs International Film Festival
Four Progressive Film Awards
Thirteen Goya Award Nominations
Spain’s Official Entry for the 2011 Academy Awards

‘Deeply felt convictions and first-rate craftsmanship’ -  Wall Street Journal

‘Even the Rain reminded me in one of the most masterful ways I have ever seen, that the Indigenous people are still being dehumanized in the 21st Century.’ – Edward James Olmos

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Fergus met Frankie on his first day at school and they’ve been in each others’ shadow ever since. As teenagers they skipped school and drank cider on the ferry over the River Mersey, dreaming about travelling the world.

In September 2004, Fergus persuaded Frankie to join his security team in Baghdad: £10,000 a month, tax free; their last chance to ‘load up’ in this increasingly privatised war. Together they risked their lives in a city steeped in violence, terror and greed, and awash with billions of US dollars. Three years later, Frankie is killed on Route Irish, the most dangerous road in the world.

Back in Liverpool, a grief-stricken Fergus rejects the official explanation that Frankie was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and begins his own investigation into his soul mate’s death. Only Rachel, Frankie’s partner, grasps the depth of Fergus’s sorrow, and the lethal possibilities of his fury as he struggles to find his old self and the happiness he shared with Frankie twenty years earlier on the Mersey.

Features the full screenplay, character backstory, production notes and photographs from the film, plus background essays:

Aftermath by Mark Townsend
Private Security Contractors in Iraq by Haifa Zangana
Justice for Iraq by Mike Phipps.

‘A very dark and muscular revenge thriller… intricately plotted.’ – The Independent

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In Made in Bradford, novelist and sociologist M Y Alam presented research illustrating how stereotypes of young British Pakistani men found in the media, policy rhetoric and popular discourse differed from real life. In The Invisible Village, he continues his research across West Yorkshire, one of the most culturally diverse regions in Britain, and assesses whether similar misrepresentations apply to a much broader sample of the population.

The Invisible Village paints a vivid picture of everyday life in modern urban society with a series of insights and views of the world that may help us all make greater sense of it. Presenting stories drawn from conversations with people who talk openly and in moving terms about family, education, work, crime, migration, as well as home and belonging, this book allows us to look beyond the headlines.

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Supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

This autobiography traces Amadou’s early years in Mali, first accepting his blindness, then adapting, to finding a source of joy in music and playing alongside some of the country’s leading musicians. On meeting Mariam at an institute for the blind in Bamako, he discovers they share a passion for music and for life, they fall in love and begin their career as a duo in search of an international stage.

Away from the Light of Day is an inspiring story which reveals the source of this golden duo’s contagious music, threading its way between tradition, religion, hope and superstition.

‘I don’t think there’s ever been a band from Africa with whom people have engaged in quite such a way.’  – Damon Albarn

‘The fizziest afro-pop blues ever bottled.’  – Observer

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Like the gales that blow around the equinox, the disappearance of his friend’s woman stirs up the life of a doctor, placing him in the power of a subtle enchanter and threatening professional ruin. Will it make or break him?

Set during the hostage crisis of 2004, against a background of superheated thinking and sexual oblivion, this study in modern heroism tests adoration to the limit.

La Rochelle is shortlisted for the 2011 James Tait Memorial Prize

‘Original, funny and absolutely spot-on.’ – The Independent

‘Stylish, very funny, discreetly surprising, this remarkable novel reads at times like a fable of England under New Labour, where nothing is quite what it seems and not much is worth what it costs.’ –
Michael Wood

‘Jules et Jim with a postmodern twist.  Nath has a confidence and attitude that rocks you on every page.’ – Daisy Goodwin

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Presenting twelve bedtime stories for adult reading that capture those moments of deep emotional significance which return to us in our dreams. This nocturnal collection reveals intimate insights into individual fantasy, the pursuit of our deepest desires, the urge to escape, the pull of love, the debris of days.

Book at Bedtime is a title in the Route series of contemporary stories.

‘Adult bedtime books don’t come much better than this. The manner in which each story carries such bountiful emotion over only a few pages makes this an ideal bedtime companion.’ – The Big Issue in the North

‘A twilight dreamscape of hopes, fears, love and loss, The Route Book at Bedtime contains twelve highly individual, contemporary tales, all of which are a reflection of life and truth. A highly enjoyable read.’ – The Short Review

‘If you’re still yet to experience the joys and growing significance of the short story, you’d struggle to find a better place to start.’  – James Hogg

Click here if you prefer to buy The Route Book at Bedtime on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions

*Ebook format is epub, suitable for Sony reader, iPhone and most ebook readers.
Read them on your computer with the free Adobe Digital Editions This book is also available for Kindle

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Eric the postman is slipping through his own fingers… His chaotic family, his wild stepsons, and the cement mixer in the front garden don’t help, but it is Eric’s own secret that drives him to the brink. Can he face Lily, the woman he once loved thirty years ago? Despite outrageous efforts and misplaced goodwill from his football fan mates, Eric continues to sink.

In desperate times it takes a spliff and a special friend from foreign parts to challenge a lost postman to make that journey into the most perilous territory of all – the past. As the Chinese, and one Frenchman, say, ‘He who is afraid to throw the dice, will never throw a six.’

Features the full screenplay, including extra scenes, sixteen pages of colour photographs, plus introductions from Paul Laverty, Ken Loach, Eric Cantona and production notes from the cast and crew.

‘A surprising, beguiling comedy from Ken Loach, who, would you believe it, has made what’s certain to be his most crowd-pleasing and popular film since Kes, 40 years ago.’ – Jason Solomons, Observer

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