Thunderpoint Publishing

12/12/2025

Dec 12th:

"Paper Horses" by Julie Ann Rees.

Christmas can be a very difficult time for people. If you are experiencing coercive control or domestic abuse and need support please contact womensaid.org.uk, or phone them on:
0808 2000 247. Help is available. Please reach out.

“Brave, powerful and impossible to put down, Paper Horses is an important memoir of surviving coercive control” - Western Mail

When Julie Rees met her handsome and sophisticated French boyfriend, she thought her life had taken a fairy-tale turn. Moving to the South of France with him and her horses to set up a trail-riding business seemed like a dream come true.
And then it all turned sour. Gradually, Julie discovered that her Perfect Prince was in fact a Troll. Through social isolation, devastating bush fires and even a spell in a French jail, Paper Horses paints a raw and honest portrayal of life in a psychologically abusive relationship, and how the love for her child and her horses gave Julie the strength to survive.
At times painful, always inspiring, this memoir details how easy it is to be drawn into an abusive relationship, and how the love of and for others can not only help you escape, but thrive.

Available from https://www.thunderpoint.scot/home/Paper-Horses-p457900519, Amazon and all good bookshops.

11/12/2025

Dec 11th:

'Queerbashing' by Tim Morrison - for those in doubt, this *is* and is safe to buy. We're not biased, but it may just be the best gay novel you've ever read.

'The first q***rbasher McGillivray ever met was in the mirror.'

From the revivalist churches of Orkney in the 1970s, to the gay bars of London and Northern England in the 90s, via the divinity school at Aberdeen, this is the story of McGillivray, a self-centred, promiscuous hypocrite, failed Church of Scotland minister, and his own worst enemy.

Determined to live life on his own terms, McGillivray's grasp on reality slides into psychosis and a sense of his own invulnerability, resulting in a brutal attack ending life as he knows it.

Raw and uncompromising, this is a viciously funny but ultimately moving account of one man's desire to come to terms with himself and live his life as he sees fit.

"...an arresting novel of pain and self-discovery" - Alastair Mabbott (The Herald)

Available from https://www.thunderpoint.scot/home/QueerBashing-p191882249, Amazon and all good bookshops.

***rfiction

11/12/2025

10/12/2025

Dec 10th
'Don't Ask About My Ge****ls' by Owen Hurcam - ''A heartfelt manifesto for change.''
More than ever, this challenging and informative book is a must read for anyone wanting to expand their knowledge and understanding of the trans and non-binary community, and people who believe in equality and diversity. Designed for both young genderq***r and non-binary people who might otherwise think they are all alone, and their friends and family who might be feeling confused, but wanting to support their loved ones.
As one reviewer said, "Owen's book is well researched and very readable. They helped me to question some of my own assumptions. The personal anecdotes brought their arguments to life (and also tears to my eyes). I hope that I can be the best possible ally."
Available from https://www.thunderpoint.scot/home/Dont-Ask-About-My-Ge****ls-p465874931, Amazon and all good bookshops.

08/12/2025

Dec 8th:

'The Oystercatcher Girl' by Gabrielle Barnby, another wonderful mystery set on our beloved Orkney Islands to keep you gripped on these long, dark nights.

In the medieval splendour of St Magnus Cathedral, three women
gather to mourn the untimely passing of Robbie: Robbie's widow,
Tessa; Tessa's old childhood friend, Christine, and Christine's
unstable and unreliable sister, Lindsay. But all is not as it seems:
what is the relationship between the three women, and Robbie?
What secrets do they hide? And who has really betrayed who?

Set amidst the spectacular scenery of the Orkney Islands,
Gabrielle Barnby's skilfully plotted first novel is a beautifully
understated story of deception and forgiveness, love and
redemption.

Available from https://www.thunderpoint.scot/home/The-Oystercatcher-Girl-p191882913, Amazon and all good bookshops.

06/12/2025

Dec 6th:
'And: A Memoir of my Mother' by Isabel Adonis, winner of the Creative Non-Fiction prize at the Wales Book of the Year Award 2023. Simultaneously personal and universal, and told in the rhythms of an oral story, this beautifully musical and multi-layered book examines the divisiveness of colour, alienation, the impact of colonialism on social culture, and what it means to be ‘mixed’.

The Cardiff Review said that “Stylistically, Adonis' prose calls to mind the kind of oral storytelling found in the Bible, or Homer.”

Paul Theroux said: "I admire this book - a family entangled in Wales and the West Indies and Africa - a dominant father casting his shadow over the narrative. It is a complex memoir, related in a quiet and incantatory way, for which the word "Faulknerian" is not an exaggeration. It is in many ways a dark tale, but its heart and its humanity gives it great power."

Available from https://www.thunderpoint.scot/home/And-a-memoir-of-my-mother-p488704102 Amazon, and all good bookshops.

05/12/2025

Dec 5th:

'The Spinning House Affair' by Jane Taylor.

Although set at the turn of the 19th to the 20 th C, 'The Spinning House Affair' is an historical novel that grabs the current zeitgeist with both hands - the rise of the newspaper industry as it moves away from telling the news and becomes more exploitative, and the wave of terror unleashed on the young women of Cambridge by the university, set to protect the morals of its young men, at the expense of any young woman swept up by the Proctors.

Based on true events, 'The Spinning House Affair' highlights that the fight of women in the past continues in the struggles of today.

Available from https://www.thunderpoint.scot/home/The-Spinning-House-Affair-p361384315, Amazon and all good bookshops.

04/12/2025

Dec 4th:
Time for a little YA q***r romance, with a fair amount of suspense along the way when Faith, the local drug dealer, goes missing, and Angharad sets off to find her. 'Found Wanting' by JJ Lambert is funny and tense and perfect for the teenage romance readers in your life:

"No surprise - Llanyfenni is weird at Christmas. Someone brought a sad Christmas tree to the square, and it sat there for a week looking a bit lopsided before they put some lights on it. Multi-coloured lights like it was 2002. There was carol singing in the square. With the town choir. I was embarrassed for them. Then embarrassed for myself when I cried when they sang."

OK - hands up if you are still rocking 2002 with your Christmas lights 😬

Available from https://www.thunderpoint.scot/home/Found-Wanting-p666738596, Amazon and all good bookshops.

03/12/2025

Dec 3rd:
Some of us enjoy a more... fraught Christmas than others, in which case this cult classic, In The Shadow Of The Hills from Helen Forbes is the book for you.

"An elderly woman is found battered to death in the common stairwell of an Inverness block of flats.

Detective Sergeant Joe Galbraith starts what seems like one more depressing investigation of the untimely death of a poor unfortunate who was in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

As the investigation spreads across Scotland it reaches into a past that Joe has tried to forget, and takes him back to the Hebridean island of Harris, where he spent his childhood.

Among the mountains and the stunning landscape of religiously conservative Harris, in the shadow of Ceapabhal, long buried events and a tragic story are slowly uncovered, and the investigation takes on an altogether more sinister aspect.

In The Shadow Of The Hill skilfully captures the intricacies and malevolence of the underbelly of Highland and Island life, bringing tragedy and vengeance to the magical beauty of the Outer Hebrides."

Available from https://www.thunderpoint.scot/home/In-the-Shadow-of-the-Hill-p191889460, Amazon and all good bookshops.

02/12/2025

Dec 2nd:
Enjoy the warmth and simplicity of a timeless Welsh Christmas with Arianwen, by Angela Johnson Author.
'The cup of tea was one of Mam's spreads, cakes and sandwiches and the whisky bottle stood on the table for exclusive male use. Her father poured a few drops into his tea, then passed it to Ianto... The men ate Christmas cake, mince pies, and pancakes with strawberry jam, and then her father stood up and looked out of the window at the late December gloom.'
Available from the link below, Amazon, and all good bookshops.



https://www.thunderpoint.scot/home/Arianwen-p240087736