Books published by publisher Mainstream Publishing

Millions of Scots have left their homeland over the last 400 years. Until now, they have been written about in very general terms. Scottish Exodus breaks new ground by following particular emigrants, drawn from the once-powerful Clan MacLeod, and discovering what happened to them and their families. This compelling account of Scotland’s worldwide diaspora is based on unpublished documents, letters, and family histories, as well as the author’s travels. It is a tale of disastrous voyages, famine, dispossession, and the hazards and hardships of pioneering in faraway frontiers. It is also the moving story of how individuals—separated from Scotland by hundreds of years and thousands of miles—continue to identify with the small country where their global journey began.

The truth about the 1996 Everest disaster by one of its survivors, uncovering crucial new information On May 10 and 11, 1996, eight climbers perished in what remains the worst disaster in Everest's history. Following the tragedy, numerous accounts were published, with Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air becoming an international bestseller—but has the whole story been told? This book reveals for the first time the full, startling facts that led to the tragedy. Graham Ratcliffe, the first British climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest twice, was a first-hand witness, having spent the night on Everest's South Col at 26,000 feet, sheltering from the deadly storm. For years, he has shouldered a burden of guilt, feeling that he and his teammates could have saved lives that fateful night. His quest for answers has led to discoveries so important to an understanding of the disaster that he now questions why these facts were not made public sooner. History is dotted with high profile disasters that both horrify and capture the attention of the public, but very rarely is the prevailing view of them revised to such devastating effect.

Zelina is a 16-year old girl who doesn't know who or where she is. She has no memory other than waking up at Stonehenge.Rune is a 16-year old boy who knows the truth of her forgotten past and home.As Rune slowly leads Zelina to the truth, they find their lives are in danger. The Medjay, assassins from their realm, will stop at nothing to keep them from finding the truth and getting home. Rune and Zelina must work together if they are ever to get back to their true home and understand the truth of why they were sent away. But is the truth something she really wants to know?

Of all the extraordinary individual accounts that have come out of World War II and its aftermath, few can compare with that of Eric Pleasants, a member of the "bastard" British wing of Hitler's SS. In this book, Pleasants writes of the bizarre and traumatic years he spent as a prisoner of the 20th century's most notorious dictators. From a vagabond life, Pleasants was taken by the Nazis to a series of prison camps in France. The years that followed held a whirlwind of unexpected turns—he lived a life on the run in occupied Paris, was captured and recruited into the British Free Corps of the Waffen-SS, found love with a young German woman, witnessed the bombing of Dresden, and attempted to hide from Soviet troops along the sewers of Berlin. When the war ended, Pleasants found himself on the Communist side of the Iron Curtain. He was arrested by the KGB on charges of espionage and sentenced to 25 years' slave labor in the notorious camps of Arctic Russia. Only with Stalin's death in 1953 was Pleasants finally released from his unique kind of purgatory, after nearly half a lifetime of peripatetic nightmare. Hitler's Bastard is a remarkable monument to his imperishable will to survive.

When Northern Dancer won the Kentucky Derby in the spring of 1964, Canadians poured into the streets to celebrate. Northern Dancer had not only waltzed off with North America's most cherished racing trophy, he had also run the Derby faster than any horse in history. The mayor of Toronto awarded him the key to the city, the country's sportswriters voted him Athlete of the Year, and he was deluged with fan mail. Yet the excitement generated by this remarkable animal had only just begun. The story of Northern Dancer is the stuff of legend. He was a little horse, dismissed time and again because of his size, and to many he appeared to be the antithesis of streamlined, thoroughbred elegance. Today, however, his descendants dominate racing the world over, and Northern Dancer is recognized as the greatest thoroughbred sire in modern history. To discover what made Northern Dancer so extraordinary, journalist Muriel Lennox takes us on a ride into the sport of kings and queens.

ADD / ADHD? Creative Thinking? Mover and Shaker? David doesn't know how he ends up in such situations. At the time, it just seems like a great idea. His teacher, Mrs. Gorski, has had about enough; he can tell by the way her voice changes when she speaks to him. This time, he believes that he has come up with the best idea yet. The perfect plan to make everything better. Mrs. Gorski, I Think I Have the Wiggle Fidgets has been awarded the Academics' Choice Gold Seal, Mom's Choice Award Gold, and Parents' Choice Award.

Davies went to China in 1988 as a backpacker and after two months touring Pakistan, found himself in Kashgar. He fell in love with Sharpet, an Uighur/Uzbek lady who was already married with a daughter. Blind to bureaucracy they travelled thousands of miles to obtain permission to marry. Sharpet's ex-husband returned from jail and sought revenge, but their love endured and cushioned the fall that came after Robert became involved in trafficking hashish. Arrested and taken 2500 miles across China to Shanghai, he was sentenced to eight and a half years. Fate, however, gave him a unique opportunity to observe a little-known world. He eventually served seven and a half years, and along with other Western prisoners, he fought against a corrupt system of draconian conditions. These memoirs are an indictment against the Chinese legal system, that Davies feels used him and other foreingers as propaganda tools, but he also concedes deference to a prison system that fed him, allowed him the chance to learn three languages and hone his oil painting and guitar playing. This is also about a love that endured years of separation and hardship.

Review: "The second picture book in The Adventures of Everyday Geniuses series features Max, a third-grader who had always liked math until his teacher started using a timer for testing the class on multiplication facts. Max clutches when he tries to hurry. When his missing math folder reveals that Max has been working problems from the older brother s algebra book for fun, he is invited to join the school math team as well as a program for accelerated math students. Tinted with colorful washes, ink drawings illustrate the story with sympathy and humor. One particularly expressive picture illustrates the phrase my mind freezes with a drawing of unhappy Max seated at his school desk, his head turned into a snowman s noggin, carrot nose and all. The well-phrased text also reassures children that understanding is more important than memorization and that a strength in one area of learning can offset a weakness in another."Carolyn Phelan American Library Association, BOOKLISTEndorsements: I applaud Barbara Esham for finding a way to teach young children how to be more mindful. In so doing, she sets the stage for their greater well-being as adults. Dr. Ellen Langer, Harvard UniversityProfessor of Psychology Over the years I have witnessed great advances in our understanding of learning styles. Yet I have been struck with how little progress we have made in translating this research into words and practices that students and their parents can use. The books of the Mainstream Connections series are honest but positive, helpful without preaching, and they are readable but not too simplistic. I have no doubt these books will touch the hearts and minds of many, and help some lost children find good in themselves. Dr. Jeffrey Gilger, Purdue University College of Education Each book in the Mainstream Connections Children's Book Series offers a reassuring message for children and sage advice for their adult caregivers, who do not always appreciate children's naive construals of their peers, teachers, and schools. The books encourage children not to shy away from obstacles by showing how many adults--from Mom and Dad to intellectual giants--overcame similar obstacles on the road to success. They dispel misconceptions about intelligence that can undermine confidence among children who do not immediately succeed in school. They also highlight the pitfalls of measuring oneself in comparison to peers. Although the books seem targeted toward children who struggle, there are important messages for those children for whom school seems to come easy as well as the teachers and parents who create the environments in which children learn. A recurring theme is the importance to children of understanding and affirmation from adults. The richness and depth of these books, which are firmly rooted in behavioral science research, is uncommon in short stories for children. It is quite possible that these books will rescue some children from the uncertainty, anxiety, and struggle that school and peer relations sometimes create. Dr. Rick Hoyle, Duke University Research Professor Psychology & Neuroscience "Surprisingly, many of history's greatest mathematicians have been slow--or even spotty--calculators. Kudos to Barb Esham for this wise and witty reminder of the difference between rote memorization and higher math reasoning. Last to Finish is the perfect book for the child whose passion for exploring the magical world of mathematics is in danger of

In April 2006, Mary Turner Thomson received a call that blew her life apart. The woman on the other end of the line told her that Will Jordan, Mary’s husband and the father of her two younger children, had been married to her for 14 years and they had five children together. The Bigamist is the shocking true story of how one man manipulated an intelligent, independent woman, conning her out of £200,000 and leaving her to bring up the children he claimed he could never have. It’s a story we all think could never happen to us, but this shameless con man has been doing the same thing to various other women for at least 27 years, spinning a tangled web of lies and deceit to cover his tracks. How far would you go to help the man you love? How far would he go to deceive you? And what would you do when you found out it was all a lie?