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Jane Eyre

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Charlotte Brontë

Charlotte Brontë's book Jane Eyre is a Victorian novel that has passed into common consciousness and proved remarkably adaptable, generating several film and stage versions. That Jane Eyre shares this fate with the two greatest horror novels of the nineteenth century is instructive. Like them, it speaks to deep, timeless human urges and fears, using the conventions of Gothic literature to chart the mind's recesses.

The detailed exploration of a strong female character's consciousness has made readers in recent decades consider Jane Eyre as an influential feminist text. The novel works both as the absorbing story of an individual woman's quest and as a narrative of the dilemmas that confront so many women. Its mythic quality is enhanced by the fact that at the time of its writing its author was, like her heroine, unmarried and unremarked, and considered unattractive. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë created a fully imagined character defined by her strength of will. Though Jane is nothing more than an impoverished governess, she can retort to her haughty employer Rochester: 'Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?-You think wrong!' (p. 284). Jane's willfulness scandalized many contemporary critics, who called her (and the novel) 'coarse' and 'unfeminine.' Such criticisms were powerless against the novel's popularity, and Jane's indomitable voice continues to enthrall readers more than 150 years after the novel's original publication.

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Journey from Darkness

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The elephant had drifted away from where she had been feeding and was now leaning against an old thorn tree, blood muddying the sand at her feet. Her body listed forward like a great ship going down at the bow.

‘If she collapses, we’ll lose her,’ Edward whispered, his words weighed down with concern. ‘She’ll never make it back up.’

‘Damn it . . . there must be something we can do.’

Edward offered his brother a forlorn look and then peered down at his rifle. ‘Not something good, I’m afraid.’

Shaking his head, refusing to allow the thought into his mind, Derek’s gaze locked on to her injuries. The wound in her head appeared serious; it had festered into a thick and raised scab. Her front leg was severely swollen and he noticed what seemed to be bullet holes in her ears – these, however, were of no real significance. Though the holes would remain, the torn flesh would heal in a matter of days. Provided, of course, that the rest of her survived that long.

‘Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt here,’ Derek said. ‘Even if it means she has to suffer for a while.’

Edward nodded. ‘Agreed.’

‘I want to go in for a closer look.’

‘No, no. Not a good idea. Not after what she’s been through. You can’t risk exposing yourself. It’s too dangerous right now.’

‘I’ll be fine.’

‘Based on what?’ Edward frowned, suddenly annoyed. ‘Your wealth of elephant knowledge? Your decades of experience in the bush? You have no idea how she’ll react.’

Derek did not reply straight away. ‘I’m sorry, Ed. I need to do this.’

‘What are you talking about? Where’s this coming from?’

Derek looked at his brother and shrugged. Without offering another word, he turned away and stepped out from behind the rocks.

‘Wait! Think! You don’t know what you’re doing!’

But Derek had no intention of stopping. Just as he had done for most of his life, he was following his instincts, allowing his emotions to drive him.

He managed only a few short steps before the giant elephant craned her head towards him. Suddenly, it felt to him as though God himself had turned to see who had wandered into his yard.

Her ears immediately began to flap and she straightened up several inches, which in itself seemed almost impossible. Warily, her tail swishing between her legs, she tracked him as he slowly approached her.

‘I’m not here to hurt you,’ Derek called out, holding out his arms and lowering his head in what he hoped was a submissive pose.

‘You’re talking to the elephant . . . really?’ Edward murmered under his breath. ‘Why do you always have to do the first bloody thing that comes into your head?’

The tusker kept her eyes locked on Derek, mindful of any sudden movement. She was clearly not pleased by his arrival, but neither did she appear sufficiently threatened to act against him. Or, more likely, she no longer possessed the strength.

‘I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through,’ he rambled. ‘My name is Derek.’

Edward shook his head. ‘Stop . . . speaking . . . please.’

As Derek got to within a hundred yards of her, he sat down on a large crescent-shaped rock. He carefully removed his shirt and placed it on the ground beside him. He wanted her to see that he was unarmed. He wanted her to understand that, like her, he was vulnerable. And that he was placing himself at her mercy.

As he settled down, crossing his legs, he was unable to take his eyes off her. She was, by an unbridgeable margin, the most remarkable animal he had ever seen. Beyond enormous, her distended frame and exaggerated tusks appeared almost mystical, as if torn from the pages of a children’s fable. There was also something extraordinary, almost otherworldly, about her face; it bore a rawness of emotion that was immediately and obviously evident. Large and moist sickle-moon wrinkles underlined her brown eyes and made it appear as though she was crying. Perhaps she was, he suddenly thought.

‘If it’s all right with you, I’m just going to sit here for a while,’ he continued. ‘I would really appreciate it if you wouldn’t trample me to death.’

Edward, maddened by his brother’s inane comments, dropped his head into his hands. ‘Heaven above. What is he doing?’

As Derek observed how the elephant was struggling to remain on her feet, his apprehension faded away and, in its place, bright ropes of pity and anger coiled and tightened around his chest. He wished there was something he could do to comfort her, at least to ease some of her pain, but knew that there wasn’t. All he could offer was himself and, in an absurd gesture, the apology he hoped his presence conveyed.

As the rising sun pushed itself off the mountains, Derek sat perfectly still, transfixed.

The Great Grey seemed impossible to him. A figure fashioned in a dream. And yet he felt inexplicably connected to her. As if he somehow knew her from somewhere. That, in some unfathomable way, they shared something. A bond even.

But how?

And what?

 

After a while, Derek finally rose to his feet. He picked up his shirt and slowly returned to Edward and Maquaasi who were waiting patiently behind the rocks.

‘And what . . . the hell . . . was that?’ Edward asked, stabbing his hands skywards.

‘I’m not sure.’

‘You’re not sure! You just did something that could have cost you your life and you don’t even know why you did it?’

Derek shrugged, offered no defence.

‘And why’d you take off your shirt?’

‘To show her that I wasn’t a threat.’

‘Of course! We all know how lethal a shirt can be.’

‘Take it easy, Ed. I just wanted her to see that I wasn’t carrying anything that could hurt her.’

‘You were bloody lucky, Derek. That could have ended very differently. You realise that I would’ve had to shoot her if she had charged you? I can’t believe that you would put that on me. Damn it!’

Derek allowed a few moments for his brother’s anger to dissipate. It was rare for Edward to lose his temper. ‘We know her kind.’

Edward cocked his head sidewards. ‘Her kind? What do you mean? We’ve never seen an elephant like this.’

‘That’s right,’ he agreed, his voice low, ‘but we’ve read about them for years.’

Edward frowned but as he did something sparked in his eyes. ‘You’re talking about the diary? The Desert Elephants?’

‘You know I am.’

‘He was near death when he wrote those entries. For all we know, it was all in his mind.’

‘I don’t believe that. And neither do you.’

Edward looked up at the sky, the early-morning blue already incinerated by the sun. ‘He was very ill. The malaria would’ve distorted–’

‘She’s a Desert Elephant, Ed. Look how bloody tall she is! And those tusks? She’s exactly what our father described. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten.’

‘Of course I haven’t.’

‘Then why are you resisting this?’

‘I’m not,’ he replied, taking a breath. ‘I’m just trying to think it through. Do you know that most people believe that Desert Elephants are a myth?’

‘This isn’t a fairytale, Ed. She’s not a damn unicorn. Just an elephant from an old bloodline,’ Derek said, slipping his shirt back on. His skin was already tight and hot with sunburn. He leaned over and stared through the gap in the rocks. The elephant god continued to lean precariously against the old tree. ‘There’s another way to look at it.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, what’s the alternative? If she isn’t a Desert Elephant . . . then what the hell is she?’

 

Journey from Darkness

Gareth Crocker
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Journey from Darkness is bestselling author Gareth Crocker’s story of an African adventure set on the border between South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Escaping an England crippled by the Great War, twin brothers Edward and Derek Hughes head to South Africa where, soon after their arrival, they discover a rare Desert Elephant – an animal believed by many to be a myth. Following an ancient ghost trail to Bechuanaland they find that the enormous matriarch is not alone. She is being pursued by relentless shadows, a black light that will stop at nothing to bring her down. To save her, the brothers must journey into the darkness. A darkness, as it turns out, born of the terrible war they left behind.

Gareth Crocker's debut novel, Finding Jack (2011), was published to international acclaim. It was translated into several languages and featured in no fewer than eight volumes of the Reader’s Digest Select Editions. Journey from Darkness is Gareth Crocker’s second novel, which he co-wrote with his father, Llewellyn.

Lairs' Gospel

Naomi Alderman
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'He was a traitor, a rabble-leader, a rebel, a liar and a pretender to the throne. We have tried to forget him here'. For fans of The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Phillip Pulman, Naomi Alderman's The Liars' Gospel is the story of a Jewish man, Yehoshuah, who wandered Roman-occupied Judea giving sermons and healing the sick. Now, a year after his death, four people tell their stories. His mother flashes between grief and rage while trouble brews between her village and the occupying soldiers. Iehuda, who was once Yehoshuah's friend, recalls how he came to lose his faith and find a place among the Romans. Caiaphas, the High Priest at the great Temple in Jerusalem, tries to hold the peace between Rome and Judea. Bar-Avo, a rebel, strives to bring that peace tumbling down. "The Liars' Gospel" makes the oldest story entirely new. Viscerally powerful in its depictions of the realities of the period: massacres and riots, animal sacrifice and human betrayal, it finds echoes of the present in the past. It was a time of political power-play and brutal tyranny and occupation. Young men and women took to the streets to protest. Dictators put them down with iron force. Rumours spread from mouth to mouth. Rebels attacked the greatest Empire the world has ever known. The Empire gathered its forces to make those rebels pay. And in the midst of all of that, one inconsequential preacher died. And either something miraculous happened, or someone lied. 

My Life with Leopards

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When we reached the camp my first priority was to settle the cubs. Showing me to a specially constructed three by four metre wire cage he’d had the staff put together, Warren helped me carry the travel box inside before leaving me to join Ross, who was showing everyone to their dark-green tents. From what I had seen so far the camp was quite basic but it was very pretty, nestled against thick riverine shrub and overlooking the Mara River. It was built on tribal ground which was technically outside the reserve. And yet animals, including lions, hyenas, leopards, cheetahs and elephants, were free to roam and wander at will, which sometimes brought them into conflict with the scattered Maasai villages. In order to protect their cattle and goats, the Maasai constructed their homesteads by building a thick, virtually impenetrable acacia thorn fence around the kraal area inside the manyatta, although occasionally the odd predator did manage to sneak through during the darker hours of the night, something it often paid for with its life. Warren had no such fence around the camp; it was open on all sides. There was a long-drop toilet and a communal kitchen and he employed the Maasai from a nearby village to tend to camp chores and a chef who cooked inside an old rusty ammunition box, using it like an oven.

 

Boycat and Poepface didn’t appear particularly fazed at the unfamiliarity of their new environment and after gingerly sniffing their way around the cage they succumbed contentedly to their weariness after the long journey and lay down to relax. I left them to join the others for a simple lunch of sandwiches and chips, after which Chris, the soundman, and I went for a walk along the rocky banks of the Mara River. Beautiful birds I had never seen before flitted in and out of shrubs and trees and I spied my first troop of colobus monkeys across the water. Climbing to the top of a ridge, Chris and I stood silently staring over the open savannah at vast numbers of Thomson’s gazelle, impalas, wildebeest and zebra nudging the plain’s short grass for any remaining nutrient-rich shoots. A lonely Acacia tortillis shimmered on the horizon in the early afternoon heat, a classic embodiment of the East African wilderness. I loved it. This was land unspoilt by the hand of men; only tribal communities scattered unobtrusively across the plains continued their traditional lifestyle in coexistence with wild animals. This, surely, was how life was meant to be.

 

Later that afternoon, with the cubs still resting inside the cage, Warren took a group of us on a short drive to one of the Maasai manyattas, mud and dung huts standing in a circle inside the kraal. As I followed Warren and the others it felt as if I were crossing the threshold into an ancient world. I found the Maasai women very beautiful with their colourful beaded jewellery and bright dresses. To me, they exuded the sort of simple contentment that people in the western world would strive most of their lives to attain, probably because their uncomplicated lifestyle freed them from the shackles of modern civilisation. Walking towards one of the smaller huts, I traced my finger along the outside walls. Bulging with heaviness, they were blistered and cracked by the equatorial sun. Inside it was dark and dank with the smell of musty cow dung fusing with stale wood smoke. And yet the simplicity of this raw, earthy lifestyle and the efficient use of natural materials to provide effective shelter held an almost refined sort of beauty.

 

Stepping back into the bright sunlight, I walked back to JV, Chris and the others who were talking to the Maasai elders about a film shoot that would take place during the following days with the cubs inside the manyatta. Standing a small distance away, I noticed a Maasai warrior, also known as a moran, whose body was covered in some very nasty scars. Curious, I decided to introduce myself and tentatively ask what had caused them. What he then told me was probably one of the most fascinating stories I had ever heard.

 

In broken English, he said his name was Ngodella and that one day he and his friend had been walking across the open plains when they surprised a big male lion resting in the shade of a low acacia bush. The lion had been sound asleep and hadn’t seen the two morans approaching until the very last moment when they were almost on top of him. Ngodella, who was closest to the lion, saw him coming straight for him and before he was able to raise his spear the lion was on him, its claws tearing across his chest and back. His friend, horrified, none the less had the presence of mind to throw his rungu at the animal – this is a short wooden stick with a heavy round knob at one end which is a traditional weapon the Maasai carry for warfare and for hunting small animals. The heavy club hit the lion square in the face, breaking off his top right canine, and he ran off. If his friend had not shown such courage, Ngodella would certainly have faced an untimely and unexpected death. But the most bizarre part of his story came next. About a year later, the same two morans came across the very same lion under similar circumstances. This time, Ngodella’s friend was the one to be attacked. Biting him on the shoulder with the half-broken canine, the lion failed to bring him down. And so Ngodella managed to fight him off and was able to repay his friend by saving his life.

 

As we chatted, another young Maasai approached; a tall stunning-looking man with high cheekbones and hugely stretched earlobes.

 

‘You are a man who can walk a long distance,’ he told me, pointing at my legs with his right hand. A little taken aback, I asked him what he meant. As a child l had been teased mercilessly by the other kids at school because of the skinny legs I had inherited from my father. ‘You have got good legs,’ he said simply. ‘They will carry you a long way.’ It was probably the first time anyone had said anything nice about them.

 

With a little time in hand before we started filming, I took the cubs on a leisurely walk along the river frontage early the following morning. Later, I eagerly accepted the invitation to join the others on an afternoon game drive to the marsh and forests that teemed with elephants and buffalo. Hippos and monster-size crocodiles abounded in the river, whereas the savannah plains offered us incredible sightings of three cheetah brothers and a pride of lions with small cubs that tumbled over their mother’s back to find their way to her swollen teats. When I returned to sit with the cubs later that evening I wondered what I had ever done so right to be experiencing all this.

The following afternoon Elmon and I went down to a section of the river where a hippo had died in a fight with another bull several days earlier. It wasn’t far from camp so we decided to check it out.

 

‘You’re welcome to some of the meat for the cubs if you like, Graham,’ Warren said on the second morning. ‘There should be plenty left for the crocs. Not sure what the cubs will make of it though.’

 

So, armed with a few sharp knives, Elmon and I headed off in the direction Warren had indicated and, making our way carefully down the bank, we traversed some large slippery rocks and boulders to wade across to the carcass lying half-exposed above the surface of the water. Constantly looking left and round to ensure early detection of ripples that indicated an approaching hippo or crocodile, Elmon and I set about cutting through about five centimetres of fat before we reached the red meat inside. Later, when I presented the fatty meat to the cubs they stood over the bowls sniffing curiously before starting to feed, although from the look of them it wasn’t exactly their favourite thing.

Navigating Your Career

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Your career is not a hobby. It’s non-negotiable really: you need to succeed in your career. You have to pay for the house, the cars, the children’s education, your next holiday and whatever other lifestyle choices you have made. Like most people, your career is your only ticket to any form of financial success in life. A few people find that building a career is easy. For most people, though, it’s tough.

Your boss mentioned a divisional restructuring. You have no idea what you would do if you were forced to find a new job. The talk, arranged by HR, about the new world of work didn’t do anything to alleviate that stress about the long term. In fact, it just left you feeling scared and suspicious.

That reminds you that you had better set up that LinkedIn account like Mike suggested. Your friends are going on holidays to the coast and you have promised the family that they can do the same. You just can’t admit right now to the others – or to your family – that cash is a little tight. And the car needs fixing too. Hopefully it can wait just a few months more.

And then there are the demands on you and your time. Family activities you need to attend and friends who need your help. If you could just sleep properly and not feel so tired all the time, that would help.

Yes, managing your career – and your life – can be tough indeed. You wonder how some lucky people get to do work that they really like. You always dreamt of that for yourself, but right now there seems to be no chance of doing what you truly want. You have too many bills to pay so you must just keep doing what you’re doing now.

And just like that, you fall into The Trap.

 

 

The Trap

When you are faced with a career dilemma, you may attempt to solve it by speaking to a couple of people or by posting your resumé online, hoping that someone will come calling with that perfect job. When that doesn’t work, you give up and convince yourself that you are lucky to have your current job and that only especially blessed people get to do what they love. You may even enter that ‘waiting area’, where you wait to be happy, wait for the perfect moment, wait to have enough money.

This is The Trap: thinking that some time in the future you’ll have the time, the energy, the resources, the network, the skills, the lucky break, or some other opportunity you somehow can’t access now. And so you try to survive your current situation. Waiting.

Most people are better at coping than at taking control and making choices that powerfully propel them forward to success. Have you noticed the increasing evidence of people’s ‘just coping’ in our society? The excessive and increasing use of prescription drugs to reduce and manage stress; excessive drinking to drown the sorrows of the week; job-hopping for small increases in pay; lack of engagement in the workplace; lack of energy amongst workers; poor service; incomplete work, and more. Companies now have to provide incentives and awards to encourage people just to complete the work they were hired for and are being paid to do. These are people who are treading water in their careers. Just waiting.

This may feel like your only option, or even seem like a good tactic, except for the fact that career dilemmas can be – and have been – resolved by many people in many different situations. Many people have escaped The Trap. There are actual people out there who, instead of accepting that work is something that just pays the bills, have found or created work that pays the bills and is fulfilling and, in many cases, also positively impacts the world.

When it comes to overcoming career dilemmas, what most people lack is not the competence to do the work (current or new) but rather the skill to navigate their careers effectively. On their own and with their current level of skill, it is rare for people to come up with the ideas and options they need to escape The Trap and overcome career dilemmas. They remain caught in The Trap by seeking quick-fix solutions based on the latest popular trends or suggestions from well-meaning but poorly informed family and friends.

What they need are the skills and attitudes that will propel them to career success. This is possible for everyone. This is what this book is all about.

 

 

Taking Responsibility

Most people typically don’t think of themselves as ‘career navigators’ as they’re too focused on the job they’re currently doing and they fail to see the impact that their careers have on themselves and their communities. If they did, they would invest much more energy in looking for new and better ways to enhance their career navigation strategies and skills. Any time they tried to find jobs and failed, they’d stop to try a new strategy. Any time they were declined raises or promotions, they’d try something new or carve new roles for themselves. Any time they came home drained and disillusioned, they’d seek out something new, or at least place another marker on the career navigation journey.

Many people cause themselves a great deal of grief by not realising that it’s their duty to become good at navigating their careers. Instead of moaning, complaining, becoming despondent and finding ways to cope, they need to focus on improving career navigation skills and strategies.

This is why we wrote this book. We are of the opinion that almost all career dilemmas can be overcome by simply thinking and behaving differently. To free themselves from The Trap, people need to take responsibility for their careers; go about creating their own realities and powerfully choose the options that will allow them to be their best.

In this book, instead of seeking quick-fix strategies, we explore the mindsets that successful career navigators use every day to secure opportunities in the new world of work and become their best. This is something you can start today and do every day for the rest of your life.

Never Let Go

As he presses a revolver to his head, Reece Cole sees his little daughter’s handprints on the windowpane. One last, painful reminder of her all too short life. But then he notices something about the handprints that defies belief. Something that verges on the impossible.

He spends the next few days frantically trying to make sense of what is happening. Then a stranger stops at his gate with a small grey envelope. Inside is a single white card, inscribed with six breathtaking words: I can bring your daughter back.
 
Visit Gareth Crocker’s website, find him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.   

Watch the book trailer of Gareth Crocker's latest novel Never Let Go. 

Watch Gareth Crocker as he reads an extract from Never Let Go, and gives readers an insight into his world. 
 
Read an extract from Never Let Go. 
 
Download the Never Let Go reading guide. 

 

Only the Dead

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Every day now he flies over the forest, heading for the mine, where he begins his search. He hates starting there and seeing the children slaving in the raw earth. It upsets him when he begins every shift. The waves of guilt and shame still sweep through him. They are worse when he sees these children digging in the earth and carrying the bags up the muddy slopes. If he zooms in close he can see their dark, suffering eyes, like holes in their faces.

He tries not to think about them as he flies the Predator. He thinks of how the teddy bears made Brett and McKenzie happy, but then he remembers that Carrie was angry about his buying them.

‘You shouldn’t be spending our money on junk like that,’ she said when the kids had gone to bed.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, and reached for the remote to turn on the TV. His hand shook as he pressed the buttons, and he could feel the fear and the anger swirling inside him.

‘Turn that thing off please,’ Carrie said quietly.

He ignored her and sat for a few minutes watching Fox news. It was the only news he liked. It was the only news that was not full of the liberal garbage that the other networks ran. Why, if it was left to them, the country would have been taken over by terrorists years ago.

‘I asked you to turn it off,’ she repeated. ‘I need to speak to you.’

His stomach flip-flopped, and he could feel the sweat rising at his temples. The last thing he wanted to do was speak to her. He decided on a compromise. He muted the sound, so that only the pictures flashed across the screen. It reminded him of work, silent images, trapped behind glass. There were some shots of the White House, and the president walking out onto the South Lawn. Then it cut to Afghanistan, and marines in the brown, dry mountainsides. He had lost count of how many of the same slopes he had seen on his own screen, while he had been flying the Predator in support of the boys on the ground. At times, he had even circled overhead, keeping watch for terrorists, while they slept safe down below. Then the screen shifted to a young reporter who was at one of the bases. She was talking into the camera while the wind blew her hair to and fro across her face.

‘What’s going on?’ Carrie asked.

He kept staring at the screen for a few moments; he couldn’t believe how pretty the blonde reporter was. His heart pounded as he shifted his gaze back to Carrie.

‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘Nothing to do with you. I’m just working hard, that’s all.’

She looked at him for a few moments and then got up and went into the bedroom.

He turned the sound back on, but the girl was gone. The president was speaking from a podium in the garden. ‘We will fight terrorists wherever we find them,’ he was saying. ‘They should know they will never be safe. We will hunt them down and find them. They should know that America is resolute, that we never sleep.’

He liked hearing the president say that. This is what he is committed to doing; if only Carrie understood that, he thought. But then, he knew he had been wrong to speak to her that way. He felt guilty, but there was nothing he could do to explain it to her. Doing that would be too much of a risk. He has to keep his thoughts to himself. It’s his duty. He tried to watch TV a bit longer, but it was no good – he couldn’t concentrate. He lifted the remote again and shut off the TV. He stood up and turned off the light in the living room. The rest of the house was already dark, which meant that Carrie had gone to bed.

He stood alone at the door of the living room, staring down the unlit corridor, as the fear and the guilt, and now the shame, at the way he was treating his wife came rushing at him through the darkness.

The greenness of the forest canopy rushes by, thousands of miles away, and his chest is burning with pain as he checks his position with the GPS. It won’t be long before he reaches the mine. What happened last night at home with Carrie has really upset both of them. She told him at breakfast this morning, when the kids were in the living room watching TV and eating their cereal, that she was going to leave him if he carries on this way. She’s never said that to him before, but he knows her well enough to know that she means it.

‘What’s happening to you?’ she said.

He shook his head, and said nothing.

‘Please tell me,’ she asked, ‘before it’s too late.’

He couldn’t find anything to say to her. He wondered how much she guessed about the child, but he dared not tell her anything about that. He mumbled about work and long hours while she watched him through her lovely blue eyes and said nothing more.

 

Only the Dead

Hamilton Wende
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Deep in the Ugandan jungle, a mysterious new presence has infiltrated the Claws of God - a cult army of child soldiers led by the depraved General Faustin. The children are now being controlled by the sinister Papa Mephisto, and believe he is possessed by the magic and power of the lion.

Psychologist Tania Richter is struggling to penetrate the minds of these dangerous and brainwashed children. She calls on Sebastian Burke who, while trying to escape his traumatic past and failed relationship, has been researching lion mythology and its tangled history in human culture.

Sebastian soon finds himself embroiled in a war that extends to the conflict between Islamic extremists and the American government. With the world under threat of a nuclear terrorist attack and the lives of the children at stake, he and Tania must race to uncover the tangled history of lions and humans through the ages, and face its horrifying implications.

Raising Talent

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The world of sport and high performance is becoming more and more competitive and the age of champions and world class performers is in general becoming younger and younger. Today’s parents and coaches of talented youngsters are in a very challenging position. They know they need to do something if they want their child to reach his or her full potential, for their child to be the next Tiger Woods or Serena Williams. Even if they want their child just to achieve what Mom or Dad couldn’t or didn’t have the opportunity to, they are not sure what to do to enable him or her to do so – and if they are sure, many are not aware of the pitfalls of their particular strategy until it’s too late. Parents intuitively know that they need something to develop their child’s potential, and oftentimes LOTS of something.

But what is that something?

Using ‘what worked for me as a child’ or what you think Earl Woods or Richard Williams did based on articles and interviews you have read or seen can be equally dangerous and limiting. Their strategies and styles require more context of their circumstances and a deeper understanding of how the talent development process works to be successfully adapted into other homes.

So, again, what is that something?

This is an especially difficult question when many of the ‘poster boys’ and ‘poster girls’ for young-prodigies-turned-world-champions are facing career threatening or even career ending challenges. Tiger Woods has been the epitome of the ultimate sportsman; however the revelations about his infidelity threaten all that he has worked so hard to achieve. In tennis, Justine Henin was World Number 1 when she announced her (temporary) premature retirement in 2008. Ian Thorpe left competitive swimming without achieving all that he could have with his prodigious ability.

How do parents know they are doing the right thing for their child? Is the right thing only measured in performance, or is it measured in general happiness and well-roundedness? Will they have to choose between (trying) to develop a superstar and having a well-rounded and generally happy child? Do you have to make that choice?

Well, the answer to that question is yes, you do have to make that choice – that is, if you look at the world of sport and high performance in general in the last 20 years – and no, you don’t have to make that choice, not if you read and then apply your mind to the principles, thinking and methods in this book.

We believe that we have fine-tuned a method to develop talent whilst simultaneously focusing on becoming well-rounded and being generally happy; although this is a challenging task, our experience is that it is very possible. We come from a unique perspective. As Executive Coaches we work with people trying to develop that elusive work/life balance whilst also trying to develop their potential and get the most out of their life and job. We also work in the world of high performance sport; in multiple sports we work with the best of the best to be better more often.

In the world of sport some of our clients are children, more recently a lot of our clients are children. We have developed a model for coaching elite athletes to ‘zone’ as described in our book In the Zone with South Africa’s Sports Heroes, and although that was still the basis of what informed our questions when working with children we soon realised that a different strategy is required because there are different dynamics at play.

We set about discovering, understanding and learning what the key dynamics and challenges are for developing children’s talent. We utilised those principles to inform the coaching we did with children and young adults. We soon realised that we had started to map out the process of fast-tracking potential into performance – not just a child’s potential, but anyone’s potential, regardless of whether or not they were considered talented. As we researched, learned and discovered more, our thinking became sharper and our principles better defined. Eventually several models and techniques emerged and were refined from that work. This book is the story and context of these models and techniques and how they may apply in your home.

This book’s aim is to inform, teach and empower parents, coaches and athletes about high performance. We don’t believe we have all the answers, or even that the answers we have are one hundred per cent right – they just happen to be our best thinking based on our research and experience in this specialist field. We don’t want you to follow our principles blindly. Instead we want you to trust your judgement and your instincts and do what you feel is right. We believe that the ideas, stories, techniques and principles taught here will help you be more effective at doing that.

Although this book is aimed at parents more than any other group, the principles can be applied to any talent development at any age. We use these processes and models to successfully fast-track the performance of the executives, elite athletes, business and sports teams we work with as well as when developing our own skills in various interests and sports.

In this book we provide a quality self-coaching programme and a solid foundation of high performance theory so that performers can begin to fast-track their development without having to use a mental coach. After a certain point in a performer’s career it would make sense that he or she may require specialist mental coaching to take them to the next level and this book aims to support more people to get to that point and beyond. There are obviously several scenarios and challenges that will require specialist support for a performer to reach his or her full potential. However, we believe this to be the most powerful self-coaching programme currently available so that now, more than ever before, more can be achieved by the determined hard-working individual.

 

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