{"title":"Richard Ayres","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"further-education-of-mike-carter-book-richard-ayres-9781908775665","title":"The Further Education of Mike Carter","description":"Mike Carter has been a lecturer at Streetbridge College of Further Education for 30 years. He has been the leader of the pack, scourge of college management, seducer of students, colleagues and wives of colleagues. But now, approaching 60, things are going awry. The younger lecturers are no longer in thrall to him, his powers of seduction are declining, and those whom he has offended over the years, sensing his diminishing influence, are seeking to exact revenge. Meanwhile, Marcia Martell, the young, newly appointed Principal, is determined to drag the institution into the 21st century in the face of foot-dragging by the older members of her management team and opposition from the lecturers' union. She issues a memorandum to staff imposing a new code of dress and behaviour: this is seized on by Mike Carter as an opportunity to re-assert his waning influence by leading the fight against her. However, the politics of the workplace are muddied by events in the personal lives of the protagonists, and by antagonisms and jealousies between individuals, generations and competing interest groups. When sexual tension is added to the mix, the outcome is unpredictable. The author began working in Colleges of FE in 1968. He was a lecturer, an Adult Education organiser, Head of Department and finally a Vice-Principal, before retiring in 1995.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49584285024529,"sku":"GOR006102581","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1908775661.jpg?v=1750931447"},{"product_id":"odious-little-man-book-richard-ayres-9781789558555","title":"An Odious Little Man","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49951508267281,"sku":"GOR011374904","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51188405141777,"sku":"NIN9781789558555","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1789558557.jpg?v=1751426224"},{"product_id":"waterloo-sunset-book-richard-ayres-9781438982540","title":"Waterloo Sunset","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50908133687569,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50908134113553,"sku":"GOR006183414","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52480689570065,"sku":"NLS9781438982540","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53476730306833,"sku":"NIN9781438982540","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1438982542.jpg?v=1751429749"},{"product_id":"pennine-incident-book-richard-ayres-9781456783679","title":"A Pennine Incident","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51097670648081,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51097673826577,"sku":"NIN9781456783679","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52128763543825,"sku":"NLS9781456783679","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/145678367X.jpg?v=1751338180"},{"product_id":"hard-copy-book-richard-ayres-9781800311480","title":"Hard Copy","description":"\u003cp\u003eHelen is religious and believes she committed a mortal sin when she became pregnant by Jeremy. Determined that their daughter Jane would never fall from grace, she vigorously disciplined her. Jane fled from home aged 18, and has since had no contact with her parents.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJeremy, a man at odds with the modern world, has failed to get any of his novels published. Still, he sets up a business advising aspiring novelists.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Helen is charged with assault, and one of Jeremy's clients knows more about him than he is aware, life changes irrevocably for them both. But is it for the better?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51146461643025,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51146464559377,"sku":"NIN9781800311480","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1800311486.jpg?v=1750723528"},{"product_id":"letters-and-secrets-book-richard-ayres-9781909878266","title":"'Letters and Secrets'","description":"It is England in the Jubilee summer of 2012. Three couples living in different parts of the country await the celebrations with varying degrees of enthusiasm, hostility, or indifference. Derek Bailey, in his 60s, has a secret past, linked to a tragic event that happened 24 years before. If he is ever to come to terms with that event, he needs an answer to a question that has nagged at him all this time, so he starts to write a series of letters to Marcus, a young man whom he has never met. The secrets revealed in the letters begin to erode the fragile relationships of all three couples, for even Derek is not immune to the destructive potential of what he is writing. His final letter sets in train a series of events which threaten to destroy the lives of all involved and for one, the result is catastrophic. This novel explores the fragility of relationships between people of all ages when there are lingering secrets, and the misunderstandings that arise when the older generation tries to communicate with the younger. This is Richard Ayres' fourth novel, the previous being 'Waterloo Sunset' (published 2009), 'A Pennine Incident' (2010) and 'The Further Education of Mike Carter' (2012).","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51203166929169,"sku":"NIN9781909878266","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/190987826X.jpg?v=1750726201"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-richard-ayres.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}