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Texas, United States

11/01/2013

"Cast No Stones"



 
"New York Times best seller listed, Cast No Stones is the extraordinary true story of a lonely U.S. soldier, an impoverished English rose from a slum in northern England, and the damaging impact their romance was to have on Kevin, their confused son. Dashing American GI, Harry met young English girl, Laura in 1942 while stationed in Britain during WWII. There followed a lengthy and passionate affair resulting in Laura giving birth to a son while Harry’s unit were preparing to land on the notorious Omaha Beach. Machell recounts the often sad, sometimes hilarious experiences of a “GI boy” growing up in a post-war British slum. He details his search for his long-lost father, their emotional first meeting in America and the dramatic twist that left Kevin and all around him in a state of shock. "

 Kevin Machell
"Machell was born and grew up among the many slums and terraced streets of immediate post war Salford in industrial Lancashire. He failed the 11 plus exam and attended a secondary modern school leaving with only a certificate of academic competence. The prevailing educational system denied him the opportunity of sitting any GCE examinations.
He began work as a Laboratory Assistant and attended colleges of further education on a day release basis where he gained 4 GCE O levels. In his early twenties he started working in the chemical producing industry and spent the rest of his working life at the same company. Beginning as a chemical plant operator he quickly progressed up the career ladder through quality control and ultimately to a senior position of Shift Production Manager, a position he held for over twenty years.
At the age of fifty, at the behest of and completely sponsored by his company, Machell enrolled at Salford University and over the next three years was to gain two post graduate degrees in management study and application. He was appointed to the Magistracy in 2000 and continues to dispense justice in the Manchester and Salford Magistrates Courts."

Below is part of an email I recently received from Kevin. I had contacted him on his website a while back to let him know how much I enjoyed his memoir. At that time it was only available as an eBook but is now also available in paperback on Amazon:

"I was delighted that you enjoyed my book so much that you took the time and trouble to email and tell me. Some of you wrote quite some time ago, while others only contacted me more recently. A couple of things have happened in the last few weeks that I thought you might be interested to learn about. At the beginning of this month my book was selling so well in the U.S. that it reached number nine position in the New York Times best sellers list for non-fiction eBooks!" 

Cast No Stones is available at the link below: I highly recommend it.

http://www.amazon.com/Cast-No-Stones-Kevin-Machell/dp/1493540904/

4 comments:

Jill Paterson said...

Anna, this sounds like a very interesting book to read. And isn't Kevin a most wonderful person. A real achiever! I shall be reading his book.

DMS said...

This is my first time hearing of this one, but it does sound like an interesting read. Kevin has done so much with his life and I love that he continues to learn. :) I will have to check this out now that it is available in print. Thanks for sharing!
~Jess

Anna Maria said...

Jill, thanks! With your ties to England I think you will really enjoy Kevin's memoir also.

Anna Maria said...

Jessica, thank you. I happened upon Kevin's memoir by accident and was curious to read a memoir written by a man, since most are written by women. The story did grab my attention and I'm sure it will your also.