A Siberian Winter's Tale - a gripping travel adventure by Helen Lloyd

A Siberian Winter’s Tale: Cycling to the Edge of Insanity and the End of the World is a new book about the three months Helen Lloyd spent cycling across one of the most remote, coldest inhabited regions of the planet - Siberia - in the depth of winter. The book - which I edited last year - is an extraordinary tale of adventure filled with the characters she met along the Road of Bones; a journey of discovery, driven by the call of the wild.
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In temperatures down to -50C, she battled the cold, overcoming her fear of wolves and of falling through the ice of a frozen lake. Alone  in a hibernating land with little to stimulate the senses, her biggest challenges were with her own mind as she struggled with the solitude.

“For hours now – days even, weeks perhaps, for time is frozen here like the rivers – my world has been evaporating into nothing. Now, there is no sound except the beating of my heart, heavy breathing and the crackle of my bike tyres over the packed snow …
This is how I imagine the end of the world will be ... all white – pure and untouched – seeing everything; seeing nothing. We'll each stand alone, in peace, surrounded by a blank canvas that can be transformed into any image our mind desires. But when you hear or see something emerge from this white nothingness, how will you know if it's real or in your head?”

In a touching story full of warm-hearted moments, humour and riveting descriptions that will have you living each moment with her, she also shows the joys of her astonishing adventure. A Siberian Winter's Tale is Helen's second book. Her debut book, Desert Snow, about her 25,000-kilometre bicycle ride through Africa, was a finalist in the Readers' Favorite Book Awards in the Cultural Non-Fiction category, and has received numerous five-star reviews.

"Cycling through Siberia in winter … encapsulates the very best of extreme adventure travel. Helen has proved herself to be a voracious traveller, a tough adventurer, and a fine writer." - Alastair Humphreys, British adventurer

"[Helen Lloyd] is brave, funny, thoughtful and writes in clear detail about how life is being a long-distance cyclist. I think Helen is one of the most interesting explorers
on earth today, on the young scene.” - Mikael Strandberg, Swedish explorer


Happy 2016... with client news

Samantha Verant's internationally successful debut memoir SEVEN LETTERS FROM PARIS has been optioned by a film studio. Her next book, HOW TO MAKE A FRENCH FAMILY, about her first few years of life as an instant stepmother and wife in the south of France - filled with food and faux pas - has been sold to US publisher Sourcebooks for spring 2017 publication. UK rights to both books are available.

Sarah Outen is busy writing her new book, DARE TO DO. Nicholas Brealey acquired world rights and the book is due for publication in June.

Brad Smith's new novel, ROUGH JUSTICE, has been published by Severn House and received this review from Booklist:


The quintessential Brad Smith hero is an ex-con attempting to live a quiet life who finds himself drawn back into the world of violence, usually to help out someone he loves. Following in the tradition of Ray Dokes (All Hat, 2003) and series hero Virgil Cain (Red Means Run, 2012), Carl Burns lands in prison after taking a quixotic stand against corruption and absorbing the unintended consequences. Now out of prison, he has returned to his small Ontario hometown to support his estranged daughter, Kate, who is one of three witnesses in the rape trial of the town’s mayor. The trial goes bad, and Kate slips slowly into addiction and depression. Burns watches helplessly, biding his time and helping the sister of his ex-wife attempt to battle a ruthless land-grabber. Typically, Smith combines elements of the comic caper novel with hard-edged thriller fare, but this time the comedy and the banter take a backseat to real-world realism. Even in a hard world, however, there’s always room for fighting back, and nobody does stand-up guys better than Smith.

Diane Esguerra's memoir JUNKIE BUDDHA has continued to gather fine reviews also - Therapy Today called it uplifting, commenting on 'eloquent writing and self-deprecating humour' (http://www.therapytoday.net/article/show/5136/shelf-life-junkie-buddha/). Diane also appeared on Salford City Radio (https://soundcloud.com/david-southam/smiley-queen-salford-city-radio-interview). Links to all the reviews and interviews can now be found here: http://junkiebuddha.com/endorsements/.

'The Inca witch told me that Machu Picchu was the right resting place for Sacha... Yes, my son was a junkie. But he was also a Buddha.'  

Translation rights are available in Brad Smith's novel and Diane Esguerra's memoir.


An interview just came out with Ian Moore about being a father, comedian and author: http://www.dadofdivas.com/dads-in-the-limelight/ian-moore

As editor of John Searancke's book PRUNES FOR BREAKFAST: ONE MAN'S WAR, I'm pleased to see the book selling well on Kindle and getting great reviews on Amazon.

More updates are to be found on the AGENCY CLIENTS page. Thanks to all authors, publishers and co-agents for your support in 2015. Very best wishes for 2016 from me and the 'office assistant' in Megalo Horio, Tilos!