Derek Parker: 27 books

Should a man be free to kill his adulterous wife? This is the most notorious trial for the most notorious crime of the eighteenth century. Count Guido Franceschini is accused of murdering his beautiful young wife Pompilia, said to have eloped with a handsome young priest. But did they actually commit...

Derek and Julia Parker are two of the most famous and best-selling names in the field of astrology: their Compleat Astrologer introduced thousands to the subject. With this new encyclopedia, they have produced a must-have tool for the professional, student, and amateur astrologer. The Parkers’...

Franz Liszt, the son of poor parents, became the sensational and enormously rich 'greatest pianist in the world'. Touring Europe unceasingly for seven years he was adored by the public - especially by women, who fainted at his good looks and flamboyant behaviour, collected his cigar butts...

Lord Byron was born in poverty, and remained in poverty for most of his life: money-lenders and other debtors paid for his luxurious life-style and his incessant womanizing. Famous overnight on the publishing of his poem 'Childe Harold', he became notorious for his affair with his half-sister...

When King Charles II was dying, the name of only one of his many mistresses was in his mind and on his lips: that of Nell Gwyn. Born in extreme poverty, forced to become a child prostitute, she went on the stage and became the most popular actress of the time until Charles took her into his bed, where...

John Donne rose from abject poverty to become Dean of St Pauls, and from being an unknown figure whose poetry was so erotic that it could only be circulated manuscript to being a distinguished man of the Church deeply uneasy to remember the sins of his youth. The confident of King James and King Charles,...

It would be difficult to write a dull book about the history of astrology: history is crammed with fascinating and amusing incidents, bizarre, stimulating, crazy, brilliant characters - from the astrologer who practically ruled the Roman Empire to the one who hid behind a curtain to spy on the birth...

All sex is here.Poetry has nothing to learn from prose, as far as eroticism and pornography are concerned. A glance through this book will prove that there’s no aspect of sex – straight, gay and anything in between - which isn’t given full rein: from dressing to undressing, from seduction to...

John Opie, a young artist, falls under suspicion when a teen-age boy he has been using as a model disappears. But this is only the start of a story which involves him in murder and suspense as he and his girl-field Penny discover that young Jonny has been kidnapped by a world-wife paedophile ring...

What is it about Silversands? The fact that the sun seemed always to shine down on the secluded beach? – the water so warm that it caresses your body like a soft, kindly hand? – the silver sand that gives the bay its name – sand which seems positively to invite you to stretch out on it as on...

The first new biography of Lachlan Macquarie in decades, this book draws on a wealth of sources, both in Australia and overseas, to paint a picture of the man and his times. It must be seen as one of the great ironies of Australian history that as far as the British Government was concerned he failed...

Over the two centuries since his appointment, commentators have been as surprised at the choice of Arthur Phillip as some were at the time (the First Lord of the Admiralty, to mention only the most distinguished critic). But was it really so surprising? What did the Home Office and the Admiralty expect...

Imagined by one of the world's leading experts on Casanova, this fictionalised conversation presents the essential biography of history's most famous lover. A quiet chat with Casanova turns into a catalogue of racy encounters set in 18th-century Venice and other cities ... and we can even ask...

Scorpios, ever wondered what the Sun-signs tell you about love and life? This unique anthology of poems for love and life relates directly to your Sun-sign, Scorpio. If you were born between the 24th of October and the 22nd of November, you will relate to many of the themes identified with...