Dr. Vernon Anley was educated in Australia and England. After leaving university he worked for the Ministry of Overseas Development in the West Indies before resuming an academic career in Europe and the Far East. In addition to two successful novels, A Carnival of Lies and An Unholy Love, he has co-authored several books on linguistics, written radio scripts and articles describing his travels in the Hejaz and Yemen, and regularly contributed articles to academic journals on linguistics and education.
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A Carnival of Lies is an autobiographical novel set in Hitler’s Germany. Much of the documentation, insight and material of the book are new. Based on detailed research, often into hitherto untapped sources, the book reconstructs the events that lead to the industrially organized mass murder and enslavement of millions. But the book is more than an illuminating account of the greatest experiment in criminal practice that civilization has seen. Told through the lives of a young woman and the man who loved her, the book is an intimate portrait of human nature under adversity. A Carnival of Lies fundamentally enriches our knowledge of human nature, the organization of power, and how the ordinary can transform itself into terror. ‘What the critics say’ `Perceptive and imaginative ... deserves every recognition. The background detail, much of it from hitherto untapped sources, only emphasises that those who have not lived through the holocaust will never know the burden of suffering and death experienced by its victims. Totalitarianism has never seemed more subtle, insidious and in the end more terrifying. This is an outstanding book, beautifully written and absorbing. ' - J.K. Taplin ‘A most unusual and compelling book: the author, by the device of the fictional autobiography of an undercover agent in Nationalist Socialist Germany in the years from 1933, portrays with unembellished clarity the horrors of the Nazi machine operating at the national and individual level, with the contrast of those whose faith in humankind - even when they perish - outlasts those terrible years. Highly recommended.’ - Alan Scott, CVO, CBE, lately Governor of the Cayman Islands. ‘Vernon Anley’s nightmarish narrative about a nation led into infamy gallops on at a pace and style which guarantees to hold the readers’ attention from the start. A romance set against the backdrop of the Holocaust grips the imagination with horror and compassion. From the moment the first page is turned we are witness to a chronicle of man’s inhumanity to man, based throughout on carefully researched historic facts. This is a powerful story of human survival against all odds and a triumph of hope over despair.’ - Raymond Zala
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‘An Unholy Love’ is the Journal of a Benedictine monk written in the last months of his life. Given temporary permission to ‘return’ to the world he leaves the cloistered walls within which he was becoming ever more hermetic. His relationship with a young woman in Paris forces him to revaluate his ideas on love and death, and reflect on the dogmas and beliefs that informed his life. Beautifully written and insightful, this remarkable book, examines the great things that span our lives, the experiences which we do nothing to arrange but which affect us most deeply.
"What the critics say" 'This beautifully written book takes the reader on a spiritual odyssey that transcends religious speculation in its apprehension of the imperishable power of love. The narrative breaks through the dark side of dying and of death, to realise an end which is both beautiful and spiritual. This book is for anyone who fears the unknown, or is in doubt about their own salvation.' ‘An Unholy Love is an intimate and wide ranging book that does not shirk to question many of religion’s truths, without losing sight of man’s ultimate destiny. The great value of this little book is that it leads us to discover something about ourselves, which, had we not turned its pages, might have lain undeveloped and unknown. This is a book which can be read many times over. I could not put it down. J.L Moore This remarkable journal, written by a dying man in the last months of his life, is the record of a crisis of faith which forces him to re-evaluate aspects of Christian dogma and doctrine. The experience of falling in love forces him to set aside earlier perspectives and assumptions, which result in a more profound understanding of the nature of love, life and death. Beautifully written, and deeply moving, An Unholy Love goes beyond conventional boundaries in its attempt to understand man in his wholeness. O. M. Kortlang |
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