GEOFFREY SAMBROOK
BOOKS
"Geoffrey Sambrook is particularly skilled at imparting his knowledge of metal trading and the LME onto a lay audience."
"His skill lies in building a sense of time and place in a realm in which he is particularly comfortable largely uninfluenced by such factors as location or time zones"
BEYOND STALINGRAD
During the bitter winter of 1942/3 the German army was encircled far to the east in Stalingrad by overwhelming Russian forces, With reinforcements beaten back and failing air supplied, they surrendered in February 1943. They fought to the last few men, rather than the last man as ordered by Hitler. This defeat was a turning point of the Second World War.
FROM THE AUTHOR
My grandfather learnt years later from eye witness accounts that his son was one of those few in the last pocket of German resistance before final surrender. He liked to believe that his son would have broken out and escaped imprisonment in Russia, but most of the final few simply vanished.
I was inspired by this family history, together with my experiences during business trips in Siberia, to imagine what would have happened to some of those young German men who reached the Gulag.
Beyond Stalingrad is not a true story, but I hope it serves to illuminate a truth of what really did happen to some young lives, blown like leaves in a gale.
REVIEWS
"'Beyond Stalingrad' is an excellent read - the author (Geoffrey Sambrook) has managed a masterly mix of fact and fiction to weave into this totally believable piece of 20th century history. A great deal of research has gone into this tale and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend this book."
Pat Pennell - September 2020
"'Fascinating story beautifully told. Surprised myself that I couldn't out it down."
Justin - December 2020
TARNISHED COPPER
Tarnished Copper is a story of greed, deception and corruption in one of the most volatile of financial markets. Geoffrey Sambrook brings an insider's unique insight into the way markets can be manipulated for profit.
FROM THE AUTHOR
Tarnished Copper is a story of market manipulation. Set against the backdrop of the London Metal Exchange, one of the most volatile financial markets in the world, the characters chase their dream of riches from London to Hong Kong to New York to Tokyo to the Alpes Maritimes. Although the book is fiction, I have tried to make the plot realistic, in the context of how the commodity markets work. The characters are greedy and unprincipled – maybe a reflection of the fact that in most businesses there are no heroes? In my mind as I wrote the book were the two major (there have been many minor) market games during my career – the International Tin Council, and the Sumitomo Affair, although the plot itself is clearly fictional.
REVIEWS
... "a thought-provoking take on how a scam could take place on the London Metal Exchange copper market. "
OsterDowJones, by Andrea Hotter - August 2002
... "an intriguing novel... a bunch of operators on the London Metal Exchange who conspire with a trusted Japanese trader."
The Birmingham Post, by Nevill Boyd Maunsell
December 2002
CZAR RISING
Victor Lansky is a rich, successful man. But when he's approached by a Russian offering the chance of billions of dollars, how can he resist it? He's drawn into the circle of shady industrialist billionaires, fixers and ultimately politicians as well. Somebody is going to die, before this is over.
Czar Rising is a work of fiction, but with the author's background knowledge, it offers a stark what-might-have-been look at the crazy world of Russian wealth and power.
FROM THE AUTHOR
Czar Rising is a novel set against the background of the aftermath of the break-up of the Soviet Union and the grab for resources and money that ensued. The catalyst to the action is the availability at a knockdown price of an aluminium smelter in a Siberian gulag city. Given the bankrupt nature of the country at the time, foreign investment has to be brought in. But on what terms, and at what cost? The story follows the British (actually half-Polish)investor as he faces up to the reality of what he has got into. The rules are different from what he is accustomed to and he gets in over his head, in the end no more than a pawn of the unscrupulous. The politicians are involved as well, as the stakes escalate for both Moscow and London.
REVIEWS
"This strong grasp of the language and dynamics of business and negotiation, the tightly-wound plot and the fictional depiction of the aluminium wars of the 1990s combine here in Sambrook's book to highly readable effect."
MetalBulletin - October, 2012