Though she wounded me beyond pain, I too inflicted deep hurt. Not born to murder her, still I sought to break her ...Her name was Elizabeth Ashbridge. And I even envied her that.' Sin is about a woman possessed by an obsessive envy, a woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Sin, from the author of the bestselling Damage, now takes its proper place as a Virago Modern Classic. 'Stripped down to a single, inexorable storyline that centres on the destructive power of passion. As in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, innocence and virtue are cruelly and deliberately betrayed, as the reader looks on with mingled shock and fascination ...a tour de force' New York Times
A stunning inside look at how and why the Chinese economy is barreling towards disaster and the impact its collapse would have on the rest of the world.
The long-awaited, candid memoir from Peter Doherty, whose talent as a musician has more often been eclipsed by a Herculean appetite for self-destruction: drugs, prison, prostitution, court, murder, death, robbery, car crashes and hospital emergencies.
Billie is forced to leave the only home she's ever known when her mother decides they should move to a new house in a small town. Musty furniture and odd belongings fill the old, dilapidated building, the ghostly remains of its previous tenants - including two small glass figures, one boy and one girl.
A wonderful new story of friendship against the odds, set in the Victorian world of the much-loved Hetty Feather. Rose Rivers is the daughter of a wealthy artist and lives in luxury in a beautiful home with her siblings. But despite her comfortable life, something is missing - could a new friend be just what Rose is looking for?Beautifully illustrated by Nick Sharratt, Rose Rivers is a brilliant new addition to Hetty Feather's world, by the award-winning and bestselling Jacqueline Wilson.
The authors make it clear that Jesus did not stand alone. He had the backing of a powerful and dedicated team of Essenes, including Joseph of Arimathea. Thanks to the technique of past life regression, this story can now be told for the first time, opening up a fascinating window onto a unique and vital time in history.
Quite a few books have been published on the subject of Chin Na (Qin Na), the proven seizing techniques of Chinese martial arts. However, most books focus on the introduction of techniques themselves, and contain very little or no discussion on application in actual combat situations. This seizing art has thus been confined to stage performances instead of real combat use.Although Dr. Yang has published other Chin Na books, both fundamental and advanced texts, he believes this work is necessary in order to make this art more complete and alive. Therefore, in addition to introducing many new techniques, this book is also laid out according to actual combat scenarios - for example, application of Chin Na when your opponent punches, grabs, kicks or attacks with a knife.This book presents an encyclopedia of over 375 chin na techniques. Techniques are presented in actual fighting scenarios. The material is organized by 'type of striking' and is very helpful in determining what techniques to se against various attacks. Effective application of chin na requires speedy execution of a block or yield, a set up, and then a properly selected technique. The book includes: Against bare hand attacksAgainst blocksAgainst kicksAgainst knife attacksAgainst grabbin
Life in Switzerland. The not-made-for-TV version.In 2006, American Chantal Panozzo moved to a spa town near Zurich ready for a glamorous life as an expatriate. She would eat chocolate. She would climb mountains. And she would order cheese in four languages. Instead, she lived a life more in tune with reality than fantasy. Contrary to popular American belief, Switzerland isn't just a setting in a storybook called Heidi. It's a real place where someone with a master's degree in communications can't make a phone call, where you can be hired in one language and fired in another, and where small talk doesn't exist-but phrases like Aufenthaltskategorien von Drittstaatsangehörigen do. Swiss Life: 30 Things I Wish I'd Known is a collection of both published (The Christian Science Monitor, National Geographic Glimpse, Chicken Soup for the Soul Books, and Brain, Child) and new essays in which Chantal discovers that no matter how hard she wills her geraniums to cascade properly, she will never be a glamorous American expatriate-or Swiss.
Language: English, Binding: Paperback, Number of pages: 336, Publishers: Little, Brown Book Group, Author: Jenny Hollander, ISBN-13: 9781408719596, Date of issue: 2025
She doesn't know where she's going, or what's going to happen to her when she gets there.Shirley is billeted in the country, with two boys from East End London, Kevin and Archie - and their experiences living in the strange, half-empty Red House, with the mysterious and reclusive Mrs Waverley, will change their lives for ever.
Language: English, Binding: Paperback, Number of pages: 240, Publishers: Little, Brown Book Group, Author: R W Green, ISBN-13: 9781408718599, Date of issue: 2025
Praise for Cressida McLaughlin: Captivating Heat Magazine Beautiful heartwarming Zara Stoneley A wonderful ray of reading sunshine Heidi Swain Hannah Swan is looking forward to Christmas for the first time in years. Her new job as an eco-consultant is taking her and her geeky colleague, Noah to the beautiful Cornish village of Porthgolow for the first time. Theyre are helping the Crystal Waters Hotel to ramp up its green credentials, though after a bumpy journey, Hannah cant shake off the feeling that Porthgolow is strangely familiar. Never able to resist a mystery, her interest is piqued when the hotels staff and customers report odd noises and sightings, believing the hotel to be haunted. When bad weather cuts off Porthgolow, Hannah and Noah are looking at a Cornish Christmas. It gives them plenty of time to work out what is really going on, but will their yuletide escape send shivers up their spines? Or will it be as warm and toasty as a glass of mulled wine?
The next gripping book in the Ben O'Keefe series. Praise for Andrea Carter's Inishowen Mysteries series 'Atmospheric and vivid' The Irish Times 'I adored this traditional crime novel; it's modern day Agatha Christie with Ben as Miss Marple' Irish Examiner 'The colourful cast of characters may be fictional, but the landscapes, towns and villages are instantly recognisable' Irish Daily Mail 'A beguiling heroine - clever, sympathetic and bearing a weight of guilt' The Times
The latest instalment from the beloved THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY series Mma Ramotswe knows she is very lucky indeed. She has a loving family, good friends and a thriving business doing what she enjoys most: helping people. But the latest mystery she is called upon to solve is distinctly trickier than it initially appears, and, of course, there's plenty to handle in her personal life between Charlie and his new bride and Mma Makutsi and her talking shoes. In the end, Mma Ramotswe's patience and common-sense will win out, and, without a doubt, all will be the better for it.
An amusing, wry homage to Jane Eyre by one of the best novelists of the twentieth century. When newly orphaned Cassandra Dashwood arrives as governess to little Sophy, the scene seems set for the archetypal romance between young girl and austere widowed employer. Strange secrets abound in the ramshackle house. But conventions are subverted in this atmospheric novel: one of its worlds is suffused with classical scholarship and literary romance, but the other is chaotic, quarrelsome and even farcical. Cassandra is to discover that in real life, tragedy, comedy and acute embarrassment are never far apart.
'Taylor Downing vividly brings to life a terrible year' Max Hastings, Sunday Times 'Taylor Downing is a wonderful historian and a wonderful history communicator.' Dan Snow, History Hit Eighty years ago, Britain stood at the brink of defeat. In 1942, a string of military disasters engulfed Britain in rapid succession : the collapse in Malaya; the biggest surrender in British history at Singapore; the passing of three large German warships through the Straits of Dover in broad daylight; the longest ever retreat through Burma to the gates of India; serious losses to Rommel's forces in North Africa; the siege of Malta and the surrender at Tobruk. All of this occurred against the backdrop of catastrophic sinkings in the Atlantic and the Arctic convoys. People began to claim that Churchill was not up to the job and his leadership was failing badly. Public morale reached a new low. 1942 Britain At the Brink explores the story of frustration and despair in that year prompting the Prime Minister to demand of his army chief 'Have you not got a single general who can win battles?' Using new archival material, historian Taylor Downing shows just how unpopular Churchill became in 1942 with two votes attacking his leadership in the Commons and the emergence of a serious political rival. Most people think that Britain's worst moment of the war was in 1940 when the nation stood up against the threat of German invasion. In 1942 Britain at the Brink, Taylor Downing describes in nail-biting detail what was really Britain's darkest hour .
'A sort of partial British social and political history. It is also memoir and confessional. It is an utterly remarkable book' Conquista The End to End record is the longest place-to-place cycling record in Britain. It is a daunting 842 miles and for the men and women who attempt to break the record, there can be no second place, only the binary outcome of total success or failure. Paul Jones decided to ride from Land's End to John O' Groats in an attempt to understand the relentless physical and mental challenges involved. End to End is a captivating and beautifully written narrative. A lyrical account of the journey sits alongside meetings with amazing cyclists; people like Eileen Sheridan; who covered the distance in under three days in 1954, or current men's record holder Michael Broadwith who did it in a scarcely believable 43 hours. Paul Jones reaches further back to the very first attempts in the 1880s, undertaken on penny farthings, fuelled by Victorian values and patent medicine. For the author, what starts as a simple way to frame the narrative transforms into a deeper search for meaning amidst the ceaseless clamour of life, work and relationships. It becomes a trip through the contours of the mind as well as the map, from Bodmin Moor to Shap Fell, the Cairngorms and the Caithness coast. End to End is a portrayal of hope and ambition, of what happens when things go wrong and how hard it is to make them right. It is about courage, obsession and joy, but above all else, it is a compelling exploration of why journeys matter for all of us.
For more than two centuries Egypt was ruled by the most powerful, successful, and richest dynasty of kings in its long end epic history. They included the female king Hatshepsut, the warrior kings Thutmose III and Amenhotep II, the religious radical Akhenaten and his queen Nefertiti, and most famously of all for the wealth of his tomb the short-lived boy king Tutankhamun. The power and riches of the Pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty came at enormous cost to Egypt's enemies and most of its people. This was an age of ruthless absolutism, exploitation, extravagance, brutality, and oppression in a culture where not only did Egypt plunder its neighbours but Egyptian kings and their people robbed one another. 3,500 years ago ancient Egypt began two centuries in which it became richer and more powerful than any other nation at the time, ruled by the kings of the 18th Dynasty. They presided over a system built on war, oppression, and ruthlessness, pouring Egypt's wealth into grandiose monuments, temples, and extravagant tombs. Tutankhamun was one of the last of the line and one of the most obscure. Among his predecessors were some of the most notorious and enigmatic figures of all of Egypt's history. Pharaohs of the Sun is their story, showing how the glamour and gold was tainted by selfishness, ostentation, and the systematic exploitation of Egypt's people and enemies.
The Jacqueline Wilson Christmas Cracker is packed with lots of festive fun! Including: - Brilliant Christmas stories - A classic favourite- Starring Tracy Beaker - An exclusive, brand-new story from Jacqueline - Festive puzzles - Tasty Christmas recipes - Perfect present tips - Fun Christmas facts - A guide to making your own Christmas tree decorations Merry Christmas from Jacqueline Wilson! Autorid: Jacqueline Wilson, Nick Sharratt
Three rival actresses team up to solve a murder at the stately home of the author who made them famous - only to discover the solution lies in the stories themselves. A contemporary mystery with a Golden Age feel, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and J
The second book in Alexander McCall Smith's new DETECTIVE VARG series . . . 'Reading the novel feels like a form of meditation . . . There is much to enjoy' Scotsman 'Wonderfully soothing and relaxing' Telegraph 'Heaven is in the detail with this sort of escapist writing. It's like AA Milne meets Karl Ove Knausgaard' Financial Times Spring is coming slowly to Sweden - though not quite as slowly as Detective Ulf Varg's promised promotion at the Department of Sensitive Crimes. For Varg, referred by his psychoanalyst to group therapy at Malmö's Wholeness Centre, life now seems mostly a circle of self-examination, something which may or may not be useful when it comes to the nature of his profession and the particularly sensitive cases that have recently come to light. All in a day's work for Detective Varg, except that one of his new investigations involves fellow detective Anna; it will require every ounce of self-discipline he has in order to remain professional. The other, more curious case is centred around internationally successful novelist Nils Personn-Cederström. According to his girlfriend, Cederström is being blackmailed - but by whom and for what reason? Accompanied by his irritating but kindly colleague Blomquist, Varg begins his enquiries and soon the answers fall neatly into place. Nothing and no one is ever that simple, however, and not for the first time he learns as much about his own emotional and moral landscape as he does about the motives of others. Now Varg must make a possibly life-changing decision. Will he choose his own happiness over that of his heart's desire?
British Summer Time Begins is about summer holidays of the mid-twentieth century and how they were spent, as recounted to Ysenda Maxtone-Graham in vividly remembered detail by people who were there. Through this prism, it paints a revealing portrait of twentieth-century Britain in summertime: how we were, how families functioned, what houses and gardens and streets were like, what journeys were like, and what people did all day in their free time. It explores their expectations, hopes, fears and habits, the rules or lack of rules under which they lived, their happiness and sadness, their sense of being treasured or neglected - all within living memory, from pre-war summers to the late 1970s.Ysenda takes us back to the long stretch of time from the last days of June till the early days of September - those months when the term-time self was cast off and you could become the person you really were, and you had (if you were lucky) enough hours in the endless succession of days to become good at the things that would later define your adulthood.The 'showpiece' part of the summer holidays was 'the summer holiday', when families took off to the seaside, or to grandparents' houses teeming with cousins, or on early package holidays to France or Spain, siblings wedged into the back of small cars, roof-racks clattering, mothers preparing picnics. British Summer Time Begins is as much about the long weeks either side of that holiday as the trip itself: the weeks when nothing much officially happened, boredom often lurked nearby, and you vanished for hours on end, nobody much knowing or even caring where you were. Could it be that those unscheduled days were actually the most important and formative of your life?From the author of the beloved Terms & Conditions, British Summer Time Begins is a delightful, nostalgic and joyous celebration of summers.
Antony Johnston for A Very Lively Murder to start off the week. "Filled with twists, turns, and (of course!) terrific characters. It kept me guessing to the very end."
'Bayley, the author of books on style, design and taste, tells the Habitat story with his customary polycultural panache . . . (Mavity is] good at conveying the experience of being in a room with Conran' Sunday TimesTerence Conran, a visionary and a myopic. A design entrepreneur and imaginative restaurateur, he was a democratising idealist who was also a selfish hedonist. His influence is everywhere in modern Britain from where we live to what we eat. Terence: The Man Who Invented Design is the most definitive, intimate and revelatory biography of this design legend, by two of his closest collaborators, Roger Mavity and Stephen Bayley. Frank, amusing, indiscreet, sharp, rude, respectful and knowing, it tells Terence's story as it evolved, from before Habitat's humble chicken brick to Bibendum's sophisticated poulet de Bresse, via personal successes and corporate calamities, culminating in that peculiar temple to the religion he invented: The Design Museum. It celebrates Terence's genius and immeasurable impact on British life - and ensures his rightful status as national treasure. Terence: The Man Who Invented Design is the most candid, up-close insight into the man and myth.
Britain's foremost woman travel writer Sara Wheeler records her life of adventure, from the Antarctic to Zanzibar A Times Literary Supplement and Financial Times Book of the Year 'Funny, furious writing from the queen of intrepid travel' Daily Telegraph 'Intrepid and sparky, full of canny quips and lightly poetic observations' Mail on Sunday Sara Wheeler is Britain's foremost woman travel writer. Glowing Still is the story of her travelling life - what is 'important, revealing or funny' - in a notoriously testosterone-laden field. Growing up among blue-collar Conservatives in Bristol where 'we didn't know anyone who wasn't like us', Wheeler knew she needed to get away. In her twenties she began a dramatic escape: Pole to Pole, via Poland. Glowing Still recalls happy days on India's Puri Express; an Antarctic lavatory through which a seal popped up (hot fishy breath!); and the louche life of a Parisian shopgirl. Corralling reindeer with the Sámi in Arctic Sweden and towing her baby on a sledge, a helpful herdsman advised her to put foil down her bra to facilitate nursing. Launching at Nubility, Wheeler voyages, via small children, to the welcoming port of Invisibility (she leaves Immobility for the next volume). As she writes in the introduction, when she set sail 'Role models were scarce in the travel-writing game.' But advancing years usher in unheralded freedoms, and journey's end finds Wheeler at peace among Zanzibar dhows, contemplating our connection with other lives - the irreplaceable value that travel brings - and paying homage to her heroines, among them Martha Gellhorn, the ineffable war correspondent who furnishes Wheeler's epigraph: 'I do not wish to be good. I wish to be hell on wheels, or dead.'
Ireland 1941. A German spy escapes from Mountjoy Prison, clearly with inside help. Yet no one wants to catch him. When the head of Garda Special Branch sends Inspector Stefan Gillespie to find out why, it must be in secret. But he meets a web of deceit in which the past's dark shadows loom over the lies of the present. Alone, except for an alcoholic private detective and a woman who could betray him to the IRA, Stefan embarks on a journey that drags him into a plot to attack British interests in Ireland and an attempt on the life of the IRA Chief-of-Staff by his own men. Crossing into war-torn Northern Ireland, he is suddenly unprotected, a rogue policeman to the Royal Ulster Constabulary, a dangerous spy to the IRA.Praise for Michael Russell'Complex but compelling . . . utterly vivid and convincing' Independent on Sunday'A superb, atmospheric thriller' Irish Independent'A thriller to keep you guessing and gasping' Daily Mail'Atmospheric' Sunday Times
'Remi Adekoya is a welcome blast of unsentimental rigour into a race debate clogged up with emotion and moralism. His dissection of the economic underpinnings of the world's racial and national hierarchies will make uncomfortable reading for both liberals and conservatives' David Goodhart'This terrifically illuminating book . . . offers a new way of understanding modern racial structures' Newspaper'This is a courageous and urgent intervention into one of the most important debates of our time - one in which we often seem curiously incurious about what would lead to genuine equality among groups. In clear and elegant prose Dr. Adekoya will shift the way you think about hierarchies of race' Thomas Chatterton Williams'Remi brings a unique international perspective to the race debate, allowing the reader to understand complexities in the discussion that they won't have considered before' Katharine BirbalsinghWhat really matters when it comes to race? Western conversations on race and racism revolve around familiar themes; colonialism, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the ideology of white supremacism form the holy trinity of the race debate. But what if we are neglecting a key piece of the puzzle? Something that explains why a racial order persists today despite a moral consensus it should not. In It's Not About Whiteness, It's About Wealth, Remi Adekoya persuasively argues that - in our capitalist world - it is socioeconomic realities which play the leading role in sustaining racial hierarchies in everyday life and in the global big picture, something regularly overlooked in the current debate. Financial power is what enables ultimate influence over events, environments, and people, and, as Adekoya expertly demonstrates, it is money more than anything else that maintains the racial pecking order. Exploring immigration, technology, media, group stereotypes, status perceptions and more, this book cleverly shows how wealth determines what's what in key domains of modern life, and how this affects racial dynamics across the globe. An incisive, insightful and open investigation into the links between financial power and racial hierarchies, Adekoya sheds much needed light on the status and power imbalances shaping our world and reveals what needs to be done to combat them going forward.
An astonishing debut crime novel from a fresh new voice! This classic murder mystery is set on the sparkling Slovenian coast, where a young female detective gets embroiled in a dangerous game of blackmail, corruption... and murder.
'An intricate, moving novel... Quinn's best book to date' Observer 'Every sentence he produces is a joy' Metro 'Opens up timeless themes of family, success and love' New Statesman 'Truly magnificent... this is Quinn's masterpiece' The Tablet 'Quinn is an intelligent analyst of the uncertainties of love and art' Sunday Times A celebrated artist of the Georgian era paints his two young daughters at the family home in Bath. The portrait, known as "Molly &the Captain", becomes instantly famous, its fate destined to echo down the centuries, touching many lives. In the summer of 1889 a young man sits painting a line of elms in Kensington Gardens. One day he glimpses a mother at play with her two daughters and decides to include them in his picture. From that moment he is haunted by dreams that seem to foreshadow his doom. A century later, in Kentish Town, a painter and her grown-up daughters receive news of an ancestor linking them to the long-vanished double portrait of "Molly &the Captain". Meanwhile friendship with a young musician stirs unexpected passions and threatens to tear the family apart. Molly & the Captain is a story about time and art and love. Through the prism of a single painting it examines the mysteries of creativity, and the ambiguous nature of success. What weighs more, loyalty to one's talent or loyalty to one's blood? Does self-sacrifice ennoble the soul or degrade it? And what does it mean to speak of the past when its hold on the present is inescapable? Through Anthony Quinn's signature gifts - period subtlety, intricate characterisation and storytelling verve this triptych novel melds three families and three centuries into a single vision of human frailty and longing.
'A breath of fresh air to mystery writing' - The Book Elf, ---------- When Hollywood comes to Bologna, La Dolce Vita turns into sweet murder... A famous Hollywood director arrives in Bologna to remake a cult film, and the city's renowned cinema archive decides to mark the occasion with a screening of the original... only to discover it has disappeared. After English detective Daniel Leicester follows the trail of Love on a Razorblade to an apparent murder-suicide, he begins to suspect there may be more at stake than just missing negatives - could the film contain a clue to one of the city's most enduring mysteries? Together with a Hollywood star from the upcoming remake, Daniel moves from the glamour of Venice Lido to the depths of Bologna's secret tunnel system as a sinister network closes in. Daniel is about to learn that, for the ultimate 'director's cut', some people are ready to kill. ---------- Readers and reviewers love Italian Rules! 'Another solid entry in a series that showcases Italy. If the Machiavellian manoeuvres don't draw you in, there is always the cuisine!' - Amazon reviewer, I've read and loved all of Tom, Benjamin's books, so far, and I think this is the best one yet! - Amazon reviewer, 'A really accomplished addition to an already excellent series' - Amazon reviewer, 'This series is just so fun. Exciting stories that are entertaining, hard to put down and still intricate enough to keep you guessing' - Amazon reviewer, 'There are two major stars in this book, the laconic private eye Daniel Leicester and the city of Bologna itself. Tom Benjamin mixes these ingredients perfectly' - Ian Moore, author of Death and Croissants 'Italian Rules is a fabulously sophisticated and classy mystery with an utterly gripping plot' - Victoria Dowd, author of the Smart Women's Crime Mystery series 'Benjamin skilfully combines a cracking crime novel with a love letter to Italian cinema... Italian Rules is an absolute treat' - Trevor Wood, author of the Jimmy Mullen series
