Search results for ""quercus publishing""

Is three days with a cat enough to change your life?The troubled and anxious of Tokyo are desperate to find out. They all have their problems - and they all want to believe that a feline companion from a unique pet shop can help them find a solution. But there are rules: they must be returned after three days, and they must always sleep in their own familiar blankets.In The Blanket Cats, we meet seven such customers, including a couple struggling with infertility, a middle-aged woman on the run from the police, and two families in very different circumstances simply seeking joy.But like all their kind, the blanket cats are mysterious creatures with their own unknowable agendas, who delight in confounding expectations. And perhaps what their hosts are looking for isn''t what they really need. Three days may not be enough to change your life. But it might be enough to change how you see it.Translated from the Japanese by

Read more less

Host a magical, sophisticated, and traditional tea party inspired by the Wizarding World with Harry Potter: Afternoon Tea Magic!Learn to prepare and enjoy this indulgent tradition with afternoon treats inspired by your favourite wizards and Muggles, from Harry Potter and Hermione Granger to Newt Scamander, Queenie Goldstein, Jacob Kowalski and more.Bursting with gorgeous photography of afternoon tea nibbles, drinks and sweets, this cookbook offers step-by-step instructions on how to arrange a magical Wizarding World-themed traditional tea.Recipes include:- Aunt Petunia''s Teatime Windtorte Pudding- Honeydukes Lemon Drop Meringue Teatime Bites- Queenie''s Mini Brandied Apple Strudels- Deathly Hallows Pull-Apart Teatime Bread- Kowalski Bakery''s Buttery Teatime Witch Hats- And many more!With more than 60 recipes for clever beverages, enchanting sweets and savoury treats, Harry Potter: Afternoon Tea Magic is the p

Read more less

Brilliant - funny, wise and completely addictive - a work of angry, outrageous and hilarious genius VICTORIA HISLOPFull of energy and blistering rationality LISA McINERNEYA must-read . . . While waiting for society to evolve, Virginie Despentes stays the same VogueDear Dickhead,I read the piece you posted on Insta. You''re like a pigeon shitting on my shoulder as you flap past. It''s shitty and unpleasant. Congratulations: you''ve had your fifteen minutes of fame! You want proof? Here I am writing to you.Rebecca Latté is a famous actress in her fifties, perhaps past the peak of her career.Oscar Jayack is a middle-aged, moderately successful author who, in the wake of the #MeToo movement, has been accused of sexual harassment by his former publicist-turned-feminist blogger Zoé Katana.When Oscar insults Rebecca''s appearance on Instagram, she sends a scorching reply and the pair fall i

Read more less

An inspiring book exploring all aspects of interior design in 100 engaging and beautifully illustrated entries. Interior design is not about paint colors and accent cushions. It is an important practice that affects all our lives. This entertaining book explores the world of interior design with a snappy set of 100 entries, all explaining what interior design is in an attractive format. The wide range of topics covered just proves that interiors are an integral part of our lived experience. The book will appeal to students, professionals and anyone interested in the fascinating subject of what surrounds us. Contents: media and culture psychology concepts space project types materials environment and wellbeing technical issues the profession

Read more less

Selected as one of the Sunday Times best gardening books of 2023Discover the lavish beauty and fascinating history of the 40 most important and inspiring botanic gardens from across the globe.From the Renaissance gardens of Italy to the futuristic botanic gardens of Singapore, this gorgeous book tells the story of these unique institutions. It is a history of science and learning, of politics and national interests, of societal concerns and conservation. But, most of all, it is a compelling exploration of the power and possibility of the natural world, that we are still merely scratching the surface of.Expert garden historian Deborah Trentham has selected the world's most important gardens and delves deep into the history of these horticultural institutions - sharing stories of exploration, extraordinary plants and the scientific breakthroughs which have shaped these stunning gardens.Filled with rare and beautiful plants and incredible locations from around the globe - from Norway to Morocco, Kyoto to Kew, Brooklyn to Buenos Aires, and Madrid to Malaysia - this book will transport you to far-flung places and bygone eras, and consider the future of our botanical havens and the natural wonders they protect.

Read more less

''You don''t read this book so much as surrender to it. A dark and heady swoon'' THE GUARDIAN ''As rich is suspense as it is in lush ''50s atmosphere'' ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY He is trying to poison me. You must come for me, Noemí. You have to save me.After receiving a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, socialite Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She''s not sure what she will find - her cousin''s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region. Noemí is more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she''s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: not of her cousin''s new alluring, menacing husband; not of his father; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi''s dreams with dark visions.For there

Read more less

'A spellbinding modern fairytale, sexy and warm and full of hope and the power of love' BOLU BABALOLA'Funny, sexy and breathtakingly romantic' EMILY HENRYOne florist. One pianist. One love story . . . One hundred years in the making.Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn't one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she's the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a more exciting life awaits her.So, when she is invited to rent the bottom floor of a Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh start. She leaves behind her wealth and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. Then one evening in February, as the heady scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way.Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York.'Magical and steamy . . . their love story is literally written in the stars' RED'Williams never ceases to surprise and delight!' ROBINNE LEE'It's a showstopper' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY'Punchy and poignant, sweeping and yet so intimate' KENNEDY RYAN'Quirky, suspenseful, and unforgettable' BOOKLIST STARRED REVIEW'Reads like the best kind of love song: tender, smart and sexy' LEAH JOHNSONEVERYONE'S FALLING FOR TIA WILLIAMS'A sexy, modern love story to start the summer off right' Reese Witherspoon'A smart, sexy testament to Black joy' Jodi Picoult'Tia Williams conjures a seductive fantasy' Rumaan Alam'Hilarious, romantic and incredibly sexy' Hello!READERS LOVE SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE'This is a MUST-READ!' 5* reader review'Such a beautiful love story' 5* reader review'Modern, beautiful, emotional, sexy and funny!' 5* reader review''I literally couldn't put it down' 5* reader review

Read more less

From Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the New York Times bestselling author of MEXICAN GOTHIC, comes UNTAMED SHORE, a dark cocktail mixing a nuanced coming-of-age story with a classical noir. 'Brutality takes on an almost divine quality' LA Review of BooksBaja California, 1979: Viridiana spends her days under the harsh sun, watching the fishermen pulling in their nets and the dead sharks piled beside the seashore. Her head is filled with dreams of romance, travel and of a future beyond this drab town where her only option is to marry and have children.When a wealthy American writer arrives with his wife and brother-in-law, Viridiana jumps at the offer of a job as his assistant, and she's soon entangled in the glamorous foreigners' lives. They offer excitement, and perhaps an escape from her humdrum life. When one of them dies, eager to protect her new friends, Viridiana lies - but soon enough, someone's asking questions. It's not long before Viridiana has some of her own questions about the identities of her new acquaintances.Sharks may be dangerous, but there are worse predators nearby, ready to devour a naïve young woman unwittingly entangled in a web of deceit.

Read more less

PLAY BINGO AND SWEAR LIKE A SAILOR!WARNING! Contains deeply impolite words, bawdiness and all round ripe languageTHE PERFECT GIFT: ideal for sweary friends and familyGLOSSARY INCLUDED: to explain some more unusual terms and generally raise your swearing gameFOR 3-12 PLAYERS: the ultimate party game for large and small groupsPlay bingo with 64 ridiculous and sublime swear words! Each player gets a game card with 16 random colourful words: the first to complete their board gets to shout BINGO - or something far worse...BOX CONTAINS: A master board, 12 player boards, 64 tiles, 100 counters, Fold-flat tile box, Sweary Glossary

Read more less

Author of the Costa-prizewinning, world-wide bestseller The Tenderness of Wolves, Stef Penney, returns to her snow-covered heartland in this tense mystery set in a small Scandinavian town. Nordland. A region in the Norwegian Arctic; a remote valley that stretches from the sea up to the mountains and glaciers. It is May in what was once a prosperous mining community. The snows are nearly gone and it''s a time of spring and school-leavers'' celebrations - until Daniel, a popular teenage boy, goes missing. Conflicting stories circulate among his friends, of parties and wild behaviour. As the search for Daniel widens, the police open a disused mine in the mountains. They find human remains, but this body has been there for decades, its identity a mystery.Everyone in this tight knit, isolated community is touched by these events: misanthropic Svea, whose long life in the area stretches back to the heyday of the mines, and beyond. She has

Read more less

A joy to read Times Literary SupplementA beautiful book, by turns poetic, witty and full of learning . . . This unique biography of a river marks a new kind of writing about people and place, both in and out of time PATRICK McGUINNESSThe Boundless River takes the reader into a unique world - the twilight zone between fact and fiction, science and imagination - and on a journey which moves effortlessly from a time in prehistory, long before the existence of a European continent, to the present day. Along the way Deen encounters paleontologists, geologists, museum curators, taxidermists, fishermen and skippers who work the boats, who still see the Rhine as a living entity.From the mighty hippos that swam in its waters millions of years ago, to the weary salmon that saw their habitat slowly change and the aurochs that grazed its shores; from the primordial Steinheim Woman to the Roman general Corbulo who commanded settlements a

Read more less

Can creativity be 'taught'? Or is it simply innate? This book will help you find your creativity through your own unique identity and experience, challenging you to fight those negative voices, get out of your habitual comfort zones and - most importantly - play. Part practical workshop and part provocative guide, Creativity Begins With You is an invaluable companion for any student working across the creative disciplines.

Read more less

Fashion Bags and Accessories explores fashion bags and related accessories, such as purses, wallets, clutches, cases, gloves and belts, through various approaches to creative design, product development, technological innovation, materials development, component design (hardware) and branding. Readers will become familiar with key constructions and gain grounding in both traditional craft-making techniques and contemporary digital manufacturing process. Traditional accessory materials like leather are considered alongside new and emerging sustainable materials. Key elements of fashion bags and accessories like component design, signature branding and logo design are also covered in depth. Primarily aimed at students on fashion design, product design, or specialized accessories courses, the book will also be a go-to reference for professionals wishing to move into or evolve in this product area.

Read more less

Summer 1944: the SAS were charged with the most crucial D-Day missions, taking on the might of the Nazi Reich deep behind enemy lines.Facing Hitler''s fearsome Panzer divisions with little more than raw courage and their nimble Willys jeeps, it would take maverick thinking and unconventional warfare to survive and overcome. Hunted at every turn, Blair ''Paddy'' Mayne''s SAS would face a bitter and bloody struggle to topple the enemy. Drawing on never-before-seen archive material, bestselling military historian Damien Lewis brings to life the incredible efforts of the SAS as they dared all to bring the war to its close. Praise for Damien Lewis'' books: ''A convincing insight into the terror and adrenaline rush of war'' - Mail on Sunday ''Damien Lewis is both a meticulous historian and a born storyteller'' - Lee Child''One of the most remarkable stories in the history of

Read more less

Tender, moving, heartfelt and warm (and sporadically scandalous and outrageous too), these are the private messages between people in love. Yet they are also correspondence between the rulers of nations. From Henry VIII's lovelorn notes to Anne Boleyn and George IV's impassioned notes to his secret wife, to Queen Victoria's tender letters to Prince Albert and Edward VIII's extraordinary correspondence with Wallis Simpson - these letters depict romantic love from its budding passion to the comfort and understanding of a long union (and occasionally beyond to resentment and recrimination), all set against the background of great affairs of state, wars and the strictures of royal duty.Here is a chance to glimpse behind the pomp and ceremony, the carefully curated images of royal splendour and decorum, to see the passions, hopes, jealousies and loneliness of kings and queens throughout history. By turns tender, moving, heartfelt and warm (and sporadically scandalous and outrageous too), these are the private messages between people in love. Yet they are also correspondence between the rulers of nations, whose actions (and passions) changed the course of history, for good and bad.This morning I received your dear, dear letter of the 21st. How happy do you make me with your love! Oh! my Angel Albert, I am quite enchanted with it! I do not deserve such love! Never, never did I think I could be loved so much. Queen Victoria to Prince Albert (28 November 1839)

Read more less

'A wonderfully uplifting holistic book with many practical tips' - Mark Lane, BBC Gardener's World presenter and landscape gardener'A delightful introduction for those wanting to learn ... how to reap the benefits that plants and gardens can have on our own health and wellbeing' - Sally Petitt, Head of Horticulture, Cambridge University Botanic Garden--- Getting outside, our hands in the earth, watching plants bud then burst into bloom: the slow pleasures of gardening are an age-old tonic for the soul.From sowing seeds to deadheading flowers, growing your own potatoes to welcoming feathered friends into your own garden, discover the joy to be found in every moment of gardening by slowing down, observing nature and planning ahead for the seasons.Happiest when surrounded by plants, Ellen Mary is passionate advocate for the benefits of nature for wellbeing, spreading the word through The Plant Based Podcast and her regular talks.The Joy of Gardening includes:· Understanding your soil· How to sow seeds and care for young plants· Tips for recycling and reducing waste in your garden· How to encourage wildlife into your garden· Harvesting and cooking with fresh produce· Choosing and planting trees for both small and larger gardens· And much, much more!

Read more less

A Financial Times Translated Fiction Book of the YearTranslated from the Japanese by Louise Heal KawaiMinoru Aose is an architect whose greatest achievement is to have designed the Yoshino house, a prizewinning and much discussed private residence built in the shadow of Mount Asama. Aose has never been able to replicate this triumph and his career seems to have hit a barrier, while his marriage has failed. He is shocked to learn that the Yoshino House is empty apart from a single chair, stood facing the north light of nearby Mount Asama.How can he live with the rejection of the work he had put his heart and soul into, the dream house he would have loved to own himself? Aose determines that he must discover the truth behind this cruel and inexplicable dismissal of the Yoshino house and in doing so will find out a truth that goes back to the core of who he is. Plotted with the subtlety of his bestselling masterpiece Six Four

Read more less

A Financial Times Translated Fiction Book of the YearTranslated from the Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai Minoru Aose is an architect whose greatest achievement is to have designed the Yoshino house, a prizewinning and much discussed private residence built in the shadow of Mount Asama. Aose has never been able to replicate this triumph and his career seems to have hit a barrier, while his marriage has failed. He is shocked to learn that the Yoshino House is empty apart from a single chair, stood facing the north light of nearby Mount Asama.How can he live with the rejection of the work he had put his heart and soul into, the dream house he would have loved to own himself? Aose determines that he must discover the truth behind this cruel and inexplicable dismissal of the Yoshino house and in doing so will find out a truth that goes back to the core of who he is. Plotted with the subtlety of his bestselling masterpiece Six Four, The North Light is Yokoyama at his elusive, tantalising and surprising best.

Read more less

When his beloved only daughter goes missing, millionaire entrepreneur Walter van Dam calls in a team of experts - including free-climbers, a geologist, a parapsychologist, even a medium - to find her . . . for Anna-Lena has disappeared somewhere within a mysterious cave system under the old house the family abandoned years ago. But the rescuers are not the only people on her trail - and there are dangers in the underground labyrinth that no one could ever have foreseen.In a gigantic cavern the team come across a number of strange doors, three of them marked with enigmatic symbols. Anna-Lena must be behind one of them - but time is running out and they need to choose, quickly. Anna-Lena is no longer the only person at risk.The team knew their mission would be perilous - but how do you defeat your own demons? Trapped in their own nightmares, their only hope of escape is DOOR X, which leads to a threatening vision of the future . . .DOORS: THREE DOORS, THREE DIFFERENT ADVENTURES. WHICH DOOR WILL YOU CHOOSE?

Read more less

When his beloved only daughter goes missing, millionaire entrepreneur Walter van Dam calls in a team of experts - including free-climbers, a geologist, a parapsychologist, even a medium - to find her . . . for Anna-Lena has disappeared somewhere within a mysterious cave system under the old house the family abandoned years ago. But the rescuers are not the only people on her trail - and there are dangers in the underground labyrinth that no one could ever have foreseen.In a gigantic cavern the team come across a number of strange doors, three of them marked with enigmatic symbols. Anna-Lena must be behind one of them - but time is running out and they need to choose, quickly. Anna-Lena is no longer the only person at risk.Who could have imagined that the portal marked with ! would take the rescuers into a different time completely: it is now the early Middle Ages - and they are about to find themselves in the middle of a world-changing battle . . .DOORS: THREE DOORS, THREE DIFFERENT ADVENTURES. WHICH DOOR WILL YOU CHOOSE?

Read more less

"He was a Fula. I say 'was', because I haven't seen him for a long time. I don't know if he's still alive or where he might be. He just disappeared."Maria is independent, unconventional and unafraid. She is trying to find an explanation for the disappearance of Ishmael, a refugee from Sierra Leone who came to her door as a newspaper boy and stayed for seven years. He was like a son to her. Vincent is a psychologist. Once he and Maria had an all-encompassing relationship, but since their break-up he has been living in a kind of haze. One day, Maria asks for his help. In the encounters that follow, Ishmael is pushed into the background by a rekindling of the old love between Vincent and Maria. The stories and memories that resurface come to replace the sadness at the loss of the boy. But despite the distraction of their new situation, Ishmael proves impossible to forget.Otto de Kat is known for concise novels that are beautifully observed, subtle and precise, and Freetown is no exception. Translated from the Dutch by Laura WatkinsonLaura Watkinson is a translator from Dutch, Italian and German whose translations include works by Cees Nooteboom, Jan van Mersbergen, Tonke Dragt and Peter Terrin.With the support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union

Read more less

In his latest book of essays Karl Miller turns his attention to appreciate certain writers of the English-speaking modern world. A new ruralism has come to notice in this country, and the book is drawn to country lives as they have figured in the literature of the last century. An introductory essay is centred on the Anglo-Welsh borderlands. Journeys taken with Seamus Heaney and Andrew O'Hagan to this countryside, and others, are threaded throughout the book. The poets Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes are discussed, together with the fiction of Ian McEwan, the Canadian writer Alistair Macleod, the Irish writer John McGahern and the Baltimorean Anne Tyler. Scotland is a preoccupation of the later pieces, including the letters of Henry Cockburn, a lifelong interest of the author, who is also interested here in foxes and their current metropolitan profile.

Read more less

Don't turn out the lights . . . but open the cover, if you dare, and reveal the chilling delights that await you within the pages of A Book of Horrors. 'Stephen King, John Ajvide Linqvist, Lisa Tuttle and many more masters of the macabre issue a call to arms for the horror story in this collection of the very best in chiller fiction edited by Stephen Jones, one of the world's premier anthologists' - Crime TimeStephen Jones, Britain's most acclaimed horror editor, has gathered together masters of the macabre from across the world in this cornucopia of classic chills and modern menaces. Within these pages you will discover the most successful and exciting writers of horror and dark fantasy today, with a spine-chilling selection of stories displaying the full diversity of the genre, from classic pulp style to more contemporary psychological tales, to cutting-edge terror fiction that will leave you uneasily looking over your shoulder, or in the wardrobe, or under the bed . . . An original anthology of all-new horror and dark fantasy fiction, in all of its many and magnificent guises, by those devoted to the dark side. Including stories by Ramsey Campbell, Peter Crowther, Dennis Etchison, Elizabeth Hand, Brian Hodge, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Stephen King, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Richard Christian Matheson, Reggie Oliver, Robert Shearman, Angela Slatter, Michael Marshall Smith and Lisa Tuttle.

Read more less

50 speeches from every period of British history from the medieval era to the present and a fascinating dip-in history title that will both inspire readers and give them a greater understanding of British history. The speechmakers are: King Henry V; Queen Elizabeth I; King Charles I; Oliver Cromwell; Earl of Shelburne; Edmund Burke (3); Charles James Fox (2); William Pitt (2); Warren Hastings; William Wilberforce; R.B. Sheridan; Robert Peel; Charles Grey; Thomas Carlyle; Lord Palmerston; John Bright (2); Benjamin Disraeli; William Gladstone; James Campbell-Bannerman; F.E. Smith; David Lloyd George (2); Stanley Baldwin; King Edward VIII; King George VI; Winston Churchill (4); Aneurin Bevan; Harold Macmillan (2); Hugh Gaitskell (2); Nigel Birch; Harold Wilson; Enoch Powell (2); Michael Foot; Margaret Thatcher (2); Neil Kinnock; Geoffrey Howe; Charles Spencer; Tony Blair.

Read more less

A girl has been found dead, seemingly strangled, in the hotel room of movie star Jumbo Nelson. Jumbo's lawyers want Spenser to find out whether Jumbo did it - not because they care either way, but because the knowledge will help them work out how to block his conviction. Jumbo is a sufficiently repulsive individual that Spenser finds it hard to contain his distaste. And then there is his bodyguard, Zebulon Sixkill, a Cree Indian who squandered his pro-football career thanks to an inability to control his temper, and turned his attentions to alcohol instead. Also involved in Jumbo's case for reasons that remain unclear is a cold-blooded assassin who just might be the most dangerous enemy Spenser has faced yet. But if he can persuade Sixkill to turn his life around, Spenser might just have the ally he needs...

Read more less

Scholar, philosopher and political sage, Confucius lived at a turbulent time in his country's history, the so-called 'Spring and Autumn Period' of the sixth century BC, during which China was wracked by warfare between rival feudal states. Against this backdrop he developed a system of social and political behaviour that he hoped could be used to create harmony and peace throughout the land. The teachings of Confucius attracted a large number of pupils, but were largely ignored by the rulers of China's various kingdoms. As a result, he did not see his philosophical teachings applied during his lifetime. After his death, however, his teachings were kept alive by his followers, and within a few centuries, his philosophy (as outlined in The Analects, which record the words and acts of Confucius and his disciples) was adopted by China's rulers and became the foundation for Chinese government, education and social structure. Beyond its profound influence on the culture and history of East Asia, Confucianism has also exerted a powerful fascination for western thinkers and philosophers. Meher McArthur's accessible and thoughtful biography not only traces the outline of her subject's life, but also examines why Confucius and his teachings are still relevant today.

Read more less

The comic genius of English writing takes on Hollywood, delusion, celebrity and last century's ultimate glamour couple

Read more less

Thirty-year-old Theresa Pellikaan is typical of the wealthy middle classes - with her respectable background, successful husband and house in an apparently sleepy, yet powerful, rich village. She works in a gallery, also typical of her type. When her former schoolmate Ruth Ackermann, brought up in the same village, makes waves with an international bestseller, but none of the villagers ever mention her achievement, not even the literary circle of Theresa's father, famous civil rights scholar Randolf Pellikaan, Theresa begins to wonder why. It can't only be because it's not 'literature'. It emerges that there is a dark secret in the village. Every member of the book club has a reason to keep quiet and Ruth Ackerman's novel threatens to bring the past into the present, with devastating results. Unable to cope with the silence, Theresa investigates, no matter the consequences.

Read more less

THE BESTSELLING BOOK THAT INSPIRED THE OSCAR AND BAFTA AWARD-WINNING FILM One man saved the British Royal Family in the first decades of the 20th century - amazingly he was an almost unknown, and certainly unqualified, speech therapist called Lionel Logue. Logue wasn't a British aristocrat or even an Englishman - he was a commoner and an Australian to boot. Nevertheless it was the outgoing, amiable Logue who single-handedly turned the famously nervous, tongue-tied, Duke of York into the man who was capable of becoming King. Had Logue not saved Bertie (as the man who was to become King George VI was always known) from his debilitating stammer, and pathological nervousness in front of a crowd or microphone, then it is almost certain that the House of Windsor would have collapsed. The King's Speech is the previously untold story of the extraordinary relationship between Logue and the haunted young man who became King George VI, drawn from Logue's unpublished personal diaries. They throw extraordinary light on the intimacy of the two men - and the vital role the King's wife, the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, played in bringing them together to save her husband's reputation and his career as King. The King's Speech is an intimate portrait of the British monarchy at a time of its greatest crisis, seen through the eyes of an Australian commoner who was proud to serve, and save, his King.

Read more less

"Slick, sick and not for the faint-hearted. It will make you cry out (for more)" - Mark Sanderson, The Times"Exhilarating . . . This is not conventional crime" Barry Forshaw, Independent Introducing Olivier Norek: Former police officer, writer on Spiral and an award-winning, million-copy bestseller.A corpse that wakes up during the autopsy. A case of spontaneous human combustion. There is little by the way of violent crime that Capitaine Victor Coste has not encountered in his fifteen years policing France's most notorious suburb ­- but nothing like this. As he struggles to find a link between the cases, he receives a pair of anonymous letters highlighting the fates of two women whose deaths were never explained - two more blurred faces among the ranks of the lost and the damned.Why were their murders not investigated? Coste is not the only one asking that question. Someone out there believes justice is best served on a cold mortuary slab. What readers are saying about The Lost and the DamnedYou can see the similarities with the TV series Spiral, which can only be a major positive!A hard hitting and gritty French crime read that makes an impact.A great thriller, sardonic, humorous, dark.I loved this book. Well written and had an authentic feel to it. A complete page turner.Translated from the French by Nick Caistor

Read more less

Vincenzo Chironi sets foot for the first time on the island of Sardinia - 'a raft in the middle of the Mediterranean' - in 1943, a year of famine and malaria. All he has with him is an old document as proof of his name and date of birth, but to find out who he really is he has had to undertake an even more stressful journey than the one he has just faced in the steamer from mainland Italy to Sardinia. At Núoro he will find his grandfather, a master blacksmith, who will act as a substitute father but also as an accomplice to him, and his aunt Marianna, who greets the unexpected arrival of a previously unknown nephew as an opportunity to redeem a life previously afflicted by misfortune.Years later, when the presence of Vincenzo Chironi in Núoro seems to have become taken for granted, as natural as the sea and rocks, his blood asserts itself. Vincenzo meets Cecilia, a beautiful girl with eyes of an undefinable shade who is a wartime refugee from elsewhere in Sardinia, and falling in love seems the only course open to either of them. Never mind that she is already engaged to Nicola, a boy with whom Vincenzo is indirectly connected by marriage through his aunt Marianna . . . Even if it may be a fact that "disobedience must involve punishment", it may also be true that love cannot avoid adding the latest link to an endless chain.

Read more less

"A lot of people will be interested in the famous bookshops of the world: Jorge Carrión has gone and visited them all. We can't travel right now, but we can travel in books." MARGARET ATWOODWhy do bookshops matter? How do they filter our ideas and literature? In this inventive and highly entertaining extended essay, Jorge Carrion takes his reader on a journey around the world, via its bookshops. His travels take him to Shakespeare & Co in Paris, Wells in Winchester, Green Apple Books in San Francisco, Librairie des Colonnes in Tangier, the Strand Book Store in New York and provoke encounters with thinkers, poets, dreamers, revolutionaries and readers. Bookshops is the travelogue of a lucid and curious observer, filled with anecdotes and stories from the universe of writing, publishing and selling books. A bookshop in Carrion's eyes never just a place for material transaction; it is a meeting place for people and their ideas, a setting for world changing encounters, a space that can transform lives.Written in the midst of a worldwide recession, Bookshops examines the role of these spaces in today's evershifting climate of globalisation, vanishing high streets, e-readers and Amazon. But far from taking a pessimistic view of the future of the physical bookshop, Carrion makes a compelling case for hope, underlining the importance of these places and the magic that can happen there. A vital manifesto for the future of the traditional bookshop, and a delight for all who love them.Translated from the Spanish by Peter Bush

Read more less

A poignant novel of political-religious awakening by one of Germany's literary starsAn anonymous phone call, an unattended bag discovered in the station of a small Austrian town, a piece of paper saying, "Repent!" and "Next time it will be for real!" A C.C.T.V. image of a young man. What was it that made the teacher think it was his old student, Daniel?Ten years earlier Daniel had spent time with the teacher in his remote house by the river. The town had talked. Anton had recently returned from two years teaching in Istanbul - he was unsettled, subversive, solitary. Daniel was on the brink of adulthood - idealistic, unrequitedly in love with Judith, vulnerable to influence. Those summer weeks by the river were an idyll. But did they also sow the seeds of Daniel's later obsessiveness, his biblical attitudes, his political dogmatism? As the bomb threat excites the community with all the tension of a witch hunt, and Anton himself becomes a focus for suspicion and gossip, he anatomises his memories of the preceding decade. What went wrong for Daniel, and could he have stopped it?

Read more less

When the mutilated body of Mayra Cabral de Melo is found in a dusty field, Detective Edgar "Lefty" Mendieta has personal reasons for bringing the culprit to justice. Mayra, a well-known stripper, had no shortage of ardent, deluded and downright dangerous admirers, and Lefty himself is haunted by the night he spent in her company.As Mexico's drug war ramps up, Lefty's pursuit of a gallery of jealous and powerful suspects, all with a murderous glint in their eye, leads him to Samantha Valdés, the godfather's daughter, who is battling to retain her father's empire. And as the mystery deepens, the bodycount rises.

Read more less

'You don't read this book so much as surrender to it. A dark and heady swoon' - Guardian He is trying to poison me. You must come for me, Noemí. You have to save me.When glamorous socialite Noemí Taboada receives a frantic letter from her newlywed cousin begging to be rescued from a mysterious doom, it's clear something is desperately amiss. Catalina has always had a flair for the dramatic, but her claims that her husband is poisoning her and her visions of restless ghosts seem remarkable, even for her.Noemí's chic gowns and perfect lipstick are more suited to cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing, but she immediately heads to High Place, a remote mansion in the Mexican countryside, determined to discover what is so affecting her cousin.Tough and smart, she possesses an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: not of her cousin's new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi's dreams with visions of blood and doom.Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family's youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family's past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family's once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.And Noemí, mesmerised by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to leave this enigmatic house behind . . .'This pitch-perfect Gothic tale is a delicious, delicious delight' - HeatPRAISE FOR MEXICAN GOTHIC'The subversive, seductive, satisfying haunted house story I didn't know I needed' - Alix E. Harrow, author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January'Moreno-Garcia's gothic plot is as sharp as a razor and twice as dangerous' - A. J. Hackwith, author of The Library of the Unwritten'Masterful . . . a gloriously moody adventure.' - Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling'Darkly brilliant and captivating . . . Moreno-Garcia enthralls with this twisty tale of love and betrayal' - Yangsze Choo, New York Times bestselling author of The Night Tiger and The Ghost Bride'Moreno-Garcia is a master who writes with a deft hand and a flare for beautifully evocative details' - Jenn Lyons, author of The Ruin of Kings

Read more less

Corinne Hofmann describes her return to Switzerland and the difficulties that faced her there, detailing how she built a new life for herself and her daughter and overcame all obstacles, with the same courage and optimism with which she faced the demands of her life in the Kenyan outback.

Read more less

'Extraordinary. It is about death, but I can think of few books which have such life. It shows us what love is.' Max Porter, author of Grief is the Thing With Feathers and Lanny'There is no one quite like Naja Marie Aidt' Valeria Luiselli'Devastating, angry, challenging, fragmented and filled with the beautiful hope that the love we have for people continues into the world even after they're gone.' Culturefly'Fragmented, poetic, informative and truthful, Aidt faces the greatest loss we can ever know with all the force of great elegy writers like Anne Carson and Denise Riley. Essential.' Polly Clark, author of Larchfield and Tiger_______"I raise my glass to my eldest son. His pregnant wife and daughter are sleeping above us. Outside, the March evening is cold and clear. 'To life!' I say as the glasses clink with a delicate and pleasing sound. My mother says something to the dog. Then the phone rings. We don't answer it. Who could be calling so late on a Saturday evening?" In March 2015, Naja Marie Aidt's 25-year-old son, Carl, died in a tragic accident. When Death Takes Something From You Give It Back is about losing a child. It is about formulating a vocabulary to express the deepest kind of pain. And it's about finding a way to write about a reality invaded by grief, lessened by loss. Faced with the sudden emptiness of language, Naja finds solace in the anguish of Joan Didion, Nick Cave, C.S. Lewis, Mallarmé, Plato and other writers who have suffered the deadening impact of loss. Their torment suffuses with her own as Naja wrestles with words and contests their capacity to speak for the depths of her sorrow. This palimpsest of mourning enables Naja to turn over the pathetic, precious transience of existence and articulates her greatest fear: to forget. The insistent compulsion to reconstruct the harrowing aftermath of Carl's death keeps him painfully present, while fragmented memories, journal entries and poetry inch her closer to piecing Carl's life together. Intensely moving and quietly devastating, this is what is it to be a family, what it is to love and lose, and what it is to treasure life in spite of death's indomitable resolve.

Read more less

Economics in Minutes condenses key economics concepts into 200 short and easily digested essays. Featuring not only fundamental ideas, such as the role of money and how the stock market works, but also subjects that are increasingly important to us today - unemployment, government debt and corporate tax avoidance, for example - it is the ideal introduction to a complex contemporary field. Key topics are succinctly described and accompanied by illustrations, making them simple to read and easy to remember. This convenient little reference guide will allow readers to understand the theories underpinning a subject that affects our lives on a daily basis. Chapters include: Supply and demand, Globalization, Market failure, GDP and happiness, Risk and uncertainty, Living standards and productivity, Game theory, Economics and culture.

Read more less

A comprehensive, officially licensed guide to crocheting amigurumi from the Wizarding World, this book includes designs for every skill level, using a wide range of stitches and techniques, and featuring yarn matched to the colours used in the films.Also included are behind-the-scenes facts and quotes from the films, as well as concept art and film stills to inspire your creativity relive favourite movie moments. With beautiful fill-colour photography and step-by-step instructions, Harry Potter: The Official Book of Crochet Amigurumi is the ultimate guide to creating your own adorable companions from the Wizarding WorldPatterns include:- Rubeus Hagrid- Pygmy Puff- Scabbers, Crookshanks, and Trevor- The Monster Book of Monsters- And many more!Learn the art of amigurumi to create small, plushy versions of your favourite Harry Potter characters, creatures and magical objects! Loaded with cuteness and more than 25 a

Read more less

Two kingdoms. One prophecy. One king. One chance to save everything.Arwen Valondale began life as no one, as nothing. But now she''s risen to unimaginable heights, done astonishing deeds, and fallen in love . . . with her arch-nemesis, the compelling Kane Ravenwood. Kane stands for everything Arwen hates: confusion, uncertainty, darkness and fear. And yet, she can''t seem to leave him behind - she''s journeyed to the highest peaks, the most distant lands, even the depths of the seas, and Kane has always been there with her.At first, Arwen believed Kane was the reason her kingdom had fallen to war; now she knows it''s the Fae King Lazarus, and that she''s prophesised to defeat him. Only by working with Kane will she be able to defeat Lazarus, once and for all, and save herself, her kingdom . . . and maybe her heart.The sweeping conclusion to the Sacred Stones trilogy, a Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Best Romantasy of 2023!

Read more less

''I remain in unchanged admiration for this bold, headstrong, carefree undertaking, a first novel published when the author was twenty-five, which proved to be the first prose masterpiece in Russian'' Julian Barnes from his preface.Published in Russian in April 1840, A Hero of Our Time reached English in 1853, under the title ''Sketches of Life in the Caucasus, by a Russe.'' Full of towering landscapes and local colour, it can be read as the travelogue of a poet and serving officer, but also as a portrait of the romantic as self-destructive anti-hero.Vladimir Nabokov''s translation of A Hero of Our Time was published in the United States in 1958, the same year as Lolita: world fame was about to overtake this committed Russian living in America.

Read more less

''VERY funny'' Jennie Godfrey''Smart, twisty, and original'' Heat''Terrific'' J. M. Hall''Superb'' Glamour ''Wildly original'' Elly Griffiths''Delightfully refreshing'' Daily MailFRANCES ALWAYS SAID SHE''D BE MURDERED. SHE WAS RIGHT. In 1965, Frances Adams was told by a fortune teller that one day she''d be murdered. Frances spent the next sixty years trying to prevent the crime that would be her eventual demise. Of course, no one took her seriously - until she was dead. For Frances, being the village busybody was a form of insurance. She''d spent a lifetime compiling dirt on every person she met, just in case they might turn out to be her killer. In the heart of her sprawling country estate lies an eccentric library of detective work, where the right person could step in and use her findings to solve her murder. When her great-niec

Read more less

A wonderful storyteller Chris WhitakerThe big dark house at the top of the hill never felt like Evy''s.Erling''s parents insisted it be held in his name only, that their old furniture should remain in place after they were gone.And now Erling''s gone too. Her husband and her rock. A heart attack while riding his bike. No trace of his medications were found in his body, as if someone had tampered with them.Right now, Evy can''t be sure of anything. Her memory''s patchy, her focus blurred. Her grown-up children whisper about her like she can''t be trusted to look after herself.How can she tell them she doesn''t feel safe in the house? Doors left open she closed herself. Erling''s possessions no longer where he left them.Just because you''re paranoid doesn''t mean you''re not next.Praise for The TherapistCreepy, compelling and very well written Harriet TyceWonderfully creepy,

Read more less

"Perfect late night reading" JAN MORRIS "Banffy is a born storyteller" PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR "Totally absorbing" MARTHA KEARNEY "So evocative" SIMON JENKINSThe second volume of Miklos Banffy's panoramic trilogy of the dying years of the Habsburg empire. The tale of two Transylvanian cousins, their loves, their ambitions and their fortunes continues in They Were Found Wanting. Balint Abady is forced to part from the beautiful and unhappily married Adrienne Uzdy. Laszlo Gyeroffy is rapidly heading for self-destruction through drink and his own fecklessness. The politicians, quarrelling among themselves and stubbornly ignoring their countrymen's real needs, are still pursuing their vendetta with the Habsburg rule from Vienna. Meanwhile they fail to notice how the Great Powers - through such events as Austria's annexation of Bosnia-Herzagovina in 1908 - are moving ever closer to the conflagration of 1914-1918 that will destroy their world for ever. Banffy's portrait contrasts a life of privilege and corruption with the lives and problems of an expatriate Romanian peasant minority whom Balint tries to help. It is an unrivalled evocation of a rich and fascinating aristocratic world oblivious of its impending demise.#Part two of the trilogy that began with They Were Counted, and ends with They Were Divided.Translated from the Hungarian by Patrick Thursfield and Katalin Banffy-JelenWith a Foreword by Patrick Leigh-FermorWINNER OF THE WEIDENFELD TRANSLATION PRIZE

Read more less

It's 1987. Two prisoners, both Italian, break out of prison in a rubbish lorry. One heads for Paris, the other to Milan. The first Carlo, is killed in a shoot-out during a bank robbery - under suspicious circumstances. Frightened by the manhunt launched by Interpol, the second prisoner, Filippo, returns to Paris where he becomes a security guard. He spends his nights writing the story of a Red Brigadier, as recounted to him in prison by Carlo. His landlady Cristina finds him a publisher and the book becomes a bestseller. Filippo, carefully coached by his publishers press office, steadfastly refuses to own the story, insisting that all his stories are fiction and that this is a work of imagination. The public don t buy it, neither do the police, and dogged investigations begin to produce the reasons why. Ultimately Filippo cannot escape his fate: that of a man with an assumed identity that carries far greater risks than his own.

Read more less

Whilst on holiday in Kenya, Corinne Hoffman fell in love with a Masai warrior. Eventually she moved into a tiny shack with him and his mother and spent four years in Kenya. However, slowly but surely, the dream began to crumble. She eventually fled back home with her baby daughter. From wild animals through starvation to ritual mutilation, this is a book steeped in humanity and one that tells a fascinating tale.At once a hopelessly romantic love story and a gripping adventure yarn, The White Masai is a compulsive read.

Read more less

'I read my daughter's diaries the other day. Let me share with you. You may think you know pretty much what's going on in your own family. Believe me, you do not'. Sappho was so happy when she married Gavin. She was in love and it seemed that at last everything was falling into place. But she hadn't considered his daughter, Isobel. She is a delightful, charming girl who spends her school holidays caring for the elderly and is the apple of Gavin's eye.Now cast in the role of Wicked Stepmother, Sappho tries all she can to befriend Isobel and find her place in the new family. It's not easy, but no one had promised it would be. Sappho perseveres. But she has a history, and the history works against her. When it becomes clear that, contrary to popular belief, it is Isobel who steals Gavin's love and attention, and Sappho who must fight for his affection, Sappho is at a loss. How can she win her husband back? With warmth, wit and her unique insights into the workings of the female mind, Fay Weldon has written a brilliant, unsettling new novel about family life today.

Read more less